On our recent escape, we spotted this sitting in the terminal of our local airport.
The ChargeCarte allows you to rapidly charge many portable devices from cell phones to pdas, and even iPods. For a small fee, you can charge your device for 15 or 30 minutes.
Finding a spot to plug in our portable devices can be a challenge in the airport, so we think this could be a great way to get our phone topped up in a pinch. However, we're not so keen on leaving our device sitting on a kiosk for 15-30 minutes. In our airport, there wasn't anywhere to sit and wait while your device was charging. We'd imagine you'd get bored pretty quickly waiting, but if you need some juice and can't find an outlet this may be your best option.
I recently noticed one of these in the business center in Portland (PDX).
view Laurie's profile
Brutal! Though it's a nice idea where AC isn't usually available, I foresee things that used to be free (i.e. lots of airports have power outlets around) into something that's annoying and expensive (i.e. 'wait at this kiosk to have your device charged for a per-minute fee').
view optimuscrime's profile
This is a little more than just an outlet, though, because the charger is supplied. It is bound to be more economical than buying a spare charger if you've forgotten (or checked) yours.
view Anne in Chicago's profile
Many European and Asian airports have these -- only they don't charge.
view carrier's profile