In case you're bummed about minimal battery life with the iphone 4 or 4s and wondering what you can do while waiting & hoping the apple comes out with a software update to help fix it, well, here's a proactive solution. Get a case with a built in battery-charger that has it's own rechargeable battery. A few years ago when I used the iphone 3gs I didn't know of something like this and resorted to using these funny things that you plug on the bottom of the phone that extended the length of the phone a few inches and never liked having to do that. Now with these cases there are some that are sleek enough that one necessarily even know that there is a extra battery there unless you told some.
So I've been researching a bit on cases that have built in battery-charging for the iphone 4 / iphone 4s phones and have found a few options. First of all, clearly not all cases are created equal in terms of extra battery life, some are bulkier etc. Case & Point: I initially bought an Energizer case that is kind of rubbery which is nice for the phone not to slide around so easily but I found it actually affects reception pretty dramatically if you're in an area that is already challenged reception. I actually had this experience with having no reception and driving a couple miles away from my house to make this important call. Later I realized that when I took the case off I had a bar or two and it worked just fine.
Now in terms of what's out there, there are a few models that seem most popular (marketing has something to do with this of course). The Morphie (Morphie Juice Pack Air), the Phone Suit Elite, and others. So far I've found that the Morphie seems to have generally less (only 1,400 mAh on of theirs) which gives about 70% of an additional charge. The Phone Suit Elite boasts a full extra charge and has "Quick Charge Technology which incorporates high speed (1 Amp / 5 Watt) charging which is awesome if you're battery is down almost all the way and you need a quick charge for more heavy usage.
My work (event organizing) requires that I'm on the phone A LOT and thus, I need to have a charged phone ready for lots of phone calls, sometimes traveling using GPS, lots of texting, using Siri now to find stuff etc. Although I'm about to maybe buy a Phone Suit Elite, I'm wondering if anyone knows of others that might even be better. That one is 2100 mAh which seems pretty good considering that their design is really pretty thin and sleek. It also allows for itunes synching and other normal things you'd do with a case. There are some cases that due to it's design don't allow for that. Some are all one piece and some like Phone Suit require you to slide the phone onto the bottom section (thus plugging your battery connected onto the charger of the case) and then sliding the top section over. The Energizer which I do like in terms of look & feel is all one rubbery piece. But as I mentioned about that one it does affect in some areas your reception and battery extension on that one is only 1200 mAh compared with 2100 mAh that the Phone Suit Elite gets. Please don't think I'm like a Phone Suit rep or anything, I stand nothing to gain and have no loyalty to their product but they seem a cut above from what I've seen.
There is one exception in terms of battery life charge time. I found one unit that had THE longest battery life out there. I have to search again to find it from my research a couple weeks ago but it had enough I think for 2 full charges. I only found it on one site and it was a 3rd party vendor from somewhere in Asia so I was a bit reluctant.
Another one that might be reliable though is Mili which has one with 3,000 mAh and the format of the case has only the bottom section (no covering for top part of phone at all). The back of the case is kind of bulky but when you need the juice what else are you going to do?
There are external chargers you could carry around which can hold a lot more juice if you really want to plug your iphone into an external unit that can be as big or bigger than the iphone itself.
So there's are a few of my findings and I'm really curious if anyone has found another iphone case with battery charger that could be better than the iphone suite elite in terms of battery life but also covering both the top and bottom of the phone. My preference would be if the texture of the outside of the case not be slippery plastic but perhaps some sort of rubber like texture that helps for gripping & not sliding all over the place. The reason for me mainly is because when I'm driving sometimes I put the phone on my lap or on the seat with the ear plugs for hands free and currently my phone slips & slides easily. I noticed the phone stays in one place with my Energizer case but I'd rather find a better unit in terms of charge time that has that same kind of grip.
I hope there is some good input on people's experience on this thread. For iphone users that really talk a lot on the phone and use their aps a lot and don't want to have to be plugged in all the time if you're on the go, I see no other choice but to take battery life issues 'into our own hands' so to speak with a battery case/charger like one of these.
Thanks
So I've been researching a bit on cases that have built in battery-charging for the iphone 4 / iphone 4s phones and have found a few options. First of all, clearly not all cases are created equal in terms of extra battery life, some are bulkier etc. Case & Point: I initially bought an Energizer case that is kind of rubbery which is nice for the phone not to slide around so easily but I found it actually affects reception pretty dramatically if you're in an area that is already challenged reception. I actually had this experience with having no reception and driving a couple miles away from my house to make this important call. Later I realized that when I took the case off I had a bar or two and it worked just fine.
Now in terms of what's out there, there are a few models that seem most popular (marketing has something to do with this of course). The Morphie (Morphie Juice Pack Air), the Phone Suit Elite, and others. So far I've found that the Morphie seems to have generally less (only 1,400 mAh on of theirs) which gives about 70% of an additional charge. The Phone Suit Elite boasts a full extra charge and has "Quick Charge Technology which incorporates high speed (1 Amp / 5 Watt) charging which is awesome if you're battery is down almost all the way and you need a quick charge for more heavy usage.
My work (event organizing) requires that I'm on the phone A LOT and thus, I need to have a charged phone ready for lots of phone calls, sometimes traveling using GPS, lots of texting, using Siri now to find stuff etc. Although I'm about to maybe buy a Phone Suit Elite, I'm wondering if anyone knows of others that might even be better. That one is 2100 mAh which seems pretty good considering that their design is really pretty thin and sleek. It also allows for itunes synching and other normal things you'd do with a case. There are some cases that due to it's design don't allow for that. Some are all one piece and some like Phone Suit require you to slide the phone onto the bottom section (thus plugging your battery connected onto the charger of the case) and then sliding the top section over. The Energizer which I do like in terms of look & feel is all one rubbery piece. But as I mentioned about that one it does affect in some areas your reception and battery extension on that one is only 1200 mAh compared with 2100 mAh that the Phone Suit Elite gets. Please don't think I'm like a Phone Suit rep or anything, I stand nothing to gain and have no loyalty to their product but they seem a cut above from what I've seen.
There is one exception in terms of battery life charge time. I found one unit that had THE longest battery life out there. I have to search again to find it from my research a couple weeks ago but it had enough I think for 2 full charges. I only found it on one site and it was a 3rd party vendor from somewhere in Asia so I was a bit reluctant.
Another one that might be reliable though is Mili which has one with 3,000 mAh and the format of the case has only the bottom section (no covering for top part of phone at all). The back of the case is kind of bulky but when you need the juice what else are you going to do?
There are external chargers you could carry around which can hold a lot more juice if you really want to plug your iphone into an external unit that can be as big or bigger than the iphone itself.
So there's are a few of my findings and I'm really curious if anyone has found another iphone case with battery charger that could be better than the iphone suite elite in terms of battery life but also covering both the top and bottom of the phone. My preference would be if the texture of the outside of the case not be slippery plastic but perhaps some sort of rubber like texture that helps for gripping & not sliding all over the place. The reason for me mainly is because when I'm driving sometimes I put the phone on my lap or on the seat with the ear plugs for hands free and currently my phone slips & slides easily. I noticed the phone stays in one place with my Energizer case but I'd rather find a better unit in terms of charge time that has that same kind of grip.
I hope there is some good input on people's experience on this thread. For iphone users that really talk a lot on the phone and use their aps a lot and don't want to have to be plugged in all the time if you're on the go, I see no other choice but to take battery life issues 'into our own hands' so to speak with a battery case/charger like one of these.
Thanks
