Juicing up the iPhone

I’m sadly besotted with my iPhone 3G. It’s an indecently seductive gadget which, when coupled with some of the gems available through the App Store, revolutionises computing on the move. It’s transformed me from someone who used a mobile phone, oh, half a dozen times a week, into someone who whips out the little critter given even the tiniest of openings.

But I’m not blind to its failings. I’m aghast at the lack of multimedia messaging support and absence of video; stunned by the omission of cut and paste; and frustrated by the hermetically sealed battery which limits mobile roaming time.

Fortunately, I’ve found a way to deal with one of these three: enter the Mophie Juice Pack.

Mophie’s Juick Pack

The Juice Pack is an extra battery disguised as an iPhone case. Slip the iPhone into a charged Juice Pack and you double the battery life of the phone while protecting the phone from hard knocks.

Since I received mine, I’ve stopped anxiously watching as my iPhone’s battery indicator slipped rapidly into the danger zone. Instead, I spend the whole day phoning, downloading apps and using data services without a worry. The “doubles the battery life” claim is certainly true.

Charging up

The Juice Pack comes with a mini USB cable you can plug into any computer for charging. It takes a bit under three hours to charge completely from empty and if you leave the iPhone in the Juice Pack they’ll charge at the same time. Four blue LEDs on the back of the Juice Pack indicate how much of a charge it has. When it’s not plugged in the LEDs remain dark, but you can press a little button beside the LEDs to get an instant indication of how much charge you have left.

Tip: If you’re on the road without your computer, take along a USB power adapter. These let you plug one or more USB devices directly into a power outlet for charging.  For international travellers, the Lenmar Travel Adapter is a really nice option. It lets you charge four devices concurrently and includes international adapters so you can plug the unit into any style of power outlet. Belkin also makes USB power adapters. Handy little things.

In use, the iPhone drains the Juice Pack first, and only then starts using up its own charge. That means you can slip off the Juice Pack once it’s drained, leaving the slim iPhone in your pocket.

Small enough, but not svelte

The Juice Pack’s size is it’s main drawback. While it fits the iPhone snugly and adds only a quarter of an inch to its length and a few millimetres to its width, it doubles its depth. The Juice Pack has a soft grip that feels great in the hand and it’s not what you’d call clunky, but it certainly detracts from the iPhone’s lithe lines.

The Juice Pack also doesn’t include any front protection for your iPhone. I use it in conjunction with a non-glare screen protector from Power Support and haven’t had any problems despite a few drops.

One small design flaw

The Juice Pack has one largely cosmetic design flaw. It has a rubber inset along either side. These insets are glued in and are clearly meant to remain attached. But the glue is not very effective. Within a few weeks of use I found the insets were starting to pull away.

At first I poked them back in, but gradually they became more and more detached and made the Juice Pack uncomfortable to hold. So I decided to pull them out instead of stuffing them back in.

Well, the glue may not be effective, but it’s exceedingly sticky. Having pulled out the insets, there was no way to clean off the glue. I tried various methods, but couldn’t get rid of the very tacky residue. I contemplated re-glueing the inserts, but in the end I decided on another approach.

I had on hand some fluorescent green mailing labels which nicely matched the Juice Pack’s colourful innards. I cut out the mailing labels and stuck them into the craters left by the insets.

The result is a Juice Pack that feels a little different but is still very comfortable in my hand and that looks just fine.

I thoroughly recommend the Juice Pack, and it gets a “certified” sticker from Apple so there are no compatibility problems. It’ll set you back a hundred bucks and it’s well worth it. You can buy it directly from Mophie.

Comments

[KRAPPS]

Nice review and thanks for the info ... the "case" design of this battery certainly make it more convenient than having a dangling battery.