Quadruple Your PSP's Battery Life Whilst On The Move

One major gripe pretty much every PSP gamer has is that of the system’s annoyingly limited battery life. With Sony’s shiny little wonder-toy dishing out anything from a mere two to (if you’re lucky) four hours on a full charge, depending on how hard you hammer your PSP, it’s just not enough for a serious hammering.

For most, this just doesn’t cut it and for the truly hardcore that’s hardly enough charge for a decent day’s gaming, especially if they have a long commute or are constantly on the move.

And, if you are heading off on a long-haul flight, then just don’t even go there. So, what sparks of joy flew from the SPOnG engine room when we heard that Exspect, a new company, has introduced a gadget that just may well be the answer to your paltry battery-life troubles.

This is why SPOnG is so intrigued by a new must-have gizmotron called the ReCharge4 (pictured here) which, so the company claims, is able to give your PSP (or DS or GBA for that matter) up to four full re-charges whilst you are on the move; and is also small enough to slip in a top pocket. (“About half the size of a standard Nokia phone” according to the PR lady we just spoke with this morning.)

Even while Nintendo’s trusty old DS can provide up to a good ten hours of gaming merriment, there are those situations where you might need to give it a bit of a boost. For example, you might find yourself trekking in the outer Himalayas. Or stuck on the north circular on a rainy day when London’s traffic system mysteriously gets thrown into emergency gridlock. (DS Update! Apparently it's 19 hours on its lowest brightness; 15 hours on its second level of brightness; 11 hours on its third level; 8 hours on the maximum level).

Exspect claims to be, “the UK's leading provider of portable power input technology and high end protective storage for mobile devices”. Its press release promises that we might once and finally, “forget the burden of being tied to an electrical mains socket….simply connect your ReCharge4 to your mobile device and it will be charged up within minutes.”

Hmmm, should this new fancy ReCharge4 gadgetron actually work then SPOnG will be picking a few more up for the more forgetful members of our family, who are constantly moaning about mobiles and iPods and PSPs losing their charge. We all know the feeling - the sheer annoyance of settling down into a long, comfy train journey only to realise that your mobile comms and entertainments have let you down.

“Jesus H. Christ! I might have to actually talk to somebody!” thinks your frightened brain.

The ReCharge4 costs just under £40 and you can see more info on the company’s website at www.recharge4.com

SPOnG’s ‘test unit’ is in the post, so we will be sure to do a quick check to see if the company’s claims for the unit resemble anything near the truth. We will of course bring you our full ‘review’ (hmmm? – Ed) of the ReCharge4 in due course.