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Battery and Power

Mophie Juice Pack for the iPhone 3G

The first accessory many iPhone users buy for their iPhone 3G is a case and after that usually is some extra battery power. With fast 3G data comes a price: shorter battery life, and you can’t exactly pop in an extra battery as you would with most other mobile phones. Mophie is one of the first companies to recognize the need for an external power pack and offers its Juice Pack for the iPhone 3G. We’ve reviewed both of their Juice Pack products for the first-gen iPhone (review) and the iPod Touch (review). The Juice Pack for the iPhone 3G continues to prove this is a must-have accessory for an iPhone 3G owner.

Form: The form factor of the new Mophie Juice Pack stays mostly the same as the one for the last-gen iPhone. The Juice Pack comes in the form of a jacket for the iPhone 3G and the material is soft but grippy. You can use your iPhone for any task while in the Juice Pack. One improvement in the new Mophie Juice Pack design is that the connector to the iPhone 3G is more integrated with the case and the iPhone doesn’t look separated from the case as much as it did with the last-gen Juice Pack. This more integrated design also makes the new Mophie Juice Pack looks smaller and easier to handle, though the size stays the same as the last-gen product. The iPhone 3G isn’t completely sitting in the case however as the small gaps between the phone and the Juice Pack are designed for the iPhone speaker to push sound out while in the case.

You will find the same 4 LED lights on the back of the Juice Pack that indicate the power level of the battery pack and the jacket leaves the iPhone’s side buttons and top buttons open for easy access. The Mophie has a cut out for the iPhone’s camera on the back and a USB-mini port on the bottom for charging and syncing the iPhone 3G without taking it out of the Juice Pack.

Power: Like the last-gen battery pack, the Mophie Juice Pack for the iPhone 3G has a 1800 mAh Lithium-Polymer battery built-in and it can extend the iPhone’s battery runtime considerably. The battery pack can add an additional 6 hours of talk time on 3G, and 12 hours on GSM/EDGE. Our tests showed that these numbers were a little overestimated but not by much. For audio playback, the Mophie adds an additional 28 hours of battery life and 8 hours additional for video playback. These are very impressive numbers, though many iPhone 3G users will likely use the Juice Pack as a backup power source in case they are away from a power outlet when their iPhone runs out of power. For users who worry that frequent charging of the iPhone’s battery might shorten its life, the Juice Pack comes with smart battery technology that allows the iPhone 3G to drain power from the Mophie before using its internal power.

The Juice Pack takes about 3 hours to fully charge a depleted iPhone 3G. The Mophie comes with a USB cable that allows you to charge the Juice Pack or both the iPhone and the Mophie simultaneously using either a computer or the iPhone AC plug. The LED lights on the back of the Mophie tell you how much power it has. Like all Mophie Juice Packs, the iPhone 3G version has built-in overcharge, short circuit and temperature protection. What’s new in the iPhone 3G version is the syncing capability through the Mophie. The iPhone can sync via USB while in the Juice Pack.

Pro: Easy to carry and use. Great runtime numbers. Long battery life (good for over 500 full cycles). Can sync and charge the same time.

Con: If you want to use it as a case, it doesn’t protect the iPhone’s screen.

MiLi Power Pack for iPhone and iPhone 3G

With the ever-growing selection of apps available on the App Store, the things you can do with an iPhone are almost limitless. Need to research on Wikipedia for your big project? iPhones can do that. Want to locate nearby specialists for the type of project you’re working on? iPhones can do that too. Want to forget about the project and just play Scrabble? You get the idea. In fact, often the only area in which an iPhone can’t keep up with all your interests is battery life; the more you use it, the more battery capacity you need. Luckily, Phone Suit’s new MiLi Power Pack boosts your total battery capacity and maintains compatibility with both first gen and 3G iPhones. Although any add-on battery pack must inherently have some disadvantages, the fact is that if you’re a heavy duty iPhone user, the MiLi is practically a mandatory add-on for your digital lifestyle.

The Phone Suit MiLi is a “backpack” style backup battery that measures 5.1 inches X 2.8 inches X 0.8 inches. It is available in six color schemes, including blue, green, and gray inner lining in a black outer shell as well as orange, green, and gray inner lining in a white outer shell. It snaps directly onto your iPhone (either generation) without requiring any cables and provides a 2000 mAh lithium-polymer secondary battery for the phone. It doesn’t cover the iPhone’s screen, volume buttons, silence switch, camera, headphone jack, SIM slot, or power button, so these items remain fully accessible.

At the front of the base of the MiLi (the part directly below the iPhone) is an indicator button, along with four status lights. Simply press the button at any time, and the MiLi temporarily lights up some or all of the status lights, indicating how much charge it has left. (This is handy since your iPhone’s own battery indicator will simply display the “battery full” icon whenever it is running off the MiLi’s power.) On the bottom edge, you’ll find the USB mini-B “In” connector as well as the “Out” pass through connector, and on the back, you’ll find... well, nothing, actually (which is good news if you want to lie your iPhone flat on its back).

