Nomad is stepping back into the limelight. After a few months without any new products from the company, it looks like it’s gearing up to launch a slew of new products — starting with a refreshed version of the Nomad Battery Cable.
The new battery cable offers many of the same perks as the previous iteration, but steps things up to a 2,800mAh battery instead of the 2,350mAh battery found on the previous model. Unfortunately, there’s still only an iPhone model of the cable.
If you’re unfamiliar with the battery cable, it’s essentially a charging cable that also has a battery module, so you can connect your iPhone to the cable without plugging the other end into a computer or USB port to charge. There are a few reasons you might want this. For starters, it means you have one less thing to worry about bringing on the road with you, but it also means you can charge your phone and external battery at the same time without having to worry about charging them separately. So, if you’re someone who forgets to charge things like external batteries, this should help eliminate that issue. The cable also charges the phone before it charges the battery — so if you plug your low-battery phone in when the cable’s battery is low, it’ll charge up your phone first.
There are a few other upgrades too. For example, Nomad has done away with the plastic battery housing in favor of an aluminum one, which should help ensure that the device is able to withstand some abuse. The cable itself is also protected with a braided nylon. Nomad isn’t raising the price of the device, thankfully — it’ll stay at $50.
As mentioned, Nomad is promising to update many of its other products too, and it says they’ll land in the second half of this year. We’re hoping to see updated versions of products like the Nomad Wireless Hub, which acts as a USB hub while simultaneously acting as a wireless charger for devices like the iPhone X, which support wireless charging. It would also be nice to see the company upgrade its battery packs, like the Nomad PowerPack.