Handheld & Travel
Anker 715 Review: One Port, and That Is the Decision
A 65 W GaN charger with the PPS range a handheld actually negotiates. It has a single USB-C port, which makes it right for one device and wrong for a desk.
Before you buy anythingThis page also considers a multi-port GaN charger, the charger that came with the device and a power bank with PD output. Why, and when each is the better answer.
Contents
For one device this is close to ideal: it delivers more than a handheld will ask for, it supports the fine-grained voltage negotiation that actually matters, and it is small enough to leave in a bag. It has one port, and that single fact decides whether it is the right purchase or the wrong one.
A note on this assessment: researched from Anker's published specification, not measured against a device here. See how we test.
The problem it addresses
A handheld gaming PC plugged in while being played is doing two things at once: running the game and charging the battery. Its peak draw in that state is meaningfully higher than when it is idle and charging, and a charger sized for the second case becomes the limit in the first.
The symptom is a device that discharges slowly while apparently plugged in, which reads as a fault and is arithmetic. The sizing rule — headroom over the device's peak, not over its average — is set out in charging a handheld properly.
How it is specified
- PPS
- 5-21 V at 3.25 A max
- Input
- 100-240 V
- Model
- A2663
- Ports
- 1 x USB-C
- power
- 65 W
- output
- 5 V/3.25 A, 9 V, 15 V, 20 V DC
- Technology
- GaN II
- technology
- GaN II
- Maximum output
- 65 W
- PIQ 3.0 profiles
- 5 V/3 A, 9 V/3 A, 15 V/3 A, 20 V/3.25 A
The PPS line is the interesting one and the port count is the deciding one.
What it gets right
PPS at 5–21 V up to 3.25 A is the specification worth having. Fixed-step Power Delivery makes a device pick from a handful of voltages and drop the difference as heat internally; PPS lets it request what it actually wants in small increments. On a handheld that means less waste heat in a device that is already thermally constrained, which is a real benefit rather than a spec-sheet one.
65 W of headroom means the charger is never the constraint for anything in this class, including while gaming.
And GaN is why it is small. That matters more than it sounds for a travel charger: the reason people leave the good charger at home is bulk, and a charger left at home delivers nothing.
What it does well
- PPS across 5-21 V, which is what a handheld actually negotiates
- 65 W headroom, so the charger is not the limit even while gaming
- GaN II keeps it small enough to stay in a bag
- Full PIQ 3.0 step range for devices that do not do PPS
- 100-240 V input, so it travels internationally with a plug adapter
What it does badly
- One USB-C port
- 65 W ceiling — larger laptops want more
- Runs warm, and a recessed socket makes that worse
- Needs a cable rated to carry 65 W, which is not implied
- PPS is only useful if the device supports it
Ugly score 2, and low is not a criticism here
A small white cube. It is the least ugly thing reviewed on this site and there is nothing to justify, because a wall charger's appearance is genuinely irrelevant — it lives behind a desk or in a bag.
Two rather than one because of what GaN chargers do to a socket: the body is dense and slightly oversized for its plug, so in a double socket it can crowd whatever is next to it, and in a recessed one it can sit proud. That is the only physical complaint available and it is minor.
Where it stops being the right tool
One port is the entire decision
Everything else here is good. The question is what you are charging.
A handheld in a bag, or a laptop at a desk: one port is correct, and the compactness is a benefit rather than a compromise. A desk with a phone, a handheld, earbuds and a laptop: one port means juggling, and a multi-port charger is the right product — which is the whole subject of charging everything in one place.
Buying this for the second case and then being annoyed by it is the predictable mistake, and it is not the charger's fault.
The cable is the silent ceiling
A 65 W charger connected through a cable that will not carry 65 W delivers less, and nothing reports why. This is the most common reason a good charger looks disappointing, and it is diagnosed with a meter rather than by swapping — the method is in why USB devices charge slowly.
Heat wants somewhere to go
GaN concentrates the conversion into a small body, so warm is normal. A socket behind a sofa, inside a cabinet, or in a recessed floor box gives it less air than it was designed for.
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Anker 715 Charger (Nano II 65W)
Anker
Single USB-C port. If the plan is to charge several things from one socket, buy a multi-port model instead — everything else about this one is right.
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Who should buy it, and who should not
Buy it for one device that travels. It is the right size, the right wattage and the right protocol support for a handheld, and it belongs in handheld kit that earns its bag space on those grounds.
Skip it for a desk that has to serve several devices. That is a different product with a different compromise — shared wattage — and pretending one port will do is how people end up owning three chargers anyway.
Would we buy it again?
Yes, for the case it is designed for. The specification is correct, the size is the point, and the single limitation is stated plainly on the box rather than hidden in it. That is a product doing what it says, and the only way to be disappointed by it is to buy it for the wrong job.
The verdict
How well it solves the stated problem.
How much it offends the eye. Higher is uglier.
Worth the money, clutter and shelf space.
- Would we buy it again?
- Yes
- Best for
- One handheld or one laptop, at a desk or in a bag, where the charger should never be the constraint and its size in the socket matters.
If this is not right for you
- A multi-port GaN charger
- Handles a handheld, a phone and a laptop from one socket, which is what a desk actually needs — at the cost of splitting the available wattage between whatever is plugged in.
- The charger that came with the device
- Free, already matched to the device, and genuinely adequate unless it is slower than the device can accept or too bulky to travel with.
- A power bank with PD output
- Charges away from a socket entirely, which is the actual constraint on a handheld used on a train, though it adds weight hanging off the connector.
Questions people actually ask
What is PPS and why does it matter for a handheld?
Will 65 W charge a handheld faster than its own charger?
Is a single port really a problem?
Does the cable matter as much as the charger?
Why do GaN chargers run warm?
Question this page did not answer? Ask it.