1 min readThe best way to improve your lounge room experience is to get a dedicated phone charger for your couch. One of those new-fangled GaN ones with multiple ports.
For those not familiar with the term, GaN chargers (short for gallium nitride, although that's not really important here) are relatively new power bricks that are better in almost every way. They're lighter, smaller, typically have an array of connectors rather than just one, and often support fast charging.
I've been a big fan of using GaN chargers while travelling, purely for the fact having a charger with several ports is much more convenient than taking separate chargers for every device. A single charger that can top-up every device is so much more efficient.
It turns GaN chargers are also great for home. I plugged a GaN charger in behind my couch a few weeks ago - specifically, Belkin's BoostCharge Pro - and it's been a game changer. The four-port charger lives between two cushions, and typically has USB-C and Lightning cords attached to it.
The ubiquity of USB-C makes it invaluable. So far I've used the couch charging station to top up my Apple TV remote, my Steam Deck, my Switch, my laptop, and my Xbox controller. This has been especially great with gaming devices. It saves running a stupid long USB-C cable from my Xbox to a controller, and helps get a lot more mileage out of the Steam Deck.
The Belkin BoostCharge Pro is a 108W charger, which means it can fast charge laptops that support the technology, like recent MacBooks. And obviously, a couch charger is also great for phones and tablets - especially because the tablets in my household tend to be dead when one wants to use them, but the couch tends to be the place they're used.
Sure GaN chargers might be designed for desks and on the go, but the living room is where they thrive. If there's even a hint of gadget fiend in you, get a GaN charger and set it up near your couch. You won't regret it.
