Essential travel kit

You have to leave town on short notice and while you ponder about what to carry along, the author lists some essential gadgets that will stand you in good stead without adding bulk to your baggage

PORTRONICS POWER SLICE
(Rs 1,499)
Leaving home without a power bank in the era of large-screen high-resolution displays is akin to committing hara-kiri. While there are lots of power banks available at various price brackets, we liked the Power Slice for two reasons: One, its extremely sleek form factor and lightness; and two, the fact that it offers five colour options - blue, green, orange, white and black.

Featuring a 4,000 mAh Lithium-polymer battery, the Power Slice has five types of circuit protection to keep your expensive gadget from being fried. The shell is also scratch-proof, so throwing the Power Slice into your bag along with other stuff won't harm it. The power bank doesn't bundle a wall charger though.

AMKETTE TRUBEATS SLIX
(Rs 3195)

The Trubeats Slix is one of the lightest headphones we've come across. Weighing just 32g, one hardly feels one is wearing something when one first puts them on. But wearing a headset which is cool but at the same time makes you look like Cloud City's Lobot (a character from Star Wars) might not be your calling. That apart, the headphones are tangle-free because of the magnetically paired earpieces, which stick together to retain the pair's shape even if you carry it in your pocket.

Pairing the Bluetooth headset is fairly easy: Just press the volume dial on the right earpiece and let go once your device finds the headset. The right earpiece also has the indicator LED, the microUSB charging port and the microphone, while the volume dial also doubles up as the play button. The left earpiece has the forward and back buttons.

We were surprised at the loudness of this sleek pair, and one does need to crank up the volume if one makes calls in noisy places. But while the output will satisfy bass fanatics, audiophiles might not be impressed as the mids and highs are a painful experience. Another problem is the pair takes a long time to charge. It is rated to last for five hours.

AMKETTE OTG SMART HUB AND CARD READER
(Rs 945)

If you don't have access to a dual USB drive like the one mentioned above, then the OTG Smart Hub and Card Reader will be a godsend. For it allows you to connect any pen drive to your phone/tablet. This gadget has three USB 2.0 ports and also bundles in a 48-in-1 card reader, which can be connected to both your phone/tablet as well as your PC. And connected to a PC (with the bundled cable), it becomes an ordinary USB hub and card reader. In case your phone/tablet supports it, you can also connect a keyboard and mouse using this gadget.

SANDISK ULTRA DUAL USB DRIVE
(516 GB FOR Rs 1,199)
If you use a smartphone, chances are it doubles up as your camera. In case the snaps keep filling up your Android phone's internal memory or memory card, this diminutive but very handy device can help. Also, it's useful to easily transfer media from one phone to another or from a PC to a phone, sans messy wires. One end of this flash drive sports a microUSB plug to connect to your smartphone/tablet, while the other end has a full-sized USB port. A caveat: Your device needs to support OTG for this gadget to work.

Connect the Ultra Dual USB Drive to a PC using the full-sized USB port and you can access all the data you transferred from your device.

The company also has a nifty SanDisk Memory Zone app which can be downloaded for free from the Google Play Store. It helps in organising files and has a pretty clean interface. And it works even without the Dual USB Drive.