The only Iphone case review I’ll ever do – cos it’s also a Li-Polymer battery pack at only 59 grams!

I normally don’t pay attention to Iphone cases because I prefer to spend my money on apps, mp3s and epubs. However, after coming across this Exogear iphone battery case in one of the tech forums that I regularly trawl, I must say that this is a bloody good idea and has a fantastically sleek design to go with it.

I’ve seen various battery packs for Iphones but this one from Exogear takes the cake IMHO with to-die-for good looks and at 59 grams, won’t make you feel like you’re walking around with an i-brick in your pocket.

The specs for the battery are pretty good for a long-haul frequent traveller like me though I haven’t verified the actual performance because my wife is probably not reading my blog these few days and hence it won’t be in my xmas stocking; and nobody is sponsoring me for this article.

• Standby time up to additional 300 hrs
• Talk up to additional 7 hrs
• Surf up to additional 6 hrs
• Watch up to additional 10 hrs
• Listen up to additional 40 hrs
• Built -in battery meter

Nate Adcock (also an Iphone Life blogger) reviewed Mophie’s Juice Pack on 4 Dec but I think Exogear’s battery case looks better and is $10 cheaper at $89.95 vs Mophie’s MSRP $99.95. BTW, this is Mophie’s battery specs taken from Nate's post, which makes the Mophie seem slightly better because it is rated at 2000mAh vs Exogear’s 1500mAh.

• Up to 8 add'l hours talk time on 3G; 16 hours 2G
• Up to 7 add'l hours internet on 3G; 11 hours WiFi
• Up to 44 add'l hrs audio playback
• Up to 11 add'l hrs video playback

 However, Mophie (also Li-Polymer)weighs in at 70.8 grams versus the raw Exogear case @ 59 grams. So I think the Exogear is probably lighter and therefore wins this round. Mophie also has a 1500mAh Juice Pack Air@ MSRP $79.95 but has worse specs than the Exogear. You decide. 

Update on 29 Dec 2010:

Mophie Juice Pack Air 1500mAh is retailing for about US$84 in Singapore and I've decided to experiment with an OEM battery case rated at 1800mAh retailing at US$50. It has doubled my battery life to 2 days of usage (originally, I would have reached the red bar on my iphone every night).