Sunday
Apr262009
Cheapo iPhone 3G Battery Case Review and Mophie comparison.
Sunday, April 26, 2009 at 10:51AM
I use my iPhone a lot for watching video podcasts and accessing the internet. It therefore has no chance to make it through a whole day without needing a recharge. Normally I recharge it at my desk - but recently I've had to make a couple of all-day trips involving 6 hours of train journeys in one day.
I therefore found that I had a need to purchase an extended battery pack to avoid running out of power mid-morning. I checked out the market leader in this field, the Mophie Juice Pack - but at approx £70 it seemed a bit excessive for something that wouldn't be getting daily use. I therefore went to Ebay to see what cheapo alternative options would be available.
I found this unnamed clone available from E-cell in the UK.
It has a number of unexpected advantages over the Mophie as well as the anticipated disadvantages you get with any cheap plastic clone, so lets do a brief roundup.
Listing the advantages first. The number one benefit of getting this Chinese knockoff is obvious, price - it cost me £15 delivered. Its size also appears to be somewhere between the Mophie Juice pack and the Juice Pack Air even though its battery claims to be bigger than both - 2200 mAh, against the Juice pack's 1800 mAh and the Air's 1200 mAh.
There are also a couple of design choices that improve upon the Mophie product. This device charges through a standard Apple dock connector (as opposed to the USB Mini socket on the Mophie). It also comes with a stand which is an excellent addition as it's at a perfect angle for watching videos with a iPhone placed on a train or airplane tray table.
Dock connector - bottom right of picture (Left side of case)
Now to disadvantages - this is a really plasticky case. Its uncomfortable to hold - the edge of the dock connector sticks into my palm, the stand is a ridiculously thin piece of plastic, coloured like metal - it could very easily snap off (mine hasn't yet, but I've been extra careful). The buttons on the case that physically touch the real buttons on the phone are very hit and miss, the power button gets stuck down, so that my phone always me asks if my intention is to power it down rather than just tap it into standby. Its hard to get a finger to the mute toggle on the phone. The worst offender is the power button on the device itself which switches it's battery on. Its a tiny bubble switch which needs to get a sharp press from a finger nail before it registers.
So, in practice, is it worth it? Well yes, it's £15 remember. On my recent trip I used my iPhone all day. When it hit approx 20% full I stuck it in the case and recharged the phone in my pocket when I wasn't using it (during meetings etc). I did this twice and managed to use the phone fully for everything I wanted, without any worry about power. I watched video podcasts on the train on the way there and TV shows on the way back, all with the phone nicely angled on it's stand. As an estimation, I think the battery would probably recharge an iPhone 3G from flat approx 1.5 times.
There is still room in the market for the perfect iPhone battery case. It needs to have the slider macro lens from the Griffin Clarifi, a camera flash like the Fastmac iv , be nice and slim like the Mophie Juice Pack Air, and have a stand and use the standard sync cable like the device I bought. There is one thing that no battery case manufacturer supplies which should be standard - and that's a slipcase pouch to hold the device in. I currently use a Sena Ultraslim case to house my iPhone when it's traveling solo. The only way I'd get a similar type case that fitted over an iPhone in an extended battery would be if the manufacturer made and offered one that fit their own dimensions.
OK, so the device I own is not as slick as a Mophie, but it does roughly the same job for about 25% of the price. I got mine from e-cell on Ebay make sure you get the one with the stand. They also do an older model without a stand and with no cut-out for the camera. Oh and the box is a misprint it doesn't actually have a shortcut to Satan as mentioned in an earlier post.
I therefore found that I had a need to purchase an extended battery pack to avoid running out of power mid-morning. I checked out the market leader in this field, the Mophie Juice Pack - but at approx £70 it seemed a bit excessive for something that wouldn't be getting daily use. I therefore went to Ebay to see what cheapo alternative options would be available.
I found this unnamed clone available from E-cell in the UK.
It has a number of unexpected advantages over the Mophie as well as the anticipated disadvantages you get with any cheap plastic clone, so lets do a brief roundup.
Listing the advantages first. The number one benefit of getting this Chinese knockoff is obvious, price - it cost me £15 delivered. Its size also appears to be somewhere between the Mophie Juice pack and the Juice Pack Air even though its battery claims to be bigger than both - 2200 mAh, against the Juice pack's 1800 mAh and the Air's 1200 mAh.
There are also a couple of design choices that improve upon the Mophie product. This device charges through a standard Apple dock connector (as opposed to the USB Mini socket on the Mophie). It also comes with a stand which is an excellent addition as it's at a perfect angle for watching videos with a iPhone placed on a train or airplane tray table.
Dock connector - bottom right of picture (Left side of case)Now to disadvantages - this is a really plasticky case. Its uncomfortable to hold - the edge of the dock connector sticks into my palm, the stand is a ridiculously thin piece of plastic, coloured like metal - it could very easily snap off (mine hasn't yet, but I've been extra careful). The buttons on the case that physically touch the real buttons on the phone are very hit and miss, the power button gets stuck down, so that my phone always me asks if my intention is to power it down rather than just tap it into standby. Its hard to get a finger to the mute toggle on the phone. The worst offender is the power button on the device itself which switches it's battery on. Its a tiny bubble switch which needs to get a sharp press from a finger nail before it registers.
So, in practice, is it worth it? Well yes, it's £15 remember. On my recent trip I used my iPhone all day. When it hit approx 20% full I stuck it in the case and recharged the phone in my pocket when I wasn't using it (during meetings etc). I did this twice and managed to use the phone fully for everything I wanted, without any worry about power. I watched video podcasts on the train on the way there and TV shows on the way back, all with the phone nicely angled on it's stand. As an estimation, I think the battery would probably recharge an iPhone 3G from flat approx 1.5 times.
There is still room in the market for the perfect iPhone battery case. It needs to have the slider macro lens from the Griffin Clarifi, a camera flash like the Fastmac iv , be nice and slim like the Mophie Juice Pack Air, and have a stand and use the standard sync cable like the device I bought. There is one thing that no battery case manufacturer supplies which should be standard - and that's a slipcase pouch to hold the device in. I currently use a Sena Ultraslim case to house my iPhone when it's traveling solo. The only way I'd get a similar type case that fitted over an iPhone in an extended battery would be if the manufacturer made and offered one that fit their own dimensions.
OK, so the device I own is not as slick as a Mophie, but it does roughly the same job for about 25% of the price. I got mine from e-cell on Ebay make sure you get the one with the stand. They also do an older model without a stand and with no cut-out for the camera. Oh and the box is a misprint it doesn't actually have a shortcut to Satan as mentioned in an earlier post.
Reader Comments (1)
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