iPhone/iPad Accessory Review: Mophie Juice Pack™ Powerstation

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I’m sitting in my parked 2003 Subaru Outback recording this review of the mophie juicepack powerstation using Dragon Dictation. Normally I don’t write reviews while sitting in a parked car but I’m making an exception this time since my car decided not to cooperate this afternoon. I was driving home from an appointment when the car began to buck. I barely had time to get the car pulled over to a side street before it all but died. I called AAA and I figured it would be a good time to catch up on some phone calls and maybe even do a little bit of writing. The problem is – my iPhone is pretty much out of juice and I can’t plug it into the car charger because the problem seems to be electrical.

So what am I supposed to do?

Fortunately just the other day I received the mophie juicepack powerstation for review. It works with both the iPhone and the iPad and I charged it the first day it came and threw it in my bag. So I pulled it out, plugged in a charging cord, and my iPhone is currently getting juiced up while I record this post.

I figured that it would come in handy at some point but I didn’t think that would come in so handy just a few days after it arrives. Let’s take a look at this 3600 mAh external battery that works with the iPhone, iPod touch and, of course, the iPad. (Needless to say I am all ready positively inclined toward this particular external battery.)

Let’s take a look.

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From mophie-

This 3600mAh external battery is compatible with just about anything. With completely reengineered battery and electronics, the powerstation can charge your device at super-fast speeds. The powerstation has brains, beauty and brawn – everything you’ve ever wanted from a travel companion.

Features-

Power Up- 3600 mAh device that’s compatible with just about anything

Advanced Battery Cell- High-density, high-output battery charges at speeds of up to 2 amps.
That’s 4 times faster than traditional USB batteries!

Smart Battery- Waste-not, want-not. The integrated stand-by switch ensures there’s no drainage to the powerstation’s battery while it’s not in use.

Power Satisfaction- Capable of charging the power hungry iPad

LED indicator- Check the fuel tank with the 6 LED charge status indicator – always know before you go!

Charging Cycles- Rechargeable for over 500 cycles (that’s great and that’s full cycles, partials don’t count. go ahead, top it off.)

Safety First- Built-in short circuit, overcharge and temperature protection. mophie’s got your back.

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The battery is a pretty big affair. It’s surprisingly light but it is a large battery. It has to be in order to have such a significant capacity available when using it. It is a tiny bit shorter than the iPhone for, a significant bit wider than the iPhone four and a little bit longer than the iPhone for the seem to Wade about the same but I’ll check the specifics if I ever get home.

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The battery itself has a nice look and feel to it. The main body of the battery is made from a black soft touch material while the two sides are hard silver plastic that frame it in a pleasing way. The center black area it is just about the same width as my iPhone 4 when it’s not in the case.

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The controls are rather minimal.

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If you look on the top there is a single button that, when depressed, shows you how much charge you have left on the external battery through a series of internal battery indicator lights that only appear when the button is depressed. (Right now I have five bars available to me out of the total of six. That tells me that I’m good to go for quite a long time if AAA is as slow to arrive as they usually are in this area.)

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On one end of the battery there are two USB connectors and a toggle switch. One USB port is used to charge your devices with any USB cable that you choose . Note that it does not ship with any charging cables at all. The second is the port for charging the battery itself. The battery ships with a USB cable that charges it but it does not come with any sort of wall charger. To charge the battery, you plug in the provided USB cable and then either use your own wall charger or plug it into the computer’s powered USB port.

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In the middle, between the two USB ports, is a toggle switch that moves the battery between active and standby.

That’s really all there is to this battery. It’s large but light, has a nice soft touch steel, and provides an awesome amount of extra battery life. The fact that it works with all my iOS devices, including the iPad, makes it a great choice if you are heavily invested in Apple’s family of devices.

It’s not all that exciting but I wouldn’t have access to my iPhone while I’m sitting here waiting for the tow truck were it not for this battery, so I’m going to give it a rave review — it’s awesome, it gets the job done, it’ll be incredibly useful at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, and it’s already proven its value to me right here and right now. Oh, and there’s the tow truck time to end this review …

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The mophie powerstation is available directly from mophie’s Website and works with iPhone, iPod and iPad.

MSRP: $99.95

What I Like – Tons of extra juice thanks to the 3600 mAh battery; nice looking (as backup batteries go); lighter than expected; built-in power protection; battery indicator lights

What Needs Improvement: $100 but doesn’t ship with a wall adapter.

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About the Author

Dan Cohen
Having a father who was heavily involved in early laser and fiber-optical research, Dan grew up surrounded by technology and gadgets. Dan’s father brought home one of the very first video games when he was young and Dan remembers seeing a “pre-release” touchtone phone. (When he asked his father what the “#” and “*” buttons were his dad said, “Some day, far in the future, we’ll have some use for them.”) Technology seemed to be in Dan’s blood but at some point he took a different path and ended up in the clergy. His passion for technology and gadgets never left him. Dan is married to Raina Goldberg who is also an avid user of Apple products. They live in New Jersey with their golden doodle Nava.

9 Comments on "iPhone/iPad Accessory Review: Mophie Juice Pack™ Powerstation"

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  7. Gotta have backup power – – mophie powerstation saves the day for Gear Diary!

  8. Now available at MM! RT @mophielovesyou: Gotta have backup power – – mophie powerstation saves the day for Gear Diary!

  9. RT @mophielovesyou: Gotta have backup power – – mophie powerstation saves the day for Gear Diary!

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