From the Makers of SmartCarte, the ChargeCarte || Jaunted

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From the Makers of SmartCarte, the ChargeCarte

Where: Las Vegas, nv, United States

11/29/2007 at 9:30 AM
Tags: ChargeCarte, Airport Services, Airports, LAS (all tags)

Seasoned travelers and frequent flyers are familiar with the SmarteCarte brand which offers, for a fee, a metal cart for you to tug your luggage around the airport. (The cart itself sadly doesn't come with that extra "e".) Honestly, we'd rather haul our luggage manually than pay a fee for a cart that is typically free in places like European airports and supermarkets.

Nevertheless, SmarteCarte has designed another way to get money out of beleaguered travelers with their ChargeCarte.

We spotted this machine in the Las Vegas airport the other week. The way it works is that you plug your cellphone (any brand), iPod or MP3 player into the machine and it will rapidly charge it for 30 minutes for $3 while you wait out the delays at the gate. The machine also locks your cellphone/MP3 player into its slot so it can't be stolen. [Ed. Note: Strike that. You have to watch your own phone as there are no locks. Sorry for getting your hopes up.]

Begrudgingly we kinda like this idea simply because we have traveled so many times without our phone chargers. Now if only they had a slot for digital cameras, too; we'd never have to stress about trying to find an obscure camera battery on the streets of Amsterdam again.

Related Stories:
· ChargeCarte [Official Site]
· Airports coverage [Jaunted]

5 Comments - Add Yours by juliana

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Comments on From the Makers of SmartCarte, the ChargeCarte

egw
Jaunted Member

No way! (none / 0)

When I first saw these I thought they looked like a rip-off, but that is pretty cheap... I still wish airports had more outlets, though, as the owner of a laptop with 30 seconds of battery power.

by egw on 11/29/2007 at 10:05 AM

Alex Sung
Jaunted Member

how secure (none / 0)

Is this thing - anybody tried it? Like does your cellphone just unlock after 30 minutes, and if you aren't there, sucks to be you?

by Alex Sung on 11/29/2007 at 2:36 PM

juliana
Jaunted Member

watch your phone (none / 0)

i was wrong. i thought these were locked in. all those cords must have confused me. my sincere apologies.

so basically you have to watch your phone to make sure that no one steals it. Here is a video to demonstrate how it works (you will need audio). notice the man hunkering down at a table with a book while he waits.

by juliana on 11/29/2007 at 2:56 PM

pbb
Jaunted Editor

O. M. G. (none / 0)

That video is hilarious. Looks like it was shot in 1995... Like, "Have you heard of cell phones? They're gonna be huge."

by pbb on 11/29/2007 at 3:09 PM

amandak
Jaunted Member

but over in Japan ... (none / 0)

I remember seeing a similar set up in a few places in Japan but you could plug anything in to charge and lock it into a kind of locker with a transparent door. Perhaps it cost a lot more though :-)

by amandak on 11/29/2007 at 11:17 PM

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