There’s something about having an actual battery percentage display on the iPhone 3GS that makes you more wary about drinking all of your Apple juice before the day is done, but having my new iON battery pack (kindly sent over by the FSP Group) has helped ease the transition to this new power-hungry device. It’s a credit-card sized battery that actually fits into my wallet, but there’s a catch: you need to attach a special wire to get any charging done. This affects the mobility and simplicity of the pack, but it also adds more versatility since most any USB-based device can charge through the iON.
[if the iPhone 3GS looks like it's missing from the pics, that's because it was busy taking all of them]
Design
One of the first things I noticed on this charger was its feel. It’s got a rubberized coating that’s similar to the 1st-gen Mophie Juice Pack, and it makes the pack feel a lot more high-tech than if it featured a plain plastic shell like most other mobile chargers out there. Another striking feature of the iON is the plain-ness of the design: there aren’t any symbols or logos along the top, and the only thing to break up the black rubberized coating are a series of LED lights to show you the remaining battery and the charging state.
The three lights on the left light up when you insert one of the charging cables into the iON (more on that in a moment), and the last one turns orange when charging and stays green when the battery is fully charged. The funny thing is that you cant really see these lights while the device is charging, since the iON has to charge upside-down.
Battery charging is initiated through the USB plug hidden in the bottom of the device. Bend it outwards, attach to a computer or AC charger (I used the one for my iPhone), and charge away.
Charging a device, on the other hand, is a little less handy. The iON came with two wires: one with an iPod connector, and one with a female USB jack for charging other devices. These wires are inserted into the side of the iON and are a little too short to allow me to use the device while charging. This means that the iPhone is condemned to a solitary life on the table while it juices up through the attached cable. While this isn’t really a fault, I do think it’s a missed opportunity of sorts. The iON has such a cool, high-tech and compact design that it’s a bit of a shame that an extra attachment is needed to charge my iPhone, whereas the battery pack can be charged so easily on its own. I’d have preferred it if the iPhone charger folded under the iON, and the extension cable was used for charging the battery pack. That way I could spend less time worrying about small wires and spend more time pretending I’m a secret agent with a credit-card sized backup battery.
Battery Life
What I’ve gathered from around two weeks of testing is that if you leave the iPhone and iON charging until the iON’s battery supply is depleted, you’ll regain at least 80% of your iPhone’s charge. That’s a pretty conservative estimate on my part, but one thing I’ve learned about these batteries is that their recharging capabilities tend to deteriorate far sooner than the 300 charge cycles. So let’s call it a minimum recharge capability of 80% and I’ll leave it to you to be surprised if yours can do more on a regular basis. At least it’ll be a good surprise.
Conclusion
I really like the iON’s form factor and appearance, but the way it limits my access to the iPhone while it charges is a bit of a disappointment. Still, for the price of $30 USD and the fact that it charges iPhones and most anything else that charges through USB, the iON Universal Mobile Power Bank is a good deal.
You can buy the iON for $29.99 over at ShopFSP, and you can view the product website here to see all the tech specs.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I just picked up the Sanyo Eneloop KBC-L2S from Costco for $25.00 It is a 5000mAh (that's a lot of mAh – a quick search says that 1G iPhone has 1400mAh).
What I like about Eneloop:
Low price / Great value
Big capacity battery
Charge via AC adapter (included) or USB (interesting to note that the AC Adapter provides twice the current = recharges twice as fast)
Power device via 2 built in standard USB ports – I can use standard iPhone USB wire (= not too short) to recharge iPhone and have a second USB port to power / recharge a 2nd device
What I don't like:
It would be great if it were smaller (not realistic since it would have lower capacity)
Documentation sucks and is almost impossible to find
That's pretty cool! I didn't know Sanyo made this.
I love their eneloop batteries! I won't use anything less in all my electronic gadgets. My wireless headphones, digital cameras, labeler, etc. all go on and on for ages! They helped my wireless headphones go from consuming 2 AAA batteries in 4 days (about 2-3 hrs/day) to almost 3 or 4 months! And my digital camera battery life was improved about 4-5x as well. I only wish they made a 9V for some of my old guitar stomp boxes and things.
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