Ugreen Nexode Mini 45W Charger Review – Cute, Compact and Powerful Charging Powerhouse

One of the biggest travails of modern living is keeping our smartphone and other sundry tech gear like laptops and tablets charged when out and about. Unfortunately, most chargers these days are bulky affairs, made more so by the fact we use chunky UK-style three-pin prongs in our neck of the woods that almost double the dimensions of a charger. 

Fortunately, cable and tech purveyor Ugreen has heard our plea for aid and have issued a charger that’s both exceptionally compact yet able to charge even a high powered flagship smartphone and even a laptop – meet the Ugreen Nexode Mini 45W Charger. After hauling it around for work for the past couple of weeks to suss out its capabilities, here’s our Ugreen Nexode Mini 45W charger review where we share our findings.

Ugreen Nexode Mini 45W Charger Review- Build and Design

The Ugreen Nexode Mini 45W Charger is essentially an improved UGreen Nexode fast charger that has been redesigned with foldable prongs so that everything can fold down into a tiny compact cube. The charger itself comes in a variety of different pins but what makes it so unique is that they’ve managed to resolve the design challenges of folding down a UK-style three-pin plug into a compact form factor. When fully folded down, it’s small enough to conceivably carry in a pocket.

By simply pulling up the central prong, the other two mini prongs pop up. Pushing the central prong down reverses the process which makes it a wonder of engineering. The charger itself is done up in their signature matte grey finish with rounded corners and bar the foldable prongs, the only other item of note are a pair of USB-C ports on one facet of the cube. The sideways facing design means that the ports are facing downwards when plugged into a vertical facing outlet.

In its folded down configuration, the Ugreen Nexode Mini 45W Charger is compact enough to conceivably carry in a pocket though it’s perfect for a handbag or backpack. It doesn’t ship with cables so you’ll need to invest in your own though UGreen does make excellent cables.

Ugreen Nexode Mini 45W Charger Review – Performance

On paper, the Ugreen Nexode Mini 45W Charger is capable of offering up to 45W of charging with support for both iPhones, most Android smartphones including Samsung’s range of Galaxy S series phones and even laptops too though these are mostly ultraportables with a modest power draw and USB-C charging.

What makes the charger exceptional is that it leverages their vaunted Gallium Nitride (GaN) tech to ensure lower and safer internal temperatures when charging without compromising performance. 

When charging a single device, the Ugreen Nexode Mini 45W Charger offers a full 45W charger. If charging two devices at the same time, the first device charged gets 25W while the other gets 20W. 

Our Ugreen Nexode Mini 45W Charger review sample was tested with a Galaxy S23 Ultra and an Honor Magic5 Pro and the charger offered its full 45W charging speed when each device was charged individually.

When both were plugged in simultaneously, both devices understandably charged slower, averaging an hour and a half to fully charge both. Over the course of the charging session, the charger itself got warm to the touch but didn’t cook off or exhibit any untoward effects on account of UGreen’s effective power dispensing system. While we didn’t have an iPhone on hand to test, UGreen’s official literature mentions full support for their iPhone, iPad and MacBook line-up. 

The charger was also able to slow charge an Asus Zenbook 14 Flip OLED via its USB-C port. It’s not powerful enough to simultaneously work on the laptop and charge it but it does the job nicely when you go off for a lunch break and leave it to charge.

While it isn’t as fast as the Zenbook 14 Flip OLED’s original charging brick, it’s also not as large and unwieldy. On top of charging phones and laptops, the Ugreen Nexode Mini 45W Charger proved to be a dab hand for juicing up smaller gear like wireless earbuds, smartwatches and the like.

Should you buy the Ugreen Nexode Mini 45W Charger?

As it stands, the Ugreen Nexode Mini 45W Charger is an effective compromise in performance and portability that offers impressive charging capabilities in a highly compact form factor. This makes it ideal for daily carry for urbanites and makes it inestimably useful for digital nomads and mobile workers who require light yet effective gear.

All in, the UGreen Nexode Mini 45W charger comes highly recommended though more frequent travellers should get the UGreen GaN 65W travel fast charger with its swappable plugs as it allows for easier usage without having to carry an international adaptor about.

Specifications
Price RM89.90
Ports 2x USB-C (45W single port / 20W+25W dual port charging)
Size/Weight 39.8 x 39.8 x 49mm / 98g

Ugreen Nexode Mini 45W Charger review sample courtesy of Ugreen. For more details and to purchase please visit https://www.ugreen.com/en-my/products/ugreen-nexode-45w-dual-c-port-wall-charger?variant=39915631083582 and their Lazada store here.