Duracell Instant Charger for mobile devices wins engineering award

Procter & Gamble group company Duracell has been named an International CES Innovations 2010 Design and Engineering Awards honoree for its Duracell Instant Charger.

The Duracell Instant Charger is a lithium ion rechargeable charger that provides reserve power for popular mobile devices, such as BlackBerrys, iPods and cellphones that come with USB power cords.

According to the company, with the instant charger users can get up to 35 hours of additional power that is efficiently managed with an on-off switch. The instant charger falls under Duracell's collection of 'smart power' products that go beyond the traditional battery to address the ever-growing and ever-changing power needs of consumers.

"The Duracell Instant Charger makes a mobile lifestyle simpler by providing reserve power to keep devices running even if you can't be near an outlet," said Patrick Fellin, Duracell brand manager.

Products entered in the Design and Engineering Awards programme are judged by a panel of independent industrial designers, engineers and members of the media to identify outstanding design and engineering in cutting edge consumer electronics products across 36 product categories.

The Innovations Design and Engineering Awards have been recognising achievements in product design and engineering since 1976. Sponsored by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), which hosts the International CES, the world's largest consumer technology tradeshow.

Duracell will showcase the Instant Charger, and a variety of other Duracell smart power products, at the Pepcom Digital Experience media event and the ShowStoppers media event, both of which take place during 2010 International CES, which runs from 7 to 10 January 2010 in Las Vegas.

The Innovations entries are judged based on the engineering qualities, based on technical specs and materials used, aesthetic and design qualities, the product's intended function and user value with particular emphasis on uniqueness  and novelty that consumers would find attractive and, finally,  how the design and innovation of the product compares to other products in the marketplace.