Battery case options and where to buy?

My wife has a Verizon iPhone 4S and I've pretty much given up on trying to tweak it for better battery life. She complains about it constantly. The most recent complaint is that it turns off before the battery shows that it's completely depleted. I'm tempted to replace the battery, though it's only about a year and a half old.

As a stopgap measure, I'm thinking about picking up one of these external battery cases they make. It seems like the top dog is the Morphie Juice Pack Plus, and I like that I can get it in purple, which is her favorite color. Are there any other units I should consider? Key criteria are that it has to be easy to use and it has to allow some kind of passthrough for the dock connector, since she uses it constantly in her car with iPod integration.

Assuming everyone agrees that the Morphie is a good pick, does anyone know where I can pick up a genuine unit at a good price? I see Amazon has it out there for $89 in purple, but it comes from a third party seller (fulfilled by Amazon), which is kind of concerning as I've heard many people complain of counterfeit units that are nearly indiscernible from the real model, though they are not built as well.

Any thoughts or opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Chris,

My wife has an iPhone 5 (she used to have a Blackberry)...and she also has issues with the iPhone running low after a busy day's use (never had a problem with the Blackberry). She also travels a fair amount...and of course doesn't always have a convenient place to plug in & charge.

I got her an external battery pack a few months ago for it...and she's been pretty happy with it. As you probably know...capacities on these things vary...so that's something to consider as well.

I got her this 9900mAh charger from "ThinkGeek.com (link below). It's currently selling for $69.99...but I actually got it on sale for just $39.99 a few months ago:

ThinkGeek :: iGeek Large Capacity Portable Charger

I think that its supposed to have enough "juice" to charge an iPhone multiple times before needing to be recharged.

Hope this helps,

- Nick

I was just checking...and the Morphie Juice Pack Plus seems to only have a 2000mAh battery. A lot less than the 9900mAh battery in the unit I mentioned above.

Of course maybe the Morphie Juice Pack Plus has some convenience features that I'm unaware of. I hadn't really considered the Morphie Juice Pack Plus when I was shopping. At the time...$39.99 seemed a much more attractive price than $99.

- Nick

Thanks Nick. I already have an external battery for her, but she doesn't like to have to carry around other peripherals (and often forgets to carry an iPod sync cable).

I found a 25% off coupon for Mophie and that brought the price down to a more palatable $75 (+tax & shipping).

I think she'll like it. I've seen these things in person and the fit is very good and it doesn't add a lot of bulk to the phone (beyond what a normal case would). I'll report back and let you know how it works out.

cwa107 said:

Thanks Nick. I already have an external battery for her, but she doesn't like to have to carry around other peripherals (and often forgets to carry an iPod sync cable).

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Totally understandable.

I didn't fully realize that the Morphie Juice Pack Plus was an iPhone case with a built-in battery. I can definitely see the advantages/convenience of that!

For $99 (with coupon $75) too bad the capacity is not more than 2000mAh. But then again...that would add bulk & weight.

- Nick

pigoo3 said:

Totally understandable.

I didn't fully realize that the Morphie Juice Pack Plus was an iPhone case with a built-in battery. I can definitely see the advantages/convenience of that!

For $99 (with coupon $75) too bad the capacity is not more than 2000mAh. But then again...that would add bulk & weight.

- Nick

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If I'm not mistaken, the internal battery is 1450mAh, so this should more than double the internal battery. That should make her pretty happy.

Just chiming in with another Mophie recommendation. My phone suffered similar power issues, but after nabbing the power pack I have completely forgotten about it. Granted, I don't like buying an accessory to make up for a broken device... but it works as advertised and looks great.

I sent the Mophie Plus case back. It was simply too bulky for my wife to comfortably handle. I've instead opted to try replacing the factory battery. If that doesn't do it, I might try the "Air" version.

Sorry to hear that Chris. Seems like the Mophie was the ideal solution!

- Nick

cwa107 said:

I sent the Mophie Plus case back. It was simply too bulky for my wife to comfortably handle. I've instead opted to try replacing the factory battery. If that doesn't do it, I might try the "Air" version.

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Hope this works out for you. I should have mentioned when I name-dropped Mophie that I have big ol' bear paws ;P

No. Only get mophie. All others are not as good quality. I reccomend Juice pack air. You will not regret it. I used to have one, its really nice.