Charge your phone in style with Mophie Snap+
Not long ago I was using a vent-mounted MagSafe charger in my car that wasn’t put together very well at all. It was one of the quickly pushed-out knock-off brands you can find on Amazon by twelve different company names. I was desperate to take advantage of MagSafe and no reputable companies had come to market with an option so I said, “Why not? What’s the worst that could happen?”
Well as it turned out, I was lucky and only had the device short out the fuses in my car twice and stop charging my iPhone mid-way during a two-hour trip where I needed it for navigation. The other major issue was that the clip was cheaply made and the plastic broke. This caused the mount to completely fall out of the vent and it could never hold its place again.
With that said, there is a reason awesome companies like mophie don’t just rush into these spaces. They want to make sure the products they are bringing to market are solid. I can tell you I have been enjoying the use of the Snap+ for a few weeks now and have noticed a huge difference in the way the device charges and holds its place in the vent. Not only am I getting the correct MagSafe ring each time to let me know my phone is charging, but I have yet to have any fuses blow out. My iPhone has been fully charged each time I use it and I’ve never had an issue with the magnet holding my phone to the mount.
DETAILS
“Power with just a snap” is the tagline that mophie is using with their new line of MagSafe compatible chargers. It’s quite clever in my opinion and it describes the action of charging with MagSafe to a tee. The Snap+ Wireless Vent Mount is a universal wireless charger and is compatible with MagSafe as well as Qi-compatible charging devices. It’s designed to be used with smartphones such as the iPhone, Google Pixel, and Samsung Galaxy. The charger is only offered in one color – black – and retails for around $50 (at the time of publishing this article).
The charger is said to provide up to 15W of charging output to connected devices. According to mophie.com, “the magnetic array ensures accurate placement so charging begins on contact.” The charger is compatible with fast charging and can charge through most cases (lightweight – up to 3mm thick). The charger comes with a complete kit in its retail box including the Snap+ Wireless Charger, built-in USB-C cable, vent mount adapter, USB-C car charger, an adapter for non-MagSafe devices, and an installation kit. The charger has a 2-year warranty that is provided by mophie.
USER EXPERIENCE
In stylish mophie fashion, you will find the Snap+ in a beautiful mophie branded box that screams, “LOOK AT ME!” from the shelf. As mentioned above, you will find several pieces inside the box. The actual Snap+ vent mount is two pieces – the MagSafe charger and the mount. The two pieces snap together and then you can clip the mount inside a vent in your car. I found it interesting that a MagSafe adapter is included for devices other than the iPhone. The ‘adapter’ is a metallic ring that can be attached via adhesive to any smartphone or device for the purpose of charging wirelessly using MagSafe. The ring comes with a guide that gives you the proper placement on your phone so that you affix the ring to the optimal spot for charging. Mophie sells these adapter rings separately, too.
As I had said above you can really tell the difference between junk and well-made tech. The plastic is so much better in the mophie snap+ that the vent mount holds in place and my phone charges every time it connects. It’s well-built and you can feel it when holding it in your hands. The pieces feel more solid than the third-party generic mount and everything just works the way it’s supposed to. I would have liked to see the USB-C cable not be permanently attached to the Snap+ because that would have made for a bit more flexibility for users. Depending on your situation, you might want a longer or shorter cable and if the cable gets damaged, well it would just be nice if the cable wasn’t built-in.
I did end up completing a charging test with the Snap+. I have an iPhone 12 Pro that is compatible with MagSafe charging. I did it two different times and got a charging rate of 0.4% per minute and 0.3% per minute. That charging rate is consistent with other fast-charging Qi-enabled chargers I’ve tested. It’s actually a bit faster than other wireless chargers I’ve used with my iPhone 12 Pro, which I would attribute to the MagSafe feature as that ensures you are placing the phone exactly where you should be for a good connection.
CONCLUSION
Using the newest tech first can be a wonderful experience, but there is a difference between using the newest from the best company and the newest from a third-party brand. The original MagSafe vent mount used seemed to be hastily thrown together so that it could be out for sale quickly whereas mophie didn’t release a product until it was right. I should have waited for Mophie to drop their Snap+ and because I didn’t I spent the day looking for a fuse to replace in my car. Will I make that mistake again? No, not at all. I know when I pick up any battery or charging accessory from Mophie that the quality is going to be the best of the best.
