Pulse Infinity Wireless Power Bank: A Stylish, Useful Everyday Carry

Unsurprisingly when running a site like this, I get a lot of requests to review power banks, and I turn most of them down. There’s only so much you can say about generic black boxes with the same design, capacity, and features as their competition.

When Australian-based manufacturer Pulse Charge reached out to me recently to see if I’d review its Infinity Wireless power bank, however, I was more interested than usual: the company says its goal is to create products that not only perform but look great as well, and the photos on the website seemed to back that up.

There’s often a big difference between artfully-lit product shots and reality, though, and that’s before you even start using it: the most beautiful power bank in the world isn’t worth much if it doesn’t work well.

Would that be the case here? Only one way to find out, I guess.

Design and Features

The Infinity is a small, slim Magsafe-compatible power bank that’s a bit longer and wider than a credit card, and just 8.5mm high if you don’t count the kickstand.

It comes in an unusually wide range of colours, including vibrant choices like lilac and green as well as standard ones like black and white. Mine was the titanium version, probably the most stylish option.

There’s a premium feel to the device, and that extends to the packaging as well. It’s amazing what a difference a bit of thick cardboard and foam does for the unboxing experience. Other than the device itself, there’s a small instruction card and a short USB C cable in the box.

The sheer volume of text and icons on the front does diminish the attractiveness a little, but true to the company’s promise, the Infinity still looks better than the majority of power banks out there.

The front has a large circle to let you know where the wireless charging coils are, and a bunch of fine print below outlining all of various charging speeds on offer. There’s not much to say about the sides: other than the USB C port and a small power button, they’re completely blank.

Press the power button once to turn it on and see the remaining capacity, press it twice to turn it off.

That kickstand is the most obvious feature on the back, mounted in the middle so you can prop the Infinity up both vertically and horizontally. It doesn’t sit completely flush, which in turn means that the power bank itself doesn’t sit flat on the table. Does that matter? Not at all.

There’s also a row of small LED lights on the back: one of them lights up when a device is being wirelessly charged, while the other four show roughly how much battery is left and whether the power bank itself is being charged,

For such a compact unit, the rated power output is relatively high: up to 15W of wireless charging, and up to 20W if you plug in a USB C cable. There’s one in the box, but almost any other should work just as well.

One feature I was surprised to see included was pass-through charging, which lets you wirelessly charge a device from the Infinity while the power bank itself is being charged via the USB C cable.

In theory this means you could use the Infinity as your everyday wireless charger, not just as a power bank. It probably wouldn’t do great things for the longevity of the battery inside it, but it’s an option nonetheless.

The 5000mAh capacity of the Infinity means one full charge of most modern phones is about the best you can hope for out of it. You won’t be be taking it on a multi-day hike, but it’ll easily get you through to the end of day if you’ve managed to drain your phone by dinner time.

Specifications

Testing

If you’ve got a Magsafe-compatible phone or case, the power bank snaps satisfyingly into place and starts charging immediately. That’s how it worked on my partner’s iPhone, covering everything below the camera array.

With other devices that can charge wirelessly but don’t have magnets built in, like smartwatches, earbuds, or my Galaxy S24+ phone, you just need to make sure you line them up over the lightning bolt icon on the power bank.

With the kickstand angled well back, I was able to prop my phone up in a way where it comfortably stayed upright while charging wirelessly. For other devices, I just dispensed with the kickstand and laid the power bank flat on the table instead.

Wireless Charging

Charging wirelessly from the Infinity, my S24+ battery went from 20% to 63% charge in an hour and 48 minutes before the power bank was completely drained.

Doing the same thing with my partner’s iPhone yielded a far better experience, going from 5% to 85% in 1hr 46min before slowing down the charging rate as usual. I got almost exactly one full charge into the phone before the power bank ran out of juice.

These two results show how inefficient wireless charging when you’re not using a MagSafe-compatible device that locks the charging coils in the perfect position. All wireless chargers have this issue, mind you: it’s not unique to the Infinity.

Wired Charging

Using a cable and starting at 5%, my S24+ took 55 minutes to get to 68% before the power bank hit empty. It pulled a consistent 17-18W of power the entire time. My partner’s iPhone charged at the same rate, around 18.5W.

I did have an issue with the power bank overheating a couple of times while charging from the cable, however. Both times my phone had added around 50% capacity when it suddenly stopped charging, with the Infinity noticeably warm to the touch.

Initially the power button did nothing and I thought the Infinity had just run out of juice, but it hadn’t. After letting it cool down for ten minutes, I tried again: this time, the phone started charging again like nothing had happened.

I couldn’t replicate this if I turned off fast charging on my phone, which isn’t a huge surprise: there’s just a lot less heat generated.

If you want to get the most charge out of this (or any other) power bank, use a cable. Just keep an eye on it, since heat build-up can cause it to stop before it’s fully discharged.

Pass-Through Charging

Testing out pass-through charging, I noticed that it didn’t work straight away when starting with the power bank completely empty. After plugging a charging cable into the power bank, I tried to charge my phone wirelessly: it worked for a few seconds and then stopped.

It worked fine with an AirPods Pro case, however, and after leaving the power bank plugged in for another ten minutes, I tried the phone again and it charged without issue.

In short, if you want to use pass-through, just make sure there’s a bit of charge in the power bank before you start.

Kickstand

The kickstand works well, whether you’re using the Infinity in portrait or landscape mode. There’s a wide angle of adjustment on offer, from 0 to almost 90 degrees: it clicks into place at 45 degrees, but sits firmly at almost any other angle as well.

Watching shows on your phone is particularly enjoyable with the Infinity, especially if you’ve got a MagSafe-compatible device or case: the magnets are strong enough to keep the phone stuck firmly in place no matter the kickstand angle.

There’s a lot to be said for watching a film for a couple of hours and walking away with a fully-charged phone at the end!

The Infinity is small and slim enough that if you usually keep your phone in your pocket, you should be able to keep doing so with the power bank attached. That said, it weighs more than half as much as an iPhone, so while it’s not like it’s going to rip a hole in your pocket because of the extra weight, you’ll definitely be aware of it.

That extra weight also affects the balance of your phone when you’re holding it: it’s suddenly a lot heavier on the lower half than the top. It doesn’t matter most of the time, but if you’re holding your phone out at arm’s length for a selfie, you’ll notice the difference.

Verdict

Overall, this is a stylish little power bank with enough extras to make it stand out from the sea of generic alternatives.

Both the size and capacity suggest the Infinity is intended to be an everyday carry, the kind of thing you just leave in your handbag or daypack and forget about until your phone needs a bit more juice to get you through to the end of the day.

It’s more useful than that, though, thanks to the well-designed kickstand that lets you easily watch shows on your phone for a couple of hours and still walk away with more charge than you started with.

The stand keeps the Infinity rock-solid in both portrait and landscape mode, helped by strong magnets that hold compatible phones firmly in place. The pass-through charging is a bonus, and generally works well: you may just have to charge the power bank for a few minutes first if it’s completely empty when you start.

It works best with recent iPhones and other phones with MagSafe or Qi2 wireless charging, and feels like it’s designed with those in mind. That said, you’ll get better efficiency with a cable, but you’ll want to keep an eye on it: I did see charging stop due to overheating a couple of times.

Despite those couple of minor issues, this is still a very useful device. If you’re based in Australia (Pulse only ships domestically at this stage) and are looking for a handy take-everywhere wireless power bank, you’ve found it in the Infinity.

All images via author