Among the many vendors that I met at CES earlier this year, Mophie was perhaps the most willing and easiest to work with in gathering product review ideas for MacTrast. They have sent us their wonderful Juice Pack Plus to try out – my thoughts after the break.
My only camera is my iPhone, so while I can provide some decent product shots of this case, I have to rely upon others for images that actually contain the iPhone. So, bearing that in mind, I’ll jump right into it:
First Thoughts
The Mophie Juice Pack Plus, with its 2000 MaH battery, more than doubles the native battery life of your iPhone 4. It’s quite well built, and is extremely well-designed. It’s a useful tool to have, and while it does add some bulk to your iPhone, it’s scarcely noticeable (due in large part to Mophie’s excellent design. I really appreciate the design and usability of this device.
What’s In The Box
One of the many beauties of the Juice Pack Plus is it’s minimalism, and the minimalism goes clear down to the packaging. The packaging is slim, and contains only the case, a MicroUSB Cable, and a short manual – all you really need, all in one place.
I feel good about the quality and durability of the packaging, and it’s aesthetically pleasing enough to really stand out on a retail shelf.
Does What It Says
A great feat for any company is to actually produce a product that does what they claim it does. The Juice Pack Plus does that and more – it more than doubles your battery life, has a great feature that shows you how much battery life is remaining, has well-designed buttons that feel professional, and look great – they mimic the look and feel of the manufacturer buttons on the iPhone 4.
Another plus is that the battery indicator also is bright enough to work as a flashlight in the dark.
Aesthetics
The Juice Pack Plus is slim and contoured, and while it does substantially increase the size and weight of the iPhone, I barely noticed – the case is is sufficiently comfortable to hold that the extra weight had little bearing, and the case is contoured well enough that it doesn’t feel thicker in your pocket, or really look thicker at first glance.
The matte finish adds a beautiful effect to the case, while the precision machining and placement of the buttons makes for a seamless visual transition.
Neat Things Of Note
In addition to being able to sync the iPhone while it charges (this has become more or less standard among battery cases). the Juice Pack Plus adds the unique feature of “smart charging.” In essence, this allows you to just leave the battery on all the time, and since it can read your iPhone’s battery, it knows when to charge it and when to hold back.
Conclusion
I really enjoyed reviewing the Juice Pack Plus. It’s stylish, sophisticated, packs a huge energy punch, and works extremely well for its category. I had no issues with the Juice Pack Plus in its testing, and found it to actually increase my battery life by about 120%. I highly recommend it, and award it a 4.5 out of 5 (took a half point off because I feel it could be thinner). To purchase a Juice Pack Plus, or for more information, please visit the manufacturer’s website ($99.95, comes in four colors).
Featured Image Credit: GigaOM
