Toasty, a Fun Charger Concept

What do you get when you cross a battery charger with a toaster? If you don't get a toast battery, then it's most likely you'll get Toasty, a charger with a fun and interesting approach to putting back some juice in your portable devices' batteries. Moreover, this piece of gadgetry is even more suitable if you're the kind of person who likes toast in the morning and has Vader's egocentric toaster, or is thinking about spending some cash on the “bread toast-printer.”

The main thing about the Toasty Charger is that it works pretty much like any other toaster, at least on the visual side. Hyun-A Ko, its creator, has managed to transform the popping bread image into a fun and functional translation.

If you want to recharge the battery of your cell-phone or PDA (or pretty much any other battery with the same form factor), all you have to do is insert it in the special connector cradle and press the side-mounted button. The connector cradle together with the battery will retract inside the Toasty Charger and the charging process will begin.

Now, the even funnier thing is that, as current is stored back in the rechargeable battery, the whole ensemble will be lifted up, looking like a slow-motion playback of a movie with bread popping out of a traditional toaster. The Toasty Charger also comes with a LED light indicator built in one of its sides, displaying the charging level.

One is definitely not sure whether this LED light has the shape of cook's hat or that of a slice of bread, but one thing is sure: if it's off, the battery is slightly charged (max 1/3) or almost dead. If there is a pale yellow light, you've got more than 2/3 from a full charge, while the bright yellow light tells you that your battery has finished charging.

The designer who created the Toasty Charger also claims that the special connector dock can accommodate a very large number of batteries. Now, it would be cool, indeed, to see this charger in stores selling for a decent price.

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