The above quotes is directly from PowerSkin's latest PoP'n battery charger for the iPhone 5, and it's definitely true. These days, for the working-man (or woman), days can run long, and you need your phone to keep up. With business conferences, vacations, or even gaming marathons, having a spare battery to keep your primary battery full of juice is a key benefit.
I've spent the last week putting this through a battery (ahem) of tests, use cases, and we've come out with some results and some pros and cons.
There are a few different types of external batteries, ones built into cases, and others that are external, but attachable (in some way) so they can be used to power other things than just the phone. The PoP'n battery case is of the latter variety. A glossy black (a few optional colors are also available) battery, with curved edges and a flat back with about 24 mini suction cups on them. Yes, suction cups. The package says "superior grip", but like most suction cups, I found them attaching easily enough, but over time, they'd lose their grip. You certainly don't want to be caught holding your phone by the battery, in case the suction cups come loose and you drop your phone.
Other features include a power button, and an LED indicator with 4 levels to indicate how much charge remains on the battery. A flexible connector (that is interchangeable, mind you) in case you want to support other devices (older 30-pin, Micro-USB, etc). The battery itself, is actually of a fairly high quality and high capacity. Rated at 2000 mAh, we tested how much a fully charged PoP'n Battery charger would provide a new iPhone 5. The results, were actually pretty impressive
From a 0% (fully dead, and powered off iPhone 5), it took 10 minutes for the iPhone to turn back on. Keeping in mind, iPhones need 4-5% battery to resume from a completely dead state. 10 minutes and we're at 4%, and powered back on. Within an hour, the phone was at 53% charge, and within 2 hours, the iPhone 5 had 90% charge, at which point the PoP'N Battery died.
So, within 2 hours, you get nearly another full charge, to double your battery life. That's pretty good, and I'll certainly find myself using it in a number of circumstances. I'm not keen on having it plugged in at all times, due to the bulk added, but that's just me. I'm a purist, and don't even like cases of any sort on my phone.
PowerSkin PoP'n Battery Charger for iPhone 5 can be found on your favorite online retailer, or ours, here for around $79.00
