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gadget — Episode 128 – The Mophie Juice Pack Air for iPhone 3G/3Gs
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The Mophie Juice Pack Air is a second-generation external battery for the iPhone 3G and 3Gs. Designed to be a “second-skin” for your iPhone, the JuicePack Air will increase all measurements of the iPhone: the height will increase by .4 inches, from 4.5 to 4.9 – The width by a tenth of an inch – the thickness by a quarter of an inch, from .48 to .75 – and the weight by 2.5 ounces, from 4.8 to 7.4.
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Using the Mophie Juice Pack air is a no-brainer. Simply remove the top of the unit, slide in your iPhone, replace the top of the case, and turn it on. There are recessed openings in the Juice Pack Air for the volume and power buttons, the headphone jack, the camera, and the ringer switch. I was a little worried that the headphone jack was a too deep to be used by a standard pair of headphone, but my concern proved to be unfounded. The front of the Juice Pack Air is worthy of note because Mophie added a lip to the case that keeps the screen from contacting a flat surface should the combined unit be placed face-down. This added layer of protection is welcomed by anybody who has ever accidently scratched the screen of their iPod. The bottom of the Juice Pack air has a MicroUSB connector that lets you simultaneously charge both the JuicePack AND a docked iPhone, as well as sync the iPhone without having to take it out of the Air. That connector is adjacent to a power switch that lets you turn off the external battery, disconnecting it from the iPhone while still maintaining the ability to charge and sync. There is a 4-LED indicator on the back of the JuicePack Air that gives you an at-a-glance view of the charge level and charge status of the Juice Pack’s 1200mAh battery. Pushing the button next to the LEDs will illuminate up to 4 of the lights, letting you know how much power is left in the pack. During charging, one of the lights will flash, giving you an approximate charge level, until all four lights are steady. When I plugged the Mophie Juice Pack in the USB port on my laptop, I was able to charge the unit from dead to full in about 3-1/2 hours. When plugged directly into an AC/DC adapter, the Juice Pack charged in an average of 2-1/2 hours. Our testing methodology was relatively straightforward. We charged the JuicePack to capacity, then plugged in a fully charged iPhone. In the first set of tests, we ran a rather unrealistic configuration of the iPhone to see how much power we could coax from the Air. We turned on all the services (3g, Location Services, WiFi, Bluetooth, Push) and kept the screen on while running video. In this configuration the combined JuicePack/iPhone ran for 5 hours before dying. |
As a mid-range test, we kept all services on, but only used the iPhone for 30 minutes of each hour. With such settings the Juice Pack Air lasted for almost 7 hours before switching to the iPhone’s internal battery.
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In the final test, we configured the iPhone for a low-power, real-world loadout: WiFi/Bluetooth/Location Services and Push were all turned off, the screen on and the phone transmitting data/voice for 5 minutes out of each hour and 3G or WiFi being used for an additional 5 minutes each hour. In this configuration, the JuicePack alone lasted for 11-1/2 hours before switching to the internal iPhone battery. You iPhone milleage will vary depending on how you use your iPhone and how strong of a signal you have in your location, but it’s clear that the Juice Pack Air is an easy way to almost double your runtime. The Mophie Juice Pack Air is available now. It comes in black, white or purple and is can be purchased for ~$80. |
