We launched the MagEZ Slider on Kickstarter on August 31, 2021. Since then, we’ve received a lot of feedback on this small yet versatile 3-in-1 wireless charger. And today, we’re excited to launch the MagEZ Slider 2 with faster charging and other new features.
The MagEZ Slider 2 is a compact, detachable 3-in-1 wireless charger. How was it born? Well, it dates back to 2019 when a unique power bank debuted.
Problems with Power Banks
It was 2019. James, CEO & Founder of PITAKA, was thinking about what to make for the following product (yeah he’s also a designer). He was looking for whatever pain points he could find in real life. Because, after all, a good product is a solution to a real problem. He did spot one problem. He owned dozens of power banks. Why was that?
He often forgot to take the power bank with him when he left the house. Or he forgot to charge up the power bank before heading to the airport, so he intentionally left an empty power bank in the drawer and just brought a new one with power. But you guessed it; the same happened to the new power bank. By and by, the drawer was filled with power banks. And other than eating dust, those power banks were probably dying.
Power banks need to be charged at least once every three months to keep the battery active. So if you forget to charge them a few times, it's possible that they can't be activated again.
That’s the problem everybody faces since every power bank out there works in a similar way.
MagEZ Juice: The Power Bank You Won’t Forget To Charge
The MagEZ Juice was the solution James came up with. I’d rather not get into the weeds about how he got the idea and made it into something handy. The process was time and energy-consuming as every product design.
Technically, the MagEZ Juice is not just a power bank. It’s a wireless power bank with a specifically-made charging base that can store and charge the power bank. This base helps you lose your knack for misplacing the power bank and forgetting to charge it.
Whenever you finish using the power bank, slide it back to the base instead of casting it into the drawer. When the power bank sits there, the base will charge it. So when you need to carry the power bank for a trip, you know where to find it and rest assured that it’s full of juice to make your phone last for the day.
The MagEZ Juice also works as a phone stand. Your phone attaches to the power bank in the base and you’ll have a 45-degree comfortable viewing screen. The base will charge the power bank and your mobile simultaneously.
MagEZ Juice 2: More Capacity
The first-gen features 2200mAh capacity, which doesn’t meet most people’s needs. Soon, PITAKA released the MagEZ Juice 2 with 2800mAh capacity. It may not seem like too much of an upgrade, but that’s the best our engineers could do with technology back then without compromising on probability and comfort.
Capacity is always a big factor people consider when purchasing power banks. But, on the other hand, we believe that power banks for mobile phones should not be too hefty to be carried around.
Another difference was that the 2nd-gen was available in various colors. We thought it would be great to have the power bank and the phone case in the same color or design.
MagEZ Slider: A Detachable 3-in-1 Wireless Charger
In 2021, we were able to pack the power bank with more juice – 4000mAh. Besides, we also added a low-battery vibration mode and made the product sleeker in a more minimalist style.
As for the charging base, we were thinking how to make it more versatile. No matter what we tried, we had this idea of keeping the charger compact in mind during the long haul. From the prototype to the final version, the birth of the MagEZ Slider took longer than the MagEZ Juice. Redesigning the charger to make it capable of charging more devices at the same time was not a petty upgrade.
If we were to build a 3-in-1 wireless charger, how could we set it apart from other 3-in-1 wireless chargers in the market? Well, if we take the MagEZ Juice as a wireless charging phone stand, its biggest difference from other phone stands is that the MagEZ Juice has a detachable power bank that you can easily take with you to charge your mobile on the go.
With the MagEZ Slider, we kept the detachable power bank design. And we managed to make the Apple Watch charger detachable too. We learned from our customers that their iWatch loses power quickly, and sometimes they will charge it before the day ends or just leave it inactive. The original Apple Watch Magnetic Charging Cable makes charging your iWatch quite convenient, but there’re better ways.
We came up with this tiny MFi-certified magnetic charger for Apple Watch. And of course, we made it compatible with the MagEZ Slider. You can either charge your iWatch on the MagEZ Slider. Or unplug the power dongle for Apple Watch and take it with you so you plug it into your laptop, iPad, or any other USB-C port from any charged device to charge your watch.
In this way, not only can you charge all your Apple essentials (iPhone, AirPods, Apple Watch), save desk space, and curb cable chaos at your desk all with the MagEZ Slider, but you will also get a portable MagSafe power bank for iPhone and a MFi-certified charger for Apple Watch to charge on the go. Indeed, our 3-in-1 wireless charger saves you time, space, and money.
MagEZ Slider 2: Faster Charging and More
Although we were proud of the MagEZ Slider, it’s not perfect. And our customers have helped us a lot in enhancing the design.
Compared to the 1st-gen slider, the new slider has five new features:
1. 7.5W Fast ChargingThe new wireless charging power bank can charge your iPhone at 7.5W, up from 5W. But note that charging the phone with the power bank connected to the charging base will still be 5W.
2. Just Snap and ChargeFor the power bank that comes with the 1st-gen MagEZ Slider, you have to press the power button to activate the wireless charging function of the power bank every time before attaching it to your phone to charge. Now, you just need to snap the upgraded power bank to your phone and enjoy 7.5W stable wireless charging.
3. Disabling the SpinWhen we designed the MagEZ Slider, we thought the 360-degree spinning would be fun. It was. But the spinning also caused some issues. Some people complained that the spinning makes picking up their phone a bit tricky. Therefore, on the MagEZ Slider 2, we added a switch that can be used to enable/disable the spinning function. Also, a fixed angle is better for viewing your phone screen while you work.
4. New LED IndicatorThere is a LED indicator on the new charging base to tell the charging status, making it easier to troubleshoot when something goes wrong.
5. Smaller Gel PadThe charging base is very light and it depends on the gel pad at the bottom to be held in place. If you want to move the Slider to another position, pull it up to separate the gel pad from the surface. But some may find it hard to remove it.
Thus, on the MagEZ Slider 2, we adjusted the shape and size of the gel pad to make it easier to relocate the 3-in-1 wireless charger.
Conclusion
That’s the iteration of the MagEZ Slider 2. It began with a power bank and evolved into a MagSafe 3-in-1 wireless charging station with detachable iPhone and Apple Watch chargers.
Don’t hesitate to contact us if you have suggestion or feedback about our products. You can tag us directly at our Facebook group.
