Fruity Picks #9 - Smatree Travel Case for Apple Watch

While the official Apple Watch Dock, reviewed in Fruity Picks #8  is a bit of a one-trick pony (which it does very well), the same cannot be said for the Smatree SmaShell A100 which combines a travel case, dock and power bank for the Apple Watch.

To be honest, I'm not convinced as to why I would want to put my Apple Watch in a case for travelling purposes as it's far more useful on my wrist...but that aside, this is a really useful little gadget. Although it doesn't come supplied with the a watch charger, I happened to have a spare short charger (0.3m) lying around which is ideal for the SmaShell. It's easy to install the charger and once it's in place, an Apple Watch can be charged in the night-stand mode as shown in the picture above. Although, you have to remember to push the charge button to actually turn on the juice from the in-built battery.

There's enough juice in the internal battery to charge an original Apple Watch up to six times (I have to admit I've not needed this - I've only needed three but that was no problem), and because it has a USB port you can also charge an additional device from it, but again, not a function I've used in anger. Clearly this wold reduce the number of Watch charges you could get from the battery.

There's room in the carrier for a couple of spare Watch bands which can be useful if you need to glam up for an evening do after a hard day in the office.

Best price in the UK is around £30 on the UK Amazon store. Recommended for weekend travellers.