Hardware Bistro

Product: iPhone 4 Battery Case
Manufacturer: PowerSkin
Supplied by: PowerSkin
Price: 69.99USD/RM209
Launch Date: Mar 2011

 

Today's mobile phones are more than a communication tool as almost all of the mobile phones are integrated with other cool features like internet surfing, GPS, gaming, social network, email, photo shooting and etc. However battery lasting is a major problem for such mobile phones hence you might need PowerSkin battery which gives you more extra mileage to go.

 

Company Profile

With twice the power for your smartphone, your life charges on. You can keep working. Keep playing. Keep moving. PowerSkin® is your go-to, go-anywhere, go on-and-on power source. Because battery life is life.

And when (not if) you drop your phone along the way, life charges on. This is just a tooltip example with a picture. With twice the power for your smartphone, your life charges on. You can keep working. Keep playing. Keep moving. PowerSkin® is your go-to, go-anywhere, go on-and-on power source. Because battery life is life.With a sleek, protective design that fits your phone and your style like a second skin, PowerSkin® is there where the silicone rubber hits the road of your life. More, PowerSkin® is XPAL Powered, meaning it's charged by patented battery technology that reflects the highest standards of safety, quality, and performance. We've got you - and your phone - covered.

 

Features

• One piece tough case
• Soft silicone rubber
• Provides up to twice the power
• 100% recycled case
• Rechargeable
• Lightweight
• Charge and Sync
• Smart battery technology
• On/Off button
• LED battery status lights
• Patented XPAL Power® battery technology

 

Specifications

• Power Capacity: 2000mAh
• Input Spec: 5V, 0.5A
• Output Spec: 5V, 0.5A
• Talk Time: 480 Mins*
• Standby: 350 Hours*
• Product Dimensions:
• 5.1L X 2.5W X 0.77H inches
• 12.95L X 6.35 X 1.96 cm
• Weight: 0.18lbs / 81.6g

 

Package & Contents

 
PowerSkin iPhone4 battery case comes with a compact packaging; slightly bigger than a normal iPhone case. By flipping the packaging's front cover backward, PowerSkin iPhone4 battery case can be see-thru via a window and a small round hole is available for user to touch and feel the case's texture.

 

Product description, features, specifications, packaging contents of PowerSkin iPhone4 battery case are all written on the packaging for potential buyers to understand it in details. Besides the outer packaging box, PowerSkin iPhone4 battery case and its USB Sync cable are kept on a plastic container. 

 

Nothing much is bundled with PowerSkin iPhone4 battery case except a simple user manual and a USB Charging & Sync cable. The user manual is simple but it is good enough to explain its "how to use", "battery check", "power on/off" and "how to recharge"; a year warranty is given for this battery case.

 

A Closer Look on PowerSkin iPhone Battery Case 

PowerSkin is a vendor that only focuses on battery cases plus some minor accessories. There are plenty of available battery cases for some of the hot-selling smart phones in the market such as HTV EVO 4G, HTC HD7, Samsung Galaxy S 4G, Motorola Droid X2, BlackBerry Bold 9700 and so on. 

PowerSkin iPhone4 battery case is not only a iPhone case but also a battery pack hence it comes with bigger enclosure; 129.5 x 63.5 x 19.6 mm instead of 115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3 mm (std iPhone4 case). Besides that PowerSkin iPhone4 battery case is also come with additional weight; 81.6g.

 

PowerSkin iPhone4 battery case is made by high quality soft silicone rubber which gives firmer grip and silicone rubber is tend to be a better material in term of shock and vibration tolerances. Besides that such soft rubber is important to design PowerSkin iPhone4 battery case just in one single piece. 

 

An iPhone connector is located at the bottom of the PowerSkin iPhone4 battery case where the iPhone has to be slotted into the battery case downwardly. All the access to the volume buttons, power button, mute controller, audio jack and camera lens are well designed and fully compatible. 

 

At the bottom of the PowerSkin iPhone4 battery case, there is a power on/off button; press and hold for two seconds to power it on or off. Besides that there are four blue LEDs which are used to indicate the battery case's power; 100%, 70%, 50%, 25% or 5% when all the four LEDs are not being lighted up.

 

PowerSkin iPhone4 battery case's connector is converted from normal iPhone connector to 4-pin mini-USB connector where the typical iPhone cable is not compatible with it. Although the cable is different but it still has the same functionalities; can be used for charging and data synchronizing.

 

Installation, Testing & Performance

 

Here is the side by side comparison between PowerSkin iPhone4 battery case and iPhone4. There isn't any physical installation guide for this battery case but users should slot the iPhone4 into PowerSkin battery case downwardly but the top portion of the battery case has to be slightly bent backwardly. Once the installation is completed then you will hear the charging beeping alert to indicate the iPhone4 is connected to the battery pack's connector successfully.

 

The installation is not complicated at all but it will be easier after couple of tries. However uninstallation or removing the iPhone4 from the PowerSkin battery case could be troublesome as user has to hold the top portion of the battery case backwardly while pushing the iPhone4 out of the bettery case (tip: slot your finger into the curves and pull it upwardly; right beside the home button). Anyway all the iPhone4's buttons, camera lens and audio jacks are working well with PowerSkin iPhone4 battery case without any compatible issue. 

As we mentioned previously the charging will be automatically started to charge once it is connected successfully with the battery pack; press and hold the power button for two seconds to deactivate or activate the charging. The battery check is able to show the remaining power level quite accurately. Based on our experience, it is good to utilize the power of the iPhone4 before recharge it back with battery case and don't always overcharge it when the iPhone4 is still in high power level.

 

Let us start with the signal impaction of PowerSkin iPhone4 battery case by typing *3001#12345#* and press call button; -92.8 with normal silicon case, -92 with PowerSkin battery case and -97.6 without any case. This shows that PowerSkin iPhone4 battery case does not have any signal impaction on the iPhone4 although it is a bulky case plus an additional battery pack. Before we started to test the PowerSkin iPhone4 battery case, we have drained up the power of the PowerSkin iPhone4 battery case so that we could get more accurate data. PowerSkin iPhone4 battery case will take about five hours in order for it to be fully charged from 0% to 100% via notebook's USB port (recharging) and an iPhone4 can be fully charged from 0% to 100% about one and half hour (charging). The recharging process is pretty long but it should be able to be fully charged in much shorter time if PowerSkin iPhone4 battery case is charged via wall socket. Anyway the charging process on iPhone4 is pretty acceptable which just takes one and half hour to fully charge an empty iPhone4. The iPhone4 is slightly hot when it is being charged but it is still alright to hold it and do not worries about overheating as iPhone4 is integrated with a thermal sensor where the iPhone4 will be automatically shut down if the temperature is out of the range.

 

Verdicts

If power does matter for your mobile phone then PowerSkin offers you a great solution with their battery case. 79USD for a 2000mAh is not really expensive and it does help you to avoid any nightmare if you need to mobile phone urgently but the mobile phone's battery is flatten. Other great features of PowerSkin iPhone4 battery case are LED battery status indicator, charge & sync-able ability, lightweight, single piece of high quality silicone rubber case and so on. You might not need this battery case 24 x 7 but it will be definitely helpful when you are on business trip, vacation and etc.

 

Pros:

+ Additional 2000mAh; 2x power
+ Quality silicone rubber case
+ Single piece of case
+ Lightweight
+ Charge & Sync cable
+ On/Off button
+ LED battery status lights

 

Cons:

- Prefer a better way to remove out the iPhone4
- Non-standardized cable connector

Thanks to for PowerSkin providing this sample for us to review.

 

 

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