Crowdfunding Review – I’m sure your drawer is full of USB cables, or if you’re an iPhone user, your drawer is probably full of Lightning cables. But do you have a USB cable that you can customize with animation or text? I do not think so. So today, we’re taking a look at mobfree PixelCable, a new project on Kickstarter. let’s see!
What is it?
PixelCable is a USB cable that comes in either USB-C or Lightning cable versions. It works like every other cable in your drawer, but one end of the cable has a tiny app-controlled smart OLED display that can display custom scrolling text, photos and animations for fun and real-time charging information.
Design and Features
I received the Lightning version of the PixelCable, which has a USB-C connector on the other end of the black and grey braided 6ft/1.8m cable. It is also available in white.
PixelCable also offers a USB-C to USB-C version. USB-C to USB-C pixel cable It can provide up to 100W of Power Delivery, and the USB-C to Lightning version can support 20W PD. PixelCabel also supports 480mbps data transfer.
So far, the description of the PixelCable hasn’t been all that exciting, right? That’s because I haven’t talked about the built-in OLED display. That’s right, an 88 x 48 pixel display is built into one end of this cable.
When you put it in your phone, the display will play animations, scroll text or photos. You can choose the behavior through the app.
QCharger application
You’ll need to enable Bluetooth on your phone and install the QCharger app, which needs to customize various settings for the cable, including the type of animation to play when plugged in and the ringtone to play when charging is complete. My PixelCable prototype only has 3 animations to choose from, but through the app I can change the scrolling text and/or upload an image to turn it into a picture that can be displayed on the cable screen. Here’s a quick video showing some options.
see it in action
After the animation has finished playing, the percentage of live streaming that is charged will be displayed.
I prefer this feature over animation, let’s face it, just a fun novelty. But the ability to see the charge status is nice, especially for iPhone users who can’t visualize the phone’s charge level without tapping the screen or pressing the power button to wake the phone.
If the QCharger app is not running or installed on your phone, the cable’s display will play a boot animation and then just show if the phone is fast charging and real-time power output.
Note that if the app is not running or is uninstalled, the animation will be if only will display something on the PixelCable’s built-in display for a few seconds, and then it will display the information in the image above.Will do no Displays real-time charge percentage.
what do I like
- Shows the percentage of charging without waking up the phone
- Animation and text customization
- Braided cable
what would i change
- Add the ability to stop charging at a certain percentage level
- Allow showing fee percentage even if app is deleted
final thoughts
The PixelCable may look like a normal USB cable, but the built-in display makes it more interesting than most other cables. As long as you don’t mind enabling Bluetooth and keeping the app installed and running to see the real-time charge percentage, the PixelCable is an interesting and slightly useful alternative to all the other USB cables scattered around your home.
The PixelCable campaign will end on 5/12/22 and they are working towards their funding goal of $3,829. You can pre-order the PixelCable for $26. After the PixelCable event, rewards are expected to start shipping in August 2022.visit their crowdfunding page for all the details.
As a special offer, mobfree is giving away a customizable case for free when you buy a PixelCable through this review. You can email support@imobfree.com or message them via their Kickstarter campaign page. This gift will ship with PixelCable.
price: $26.00
where to buy: crowdfunding
source: The samples for this review are provided by mobfree.
