Here at Stuff we live and breathe cool stuff (get it?) — and we’ve stumbled upon an intriguing device that we think every person should own. It’s a multi-purpose five-in-one dongle. That’s right — count on us to excited about dongles. And short cables, but that’s another saga.
The High Five is a crowdfunded keyring-cable that is made by Vonmählen, a new smartphone accessory company. The company claims that their device is the “world‘s first 5-in-1 charging cable”.
The Frankencable
The keychain-sized cable is effectively two types of dongles in one configuration. First, it’s a normal USB-C jack to a hybrid Lightning/Micro USB — which means it can be plugged into any i-device via the Lightning port and well as any older Android-style microUSB port. The other is a regular flash-drive type USB-A jack that has both USB-C and microUSB inputs on the other side.
Even though it sounds confusing, the different configurations can work for five different needs. You can have USB to USB-C or microUSB to charge your Android, as well as USB to Lightning to charge your iPhone, and USB-C to Lightning for whatever reason and finally USB-C to microUSB to transfer data from your old phone to your new phone.
The Pros and Cons
The best part? The whole shindig folds up neatly into a sleek keychain. Just plug the USB-C and microUSB ends into the half to create a nifty loop that can hangs on your keys.
The only downside? It doesn’t support fast-charging — which is increasingly becoming the norm with mostly Android devices. The High Five got almost double the funding they wanted on Kickstarter (and still climbing), so maybe they’ll use the extra funds wisely and design a fast-charge-capable version.
Vonmählen is still in the prototype stage and has yet to start production, which means delays could happen — backers should receive the first models in May if all goes to plan.
