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Release Date: August 05, 2009
Genre: Games
Release Date: May 22, 2009
Genre: Games
Release Date: August 29, 2009
Genre: Games
Release Date: March 27, 2009
Release Date: August 07, 2009

iTunes New Music Releases

Release Date: September 29, 2009
Genre: Rock
Release Date: September 20, 2009
Release Date: September 15, 2009
Release Date: August 25, 2009
Genre: Rock
Release Date: August 25, 2009

Top 5 Paid Apps

Release Date: April 22, 2009
StickWars $0.99
Release Date: March 31, 2009
Genre: Games
Bloons $0.99
Release Date: April 05, 2009
Genre: Games

Discover New Music

  • Perverse

    • 8 out of 10
    • Jesus Jones
    • When you think of Jesus Jones, chances are you can't remember them at all, or you vaguely remember "Right Here, Right Now" because it has been use

  • Machine Gun Etiquette

    • 8 out of 10
    • The Damned
    • Punk rock is mostly associated with three chords and a bad attitude, but the Damned were one of the few bands of the era bent on bringing musicianship and a good sense of humor to the scene. And while
  • Supermodified

    • 10 out of 10
    • Amon Tobin
    • The genius is in the beats. Amon Tobin creates fantastic, groovy beats behind beats. "Supermodified" rolls through your expectations of breakbeat music, and turns them up a bit. It's a mellow album, p
  • An Evening with George Shearing & Mel Torm�

    • 10 out of 10
    • Mel Torm� & George Shearing
    • Of the three men who taught me how to sing, the last was Mel Torme. Apparently, Mel Torme is a joke to anyone more than a decade older than me, a living parody of a Vegas crooner. But I stumbled on th
  • How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb

    • 6 out of 10
    • U2
    • U2's latest entry is a mostly underwhelming collection of songs that does very little to sound any different from its equally pedestrian predecessor, 2000's "All That You Can't Leave Behind." While

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In-Depth Review

Mophie Juice Pack

According to Mophie, the Juice Pack iPhone battery extender provides an additional 250 hours of standby time, 8 hours of talk time, 6 hours of internet use, 7 hours of video playback, and/or 24 hours of audio playback. After using this puppy for close to a month, I can't confirm that those numbers are 100% accurate, but my gut feeling is that they're not far off the mark. Before I started using the Juice Pack I had to recharge my iPhone every single night, and even then it occasionally ran out of "juice" before dinnertime or not long after. Now, with a fully-charged Mophie Juice Pack, I've gone as long as three days between recharges! That rocks.

The Juice Pack is beautifully designed and fits your iPhone like a glove as shown:

It's really quite attractive, as you can see from the picture above and three views below:

The blue LED lights on the back let you know how much "juice" is left in the Juice Pack and it's intelligent about how it uses its "juice." It will exhaust itself first, so when it's empty you can pull out your fully-charged iPhone and continue using it for another few hours. Sweet! And, you can recharge your iPhone and the Juice Pack with a single cable.

The Juice Pack is a fantastic product and I love it to death. Even so it has a couple of features I don't like so much....

The first is minor -- although the Juice Pack has a standard 30-pin dock connector and you can recharge it using any cable or dock you can use to charge your iPhone, you can't sync your iPhone without removing it from the Juice Pack. You have to remove your iPhone from the Juice Pack and plug the cable into it when you want to sync. It's not a huge deal but I thought it was worth mentioning.

The second issue, however, is more disturbing... The Juice Pack is coated with a nice "soft-touch non-slip finish." It feels and looks great. Unfortunately, it's not very durable and has begun to peel off both of the Juice Packs I tested. I thought I might have received a defective unit so I requested a second one, but the same thing happened after a couple of weeks.

Here's what my Juice Pack looks like after about 30 days of use:

And here are both units side-by-side:

As you can see, it's not very attractive. And although it doesn't affect the Juice Pack's functionality, it is unfortunate in such an otherwise handsome product.

Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't say that the Juice Pack definitely adds some bulk to your iPhone. That said, I have had no problem carrying it around in my pants, shirt, or jacket pocket. It's slightly bigger, heavier, and thicker, but not enough to bother me most of the time.

The Bottom Line

The Juice Pack lets you use your iPhone 2 or 3 times longer between recharges, adds relatively little bulk to your iPhone, and is intelligent about the way it uses "juice." If it weren't for the issue of the coating peeling off it would be a five-star product for sure.

Just The Facts

Mophie Juice Pack from Mophie

MSRP US$99.95

Pros:Doubles or triples time between recharges, adds relatively little size and weight, drains itself first leaving you with a fully-charged iPhone when it's empty.

Cons:Rubberized coating may peel off.

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