My first reaction when I received the ibattz mojo Hi5 Powerbank Case was underwhelming. Here you have a plastic shell that you slap on your phone like most cases, and a separate battery pack that clips onto the plastic shell that needs to be plugged into your iPhone with a lightning cable.
Here’s the rub: You have to provide your own lightning cable, plus, you have to carry said lightning cable around with you if you plan on using the battery pack to charge your phone.
The fault here can not lie solely on ibattz, however. A lot of the blame must be pointed at Apple, due to their tight lightning adapter restrictions which are forcing companies like Belkin and ibattz to design accessories that require separate Apple lightning cables. For more on this, take a look at this recent story.
Let’s take a look at the battery pack and case separately.
Two cases actually come in the box; one white and one black. They are a thin plastic material and have a tribal-type design on the back. They have three holes in the case, which is where the battery back clips on to the case. I’m not a big fan of these cases on their own, as they don’t feel like they add much protection to my phone; plus I’m not a big fan of the design on the back, but that’s just personal preference.
It appears as though the user is to keep one of these cases on their phone at all times so that they are able to slap the battery on at a moment’s notice. One thing I noticed about these cases is that they are very difficult to get off of my phone. This presumably would not be a problem if you plan on keeping the case on your phone.
The battery pack itself is where the mojo Hi5 shines. The battery pack is very nice looking; a streamlined, unibody type design. Very slick. There are four LED lights on the battery that light up when you press a button, letting you know how much charge the pack has. Four lights is approximately 100%, three lights is approximately 75%, and so on. There is a USB connection as well as a micro USB connection; the USB connection is where you would connect your lightning cable. The micro USB is where you connect the charging cable that comes with the powerbank, this is what charges the battery pack. The micro USB cable has a velcro wrap that can be used to organize your cables if you’re charging the powerbank and the iPhone at the same time.
I conducted my own test on the battery, and it appears to me that ibattz’s claim of 150% extra battery life seems very reasonable. The powerbank was fully charged, and it charged my iPhone 5 from about 50% to 100% in 1.5 hours. I even left my iPhone plugged in for an extra half hour for good measure. After this test, the powerbank still showed 2 LED lights, which means that it still had about 50% of its juice left.
Were you looking for the conclusion? Well, you’re in luck. I don’t think that I would carry the mojo Hi5 Powerbank on a daily basis, since I typically have enough places to charge my phone if I need it (my desk at my office, my house, or my car). Solutions like the Mophie juice pack are really the ideal solution, as you don’t have to carry a charging cable around with you to use it, though there aren’t to many options out there for the iPhone 5 yet. I also don’t think I would keep the plastic shell on my iPhone at all times.
However, I do think that it’s a great solution for those that could use a backup charge when going on camping trips or in case of emergency during a blackout when you can’t charge your phone normally. The battery pack holds a lot of juice, and it charges your iDevice fairly quickly. I’ll definitely be keeping this battery pack around in case of emergency.
Check out the mojo Hi5 Powerbank Case at the manufacturer’s website.
MSRP: $79.90
What I like: Design of the battery is very nice; Charges my iPhone 5 quickly; Versatile – Can be used to charge anything that’s powered by USB
What Needs Improvement: Plastic shell design; separate lightning cable required; not very convenient
Source: Manufacturer Supplied Sample