::Mophie Juice-Pack Review:: [/tech/mac] (11:19)

I'll be doing some overseas travel next week. With 18 hours in the air plus some airport time, I am quite concerned about how my iPhone will hold up. I'm not sure if I'll have access to under the seat power on this flight, so I started my hunt for some sort of extra battery for my iPhone.

There were several cheap devices for running an iPod off of battery power, but none of them really looked like they were up to the challenge of keeping an iPhone going. All the designs I saw were tethered, whereby a batter was connected by cable to the device. That would be fairly awkward on a plane. And, the existing models were reported to put the iPhone into airplane mode. Obviously that's not a problem for this use case, but I'd like to be able to use the backup battery in non-airplane situations without any fuss.

Just as I was about to give up and dig out my old nano as a backup device, I ran across the Mophie iPhone Juice Pack. The Juice Pack fits around the iPhone like a case, except that it instead of just wrapping the iPhone, the iPhone slides into it like a dock. While in the case, the battery in the case charges the iPhone and keeps the battery full for as it can. On my first day of use yesterday, I got my iPhone home and the iPhone was at full charge, with the Mophie at about half charge. (The Mophie has a battery level display that works like MacBook/MacBook Pro batteries)

I'm very impressed. The Mophie is not cheap, but my initial usage makes me feel that the money was well spent. I won't know until I try, but I'm confident it will get be through my trip with power to spare. Being able to snap the case on the iPhone should make it easy to transport.

There are a couple of negatives to the device. The case adds a small amount of bulk and weight to the iPhone. That doesn't bother me, but if weight is a big deal to you, you might want to try it out. If you are already have another case, then you'll have to give it up to use the Mophie. My iPhone is generally naked, so no loss for me there. The biggest draw back is that although the Mophie does have a standard iPhone connector on the bottom, you cannot sync through it. The case was a little too thick to dock in my iHome, so I couldn't verify whether or not you can play through it. Even if it can play, I consider the lack of sync capabilities a very serious flaw for such a high priced accessory. Finally, if you are considering purchasing a 3G iPhone in the near future, you've got no guarantee that the form factor of the new phone will be compatible with the Mophie. As wonderful as I think the Mophie is, I do plan to jump on the 3G iPhone when it comes out. If I weren't desperate for a solution for my upcoming trip, I think I would wait a bit to make sure the device won't be obsolete when the new models come out.