Nokia today announced a new charging accessory, the DC-19 Universal Portable USB Charger. The accessory, an updated version of the earlier DC-16 Universal Portable USB Charger, provides a way to recharge any USB powered device on the move. The key selling point of the DC-19 is it small size, which means it can sit in a pocket, or the bottom of a bag, waiting until you need to give your phone's battery an extra boost.

The DC-19, which has an approximate retail price of €29, will be available to buy later this month. It will be available in a range of colours: yellow, cyan, and white. The USB cable that comes with each unit is also colour matched to the colour of the unit itself, a good example of the Nokia Design Team's colour purity ethos in action.

When making a comparison with the earlier DC-16 accessory it is obvious that Nokia has been able to provide a significant upgrade in the DC-19. Battery capacity has been given a boost of almost 50% (2200 mAh to 3200 mAh), which means it will be able to fully recharge any Nokia device, even those with the higher 2000mAh capacity batteries. The extra capacity comes with almost no weight or size penalty.

Also notable is the increase in the output current, which means the DC-19 will recharge devices faster than the DC-16 (where device support higher charging input). In addition the DC-19 itself can be recharged quicker (200 minutes) than the DC016 (300 minutes) even with the higher capacity taken into account.

As with the earlier model a set of four LEDs on the end of the accessory are used to indicate both the battery level of the DC-19 and charging status when it is being used.