It looks like an ordinary photo frame, but it’s also a Qi charging stand for your phone.
Twelve South
Qi wireless charging pads are cropping up in the craziest places. End tables, desk lamps… even picture frames. And why not a picture frame? You already keep a photo of the family, the dog or whatever on your desk; why not let it pull double duty? That’s the idea behind the Twelve South PowerPic, a product that’s totally unnecessary but also really nice to have — especially when there’s a solid discount.
For a limited time, Cheapskate readers can get the Twelve South PowerPic for $56 with promo code CNET30. That’s 30% off Twelve South’s regular price of $79.99. (Notably, it’s selling for $89.99 at Amazon right now.)
Available in black or white and made of New Zealand pine, the PowerPic is an attractive, substantial-looking tapered picture frame that’s large enough to accommodate phones up to 6.5 inches tall and cases up to 3mm thick. It can hold any 5×7-inch photo.
It plugs into a powered USB port, though if you want 10-watt fast charging, the port must be capable of supplying that much power. I’m a little bummed Twelve South doesn’t include an AC adapter, because not everyone has a spare USB port or one that supports fast charging. (Here’s a 12-watt USB wall charger for under $8 in case you need one.)
To charge your phone, just place it inside the frame. Yes, it’ll block whatever picture is there — but if you have an Android phone, you can set the screen to stay on while charging, thereby showing off your wallpaper. (You could even get fancy and make the wallpaper the same as the photo that’s in the frame.) Alas, there’s no way to do likewise in iOS — thanks, Apple.
Yes, I hear you: This is wholly impractical and not a charging solution for cheapskates. (Here’s a Qi charging stand with AC adapter for $18.99, for example.)
But! It’s cool. It’s a conversation-starter. And it would make a nifty gift. People seem to like it a lot, as evidenced by the 4.5-star average rating from nearly 120 Amazon customers.
Your thoughts?
Read more: 8 unexpectedly cool things with built-in Qi charging pads
For $90, this 10-inch Lenovo tablet doubles as an Echo Show
The Lenovo Smart Tab is smart indeed, combining a fully functional Android tablet with a speaker dock and Amazon Alexa.
Tyler Lizenby/CNET
Speaking of things that do other things, the Lenovo Smart Tab M10 looks like a fairly standard 10-inch Android tablet — right up until you plunk it down in its speaker dock, where it becomes an Alexa-savvy smart display similar to the Amazon Echo Show.
It was $200 when it debuted at CES 2019, but for a limited time, and while supplies last, you can get the Lenovo Smart Tab M10 for $89.99 with promo code LEN10. You’ll need a Rakuten account to use that code.
Everything you need to know about this clever (to my thinking) hybrid can be found in Andrew Gebhart’s Lenovo Smart Tab preview. Alas, CNET never did a hands-on review of the product, but it picked up a nearly 4-star average from over 1,000 Amazon buyers.
The tablet itself appears to be a little low-end on the spec front, with a less-than-stellar 1,200×800 resolution and just 16GB of onboard storage — though at least there’s a microSD slot for adding more.
Given that Lenovo proper still sells this for $200, I think it’s a steal at $90. Just finding a 10-inch Android tablet at this price can be a challenge, let alone one that includes a speaker dock and Alexa smarts.
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