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Do Yourself a Favor and Buy That Longer Charging Cable
Just make sure it won’t burn your house down first
I’m sitting at my local coffee shop, about 10 feet away from where my power adapter is plugged into the wall. Snaking from it is a long, gold nylon cable attached to my phone; a portion of the cord is coiled in a small pile. If I wanted — if I wasn’t afraid of pissing off every customer and, more importantly, the baristas — I could plug it in across the room, up to 16 feet away.
The long cable, while not necessarily appropriate in all circumstances, makes me feel powerful. My iPhone and I are a stronger team because it’s now much easier to juice it up during emergencies. Apple’s standard charging cable is only three feet long, though the company also offers a six-foot option. In my opinion, that’s not good enough.
A super-long cable is a simple, basic, very straightforward change to make in one’s life, and yet the stubby Apple cable is ubiquitous. There’s a reason beyond convenience: Many cheap, off-brand chargers and cables are a potential disaster for your phone. That’s because high-quality charger cables regulate the power sent to your phone, protecting it from surges that could damage the battery. These cables also can detect when your battery is almost full and…
