Mophie Juice Pack Air: the iPhone case with internal battery

I baby my gadgets. One hairline scratch on one of my toys is enough to make me ballistic. So when I bought my iPhone a couple of months ago, I was already searching for a high-rated protective case before the iPhone even showed up in the mail. While poking around the Internet, I stumbled upon the Juice Pack Air, by Mophie, which is not only a hard shell case, but also an external battery. Score. I chose the white one over the black and purple ones.

I've seen a lot of websites where Mophie products were sold, but I always try to buy direct from the manufacturer if possible. Ordering from Mophie.com was painless, even though I had to send a separate PayPal payment to cover APO/AE mailing.

When it arrived, the fancy packaging made my mind think that I was dealing with a reputable company, and that what was inside must be high-quality. Once I got the sleek Juice Pack Air from the case, I was excited. This thing was really nifty!

Shoving my iPhone 3Gs into the main case took some effort, but it went in smoothly. The top piece snapped on cleanly, although I noticed that the seam on the right was gapped slightly as the right side of the top cap protruded outward just a hair. Hmm, perhaps not as well engineered as I initially thought. But it was moderately easy to overlook, I guess.

The edges of the Juice Pack Air are absolutely flush with the iPhone's glass face. It's an engineering marvel, indeed, but it does leave the face exposed to direct-contact with other surfaces. But since I'm usually so careful with my stuff, this isn't a huge concern for me.

Removing the iPhone is a helluva chore, though. It's crammed in so tight that I get worried I'll damage a button or crack the glass screen from handling the iPhone so hard while trying to remove it. I suppose this is no issue for the "set it and forget it" scenario, and you can be certain that no crap will ever make its way in between the case and the phone. But be damn certain that both the iPhone and the Juice Pack Air are absolutely spotless before shoving it in there, otherwise, you could very easily pave your very own Grand Canyon into the iPhone's smooth casing.

The inside bottom is actually carved out so the speaker and microphone are not obstructed. Actually, since it re-directs the sound toward you and not down, it kinda makes the iPhone a little louder. Bonus.

On the back are four blue LEDs with a button which, when pressed, will display the Juice Pack Air's internal bettery level. On the bottom is a micro-USB port, which is not only used for charging both the iPhone and the Juice Pack Air itself, but can also be used to sync with iTunes. This means you can slide your iPhone into the Juice Pack Air and forget it! There is a downside with the cable, though. Yes, it's a standard micro-USB cable, but it's not as popular as the mini-USB cable, which I have piles of at home. (By the way, here's a picture of mini- and micro-USB connectors.)

The Juice Pack Air contains a 1200mAh lithium-ion battery, which adds an additional four and a half hours of 3G talk time or 3G Internet use or 270 hours of standby time. It has a recessed switch on the bottom that lets you turn off the internal battery so that you can keep it handy in case your iPhone needs a boost. The switch position has no effect on charging or synchronizing.

The Juice Pack Air is actually a little lighter than you might expect, weighing in at a little over two and a half ounces. The iPhone isn't terribly hefty on its own, but inside the Juice Pack Air, the mass almost comes to a muscle-bulging eight ounces. That's half a pound! This is a tad heavy for a pocket-sized device, but it's easy for me to overlook considering I won't habve to worry about heving enough juice and my iPhone is still pristeen inside.

Sliding the dude in my pocket does create a noticeable bulge (I'm blushing), but I tend to find myself in rather loose britches, so pocket space isn't a problem for me (I'm sure there's another joke in there, somewhere).

Now, the wording of how the thing works is a tad misleading. Mophie wants you to believe that the Juice Pack Air is designed to make your iPhone drain the Juice Pack Air's battery first, then start using the iPhone's own internal battery. Of course, this is smart, but this is merely coincidental. How? Well, all the iPhone knows is that it's been plugged into a power source, so of course it will switch to that and leave its own internal battery untouched. Regardless, this is an excellent setup.

Recently, I began to notice the chrome edging on the upper-right of my iPhone was roughed up, which is right behind the top cap. How was this possible? Well, if some sand or something got in there, and I applied pressure to it, then it would scratch. But the scratch marks were all virtical and parallel, indicating that the grinding probabvly only ocurred whenever I would remove the top cap. This is not good. But it was only the chrome part, and not the fine plastic, and it was still shiny and unnoticeable.

I ditched the Juice Pack Air for about a day, leaving my virgin iPhone vulnerable. I'm extremely protective of my toys, but I'm not perfect, and all it would take to ruin my life would be to drop my coveted iPhone. I do have a rubber case, but the sleek look of the Juice Pack Air is highly desireable (to me, anyway). So, I went back to the Juice Pack Air. So more damage is in my future?

Also, I have run into one issue where the iPhone tells me "This accessory is not made to work with iPhone". Mophie claims the Juice Pack Air has been tested by an Apple-designated lab and has earned the "Works with iPhone" certification, and after poking around the Internet, I found this message might actually be due to a bug in the iPhone OS. This has only popped up a few times, but it usually goes away quickly an I don't actually have a problem, so to me it isn't a big deal at all.

In the end, I think the engineering or manufacturing process could be improved to make that top cap fit better and not cause damage. But overall, I think it's still a great product. There are alternatives out there, but the ones I've seen are either WAY too bulky or just don't look as smooth and sleek as Mophie's Juice Pack Air.