Wait, hold the phone (literally)! Yes, it really has a pass through connector, which you can use to plug in and charge any USB device (even another MiLi). This feature is incredibly convenient, especially since many people have numerous devices vying for the limited number of USB charging connections available at their computer or workstation – although you can use the pass through port to charge another device even when the MiLi is not itself charging. This means that, in a pinch, if you have some other USB-chargeable device with you that urgently needs to be charged before you can get back to your computer, the MiLi can even help you with that.

The input port is, again, also a standard USB connection, which is fortunate if you need something that will connect to a standard cable that’s available just about everywhere – but it’s not fortunate if you were hoping to connect anything based on the iPod Dock Connector that an iPhone normally uses, because you can’t connect them at all without removing the MiLi. Thankfully, if you use a USB cable to connect the “In” port to a computer, the MiLi not only charges itself but also supports both syncing and charging the iPhone it is carrying (if there is one).

The bottom line is that you can pretty much use your iPhone all day, nonstop, with the MiLi connected, for anything you can do with an iPhone (phone, iPod, apps, etc.) and it is almost impossible to run out of battery charge. This makes it a great accessory for people taking long flights or trips – and for that matter, it is ultimately a great accessory for anyone who owns an iPhone. If you literally intend to use it all day long, you will need to charge it every day, but as long as you do that, you may never need to worry about your iPhone’s battery life again, since you can use it as much as you want with very little risk of running out of power.

Mophie Juice Pack for iPhone


The first things that many iPhone users seek after getting their shiny phone are a case and an extra battery. We’ve seen some great cases and a few battery packs, but the Mophie Juice Pack combines a case and a battery pack in one with integrated Lithium Polymer rechargeable battery built into a hard slip case. It’s easy to use: just slide in your iPhone and start charging. Better yet, it doesn’t interrupt tasks like making phone calls, browsing, listening to music and more. The battery jacket looks slim by battery pack standards, but it does add some heft to the iPhone: you won’t want to hold the phone for a long conversation while in the Juice Pack (iPhone 4.8 ounces + Juice Pak 3 ounces= 7.8 ounces total weight). Note that this Juice Pack model is only for the original iPhone and not the iPhone 3G.

Case: It’s amazing what a bright color can do to improve a look, and the black Juice Pack inside surfaces are lined with a bright grass green that catches your eye. The jacket is sturdily built but feels smooth and soft. Two strips of rubber on either side of the jacket feel just slightly rougher than the case’s grippy soft touch body, and prevent the battery pack slipping from your hand. Measuring 2.5 x 4.75 x 0.75 inches, the Mophie Juice Pack adds very little to iPhone’s width, about half of an inch in length and about a quarter of an inch in thickness. The Juice Pack weighs 3 ounces and for that extra weight, you get doubled battery life for your iPhone. Not bad! The Juice Pack has an intelligent battery with 4 LED lights on the back to indicate power level. As a case, the Mophie Juice Pack doesn’t protect the screen but is sturdy and protective in all other areas.

Battery Pack: We’ve seen several battery packs for the iPhone, all as USB battery sticks in one form or another with lovely wires to connect to your phone. The Mophie Juice Pack’s design is obviously cleaner. The built-in Lithium Polymer battery is 1800mAh in capacity, which is slightly higher than the Proporta Mobile Device Charger Micro but a bit lower than FastMac’s iV battery pack for the iPhone. The claimed runtime of the Juice Pack equals the runtime of the iPhone’s battery, which means you get double the runtime when you have full charges on both. Our tests showed that these numbers were very to close to target.

Since the iPhone doesn’t have a user replaceable battery, users are more concerned about not only the runtime per charge, but the battery’s long-term lifespan. The Mophie Juice Pack has a few tricks to avoid exhausting the iPhone’s built-in battery prematurely and unnecessarily. The Juice Pack incorporates Smart Battery Technology that not only charges your iPhone’s internal battery but also ensures the iPhone will use the battery power from the Juice Pack first. And once the battery runs dry, the Juice Pack will give you an audible alert and you can charge it with the iPhone charger. The claimed rechargeable cycles are 500, and we haven’t used it nearly long enough to comment if that’s accurate. The Mophie Juice Pack counts only full charges as a cycle, this means if you only top off on power but don’t charge it all the way, it won’t count as a full cycle. The Juice Pack has a pass-thru charging connector, so when you charge the pack with the iPhone plugged in, your iPhone gets charged as well as the battery pack. The connector does not support syncing however. The iPhone charger fits fine, but the Juice Pack won't fit in the cradle.

Conclusion: With the Mophie Juice Pack added to your iPhone accessory bag, globetrotters can make it through a transatlantic flight without running for an AC outlet. The Juice Pack even offers overcharge, short circuit and overheating protection for the iPhone. The price is about twice as high as a standard mobile phone battery, but only a little higher than extended batteries that are comparable in capacity. And it’s a case too, so we’ll cut it some slack. It’s slim and light by external battery pack standards and provides protection for your iPhone while it’s being charged. It’s a good buy for those who use their iPhone as a phone, MP3 player and video player on trips.