Monday, May 9, 2016

Toddy Cable to bring jazzy design, personalization to charging

When it comes to charging your smartphone or tablet, it’s just another mundane task with a skinny cable. There is not much to see there and certainly nothing to get excited about.

But the Toddy Cable, a new charging cable coming down the pikes from Toddy Gear, Inc., is about to add some spice to charging your electronics.

The idea behind the Toddy Cable includes personalization options to make your cable unique and less likely to be borrowed and not returned. Getting personal with the design for a Toddy Cable is easy enough by simply choosing from a selection of popular patterns and colors created with a 3D modeling process. You can also add a name, favorite quote or logo. For even more creative possibilities, you can upload your own design.

The cables I’ve been testing has an eye-catching design with alternating shades of purple, blue, green and orange colors, intertwined with white slashes and has my name engraved on the flat USB connector. It’s quite jazzy and there are hundreds of designs to choose from, with names like Princess, Blossom and Steel Will. In an office environment, it stands out on my desk and everyone knows it’s my charging cable.

"It's time for cable to catch up to our personal style, said Todd Gabel, Founder, Toddy Gear. "Phone cases are available in fun patterns and are customizable, it's time that cables to join these ranks."

The Toddy Gear team, based in Chicago, Illinois, has all the bases covered with a cable for Android micro USB devices, Apple devices that use the Lightning connector and a combination Android cable with Apple MFI Adaptor. With the latter cable option, you’re set for charing Android smartphones as well as other Micro USB devices, such as my Windows HP tablet. For iPhones and iPads, just slip on the Apple Adaptor.

The cable seem to be well constructed and feels like a quality product in your hands. According to the company it has a flexible outer jacket of PVC material and aluminum connectors that are friendly with most cases. Under the hood are high-quality wires protected by shielding and braiding and high-resistance insulation. With a flat design, the Toddy Cable is about twice as wide as my Apple charging cable, but is still flexible and can roll into a compact package for storage.

The Toddy Cable is about three feet in length and falls about an inch and a half short of the length of an Apple Lightning charging cable. But in my opinion, that’s not a deal breaker.

I expect the Toddy Cable to sail through the Kickstarter campaign started in early April and be in retail outlets soon. Look for it and apply your personal style.

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