As crucial as Android Auto and CarPlay have become to daily driving, the core problem remains. Wired connections charge your phone slowly,.
As crucial as Android Auto and CarPlay have become to daily driving, the core problem remains. Wired connections charge your phone slowly, and wireless drains your battery quickly. That’s where the “PDFriender” steps in as a clever little solution.
The “PDFriender 2Pad” is a 65W car charger at its core, plugging into your car’s power port and charging up your phone at full speed as you’d expect from any car charger. What makes this one special is that, on top of full-speed charging, it lets you use wired Android Auto and CarPlay.
The first of the two USB-C ports is the one that connects to your phone, with the other being used to connect to your car.
When both are in use, the signal from your car is transferred from one port to the other, just combined with speedy charging. It’s a simple idea, but one that’s not been so elegant to find so far.
In practice, even on this early prototype I’ve been using, it works really well. I tried this out with my Nothing Phone (3) and my Galaxy Z Fold 7, and it does exactly what it promises. The phone gets full-speed charging – I clocked it at around 25W when it was already at 80% capacity, which is when charging rates tend to slow down – while acting just like a totally normal wired Android Auto experience.
