Sunday, December 1, 2019

8 Charging Stations for Your Phones, Tablets and More

wall-mounted charging station, looks like a box with charging items laying on the top

Everything in my life needs charging. —Francine Hardaway

If you’re like Francine, I’ve got some interesting products for you! (Note: For this post, I’m excluding wireless charging products.)

The item above is the Charge-Box from Konstantin Slawinski, which comes in a variety of colors. It can be wall-mounted, as shown, or it can sit on a flat surface such as a countertop or desktop. You can also find it at Connox (with fewer color choices), but if you’re in the U.S. the shipping charges are going to be quite high from either site.

wood shelf with slot in the rear, where a tablet is resting

The Stage shelf from Spell lets you charge up to five items and keep the cords hidden. There are four options: walnut, oak, white, and black. It’s lovely, but expensive.


wood shelf pulled out from the wall showing the interior with two products charging inside

The items being charged could be kept inside or out.


charging station that has slots for the seven items being charged

When it comes to charging stations that arent wall-mounted, there are a few basic designs. This 7-slot one from Satechi was recommended by iMore, which notes that “each slot is large enough to accommodate even the largest of smartphones and any cases that you may have installed.” It’s also available in white.

Note that the charging cables do not come with it, though, so it won’t look as cool as it does in this photo unless you buy the cables, too.


charging station with slots for products; the charging cables attach to the side of a mushroom-shaped outlet

For a very different take on the same basic design, there’s the charging mushroom. The mushroom also serves as a night light!


charging station, box-like, where cords are kept inside and products rest on top or stand up against a rail

Other products, like the Sanctuary4 from Bluelounge, are designed to hide all the cords. As you might guess from the name, it has four USB ports. You can get the Sanctuary4 in either black or white.


charging station that's like a box with slats on top; three products (phones and tablets) are standing in the slats

Alldock provides another take on the hidden-cord charging station. It comes in two sizes: the medium which charges four items and the large which charges six. Products are available in black, white, bamboo, and walnut.


same box-like charging station as above with an attachment that holds an AirPod case

There are optional Apple Watch, AirPod, and FitBit mounts, too.


charging station with places for MacBook, iPad, iPhone, AirPod case, Apple Watch, Apple Pencil, and Apple TV remote

And here’s yet another design. NytLite makes cool charging stations designed specifically for all Apple products. The one I’m showing is the one that accommodates the most products, including the Apple TV remote (or a second iPhone).


woman sitting on a bed that has a bedside pocket that holds products being charged

You can also get a product designed for bedside charging. Z-charge provides three pockets on each side of the bed. There’s a larger pocket in the back, kept in place by that Velcro latch in the upper corner. Z-charge currently comes in four colors: white, black, chocolate brown and dove gray.

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