iPhones are legendary for their ability to drain over the course of a day. Mophie’s Juice Pack Plus case solves that problem neatly.
One of the more frequent questions I get asked is in relation to smartphone battery life, and which phone is “best” in this capacity. It’s a question that gets asked a lot because it’s a genuine pressing issue for a lot of people, but the problem is that there’s no absolute “stock” answer. That’s not just because there are always new phones, but also because everyone’s use case varies, and there can also be significant variance between different phones of the same type. It’s a right pain in the proverbial when you’re testing phones, because you can only go on the phone in your test scenario then and there, but somebody will always end up with the model made late on a Friday that has worse performance — presuming that’s not the model you’re testing already!
That’s why my general advice on such things is to buy the phone you like, and see how it goes, adding a battery pack of some type as well. Still, you’ve got to keep that battery pack charged, and keep a cable handy to charge it with. That’s where a battery case can come in very handy indeed.
Mophie Juice Pack Plus For iPhone 6: On the plus side
Mophie’s one of the bigger names in battery cases, and its current Juice Pack Plus case doesn’t actually vary that much from previous cases it’s made.
The case itself measures in at 15.5×7.4×1.6cm and weighs around 110 grams without an iPhone 6 inside it. Mophie’s also selling a cheaper Juice Pack Air model that measures in slightly smaller but is visually fairly identical.
Connectivity is via an internal lightning connector, but at the base you’ll find a micro USB port, which is how you charge the Mophie Juice Pack Plus. The micro USB port passes both power and data through to the Lightning plug, which means that you can both charge and synchronise an iPhone using this case via microUSB, which feels rather unusual for an Apple product. It could be handy, however, if you’re stuck in an Android or Windows Phone office without a charger. For what it’s worth, Mophie’s indicated to Fat Duck Tech that they plan to offer Juice Pack cases for Samsung’s Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge phones later in the year as well.
The point of an iPhone battery case is to supply power, and in the case of the Juice Pack Plus you’re looking at an internal 3300mAh battery, good for around 120 per cent additional battery charge on an iPhone 6. The slightly cheaper Juice Pack carries a 2750mAh battery, or around 100 per cent of an iPhone 6’s battery capacity.
Like previous Mophie cases, charging is handled via a solid switch on the bottom rear side of the Juice Pack Plus, situated near a small button that lights up to indicate how much charge the Juice Pack Plus has remaining to give. It’s simple, and it works, and it gives you the choice of when to recharge your iPhone.
One common problem with full battery cases is that they’re often pretty poor when it comes to button replication, because they’ve got to provide their own buttons to press down on the iPhone’s internal buttons and mute switch. The Mophie Juice Pack Plus does well (mostly) in this regard, with solid and easy to operate buttons.
Mophie lines the Juice Pack Plus with a rubber strip designed to minimise impact when — and let’s be honest here, it’s going to be when rather than “if” — you drop it. I haven’t been able to extensively test the Juice Pack Plus’ destruction-resistant capabilities to any extreme level, but a few inadvertent bumps certainly haven’t harmed it to date.
Mophie Juice Pack Plus For iPhone 6: On the minus side
Extra battery capacity means extra mass, and there’s just no escaping it. The Mophie Juice Pack Plus adds an additional 110 grams to your iPhone’s bulk. You might be getting 120 per cent more power, but you’re also adding nearly 100 per cent more weight with it. You’re also turning a super-slim iPhone 6 into something that closely resembles an iPhone 3G in design terms, if that matters to you.
The Mophie Juice Pack Plus has a solid protruding base in order to incorporate its lightning plug and bottom speaker apertures, but this means that it also obscures the iPhone 6 headphone socket. Mophie supplies an extension cable that you can use with headphones, but it’s a fiddly affair. You could always opt for Bluetooth headphones, but I’m puzzled as to why they didn’t simply build the adaptor into the case, as it would solve that problem and provide another secure locking point for the iPhone 6 when placed inside the Juice Pack Plus.
Mophie Juice Pack Plus For iPhone 6: Pricing
The Australian RRP for the Juice Pack Plus for iPhone 6 is $149.95, while the Juice Pack Air is slightly cheaper at $129.95.
That’s a very solid price in comparative terms, as Mophie lists the same case in the US at $US119.95, which at current exchange rates should place it at around $155 before tax.
Mophie Juice Pack Plus For iPhone 6: Fat Duck verdict
You can buy much cheaper simple battery packs than the Mophie Juice Pack Plus if power is all you want and you’re not fussed carrying around a few extra cables. There’s a price to pay, both fiscal and physical for slipping the Juice Pack Plus around your iPhone 6, but it does provide a simple and very effective way to keep your iPhone going throughout the day, or even throughout a couple of days depending on your usage pattern.