Not Martha
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thing I like: iPhone external battery

Earlier this year I bought a backup battery for my iPhone at the airport on a snowy day right before I got on a plane. After the second hour of sitting on the runway (snow in Seattle creates havoc) I felt like I was a genius for getting the battery. It also saved my sanity during several hour long delays on the way home at the end of that trip. I chose the Mophie Juice Pack Powerstation battery because it holds about two full charges and, this was most important to me, it connects to the phone with a cord instead of sticking directly into the phone which means it is easy to keep using the phone while it’s charging. It does have it’s own cord for charging the battery itself (it has a USB end so you can charge using the iPhone’s convertor or your laptop) which means carrying around the battery as well as the extra cord. I’m happy to make the extra space in my bag because it means I never have to fret over whether my phone is charged as I’m heading out the door. It’s like my pet, I should give it a name. And, oh hey, according to their compatibility sheet it will also charge our Kindle. You can also find it on Amazon.

I had also considered the Mophie Juice Pack Plus, a battery built right into an iPhone case. It’s convenient because you don’t need to pull out anything, you just turn it on. But I’m too in love with my squishy iPhone case and being able to scrub said squishy iPhone case with soap and water periodically to give it up.

· comments [8] · 05-23-2012 · categories:uncategorized ·

8 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Emilia Jane // May 24, 2012 at 8:07 am

    Added it to my Amazon wishlist! I need something like this!

  • 2 ellie // May 24, 2012 at 10:21 am

    Nice! Thank you once again for sharing.
    Oh, is that a little fix I see near the end of the charging cable? WHY can’t they make them a bit more shred-proof???

  • 3 megan // May 24, 2012 at 10:49 am

    ellie – It is! I dropped epoxy on the split areas and let it harden into a bead. It’s ugly but that is actually the cord from my old iPhone, it’s been going for years and years.

    I’ve also seen Sugru putty used for this: http://www.swiss-miss.com/2011/08/sugru-hacking-putty.html
    (Well, I’ve seen it online in pictures like this.)

  • 4 jen c // May 24, 2012 at 10:56 am

    what kind of squishy iphone case do you have? i had a silicone one i really liked, but it ended up getting dirty looking, and would not come clean with any amount of scrubbing.

  • 5 megan // May 24, 2012 at 11:11 am

    I have a Griffin one with a grid of holes in the back and sides. I like that it’s grippy and squishy and makes my phone easy to hold for playing games. In the past I’ve also loved Incase protective covers, they have a sort of topographical map design in them. I usually go for black so I’m sure there are stains I’m not seeing.

  • 6 Patty // May 24, 2012 at 2:06 pm

    I just got one myself for a trip to Australia, and it is such a blessing. Between getting lost and trying to text to coordinate with people, battery drains fast. I love the red one.

  • 7 mcauliflower // May 24, 2012 at 8:40 pm

    even better would have been getting the solar powered version (yes, yes you’re in Seattle…).

    I opted for the two panel version to charge my external battery cause I’m in cloudy Pdx- really happy I got this.

    the solar version is found at http://bootstrapsolar.com

  • 8 Kristine // Jun 6, 2012 at 9:23 am

    I purchased one of these as well, until the charging input broke the day before I was going a multiple day hike through the alps. I only had it for 1.5 months (it had been purchased for this specific trip) and had not used it very much. I took it out of its carrying case to charge it and the casing for the cable input to charge the battery fell out. Now it no longer can be charged!

    I am in the process of getting it replaced/repaired through warranty, but it is a long and tedious process since I bought mine off of the apple website, not direct from their website.

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