Review: Mophie's Juice Pack Helium is a solid battery case for iPhone 5
Active iPhone owners—ones who work their iPhones hard all day—face a choice: They can use their phones with abandon, knowing they risk running out of power; they can recharge the phone at some point during the day; or they can opt for a battery of some sort. I don’t like the stress of battery-level watching, and I don’t want to carry a USB-to-Lightning-connector cable around with me (and be dependent on a USB port or charger), so I opt for a battery. Specifically, I prefer an iPhone case that includes a built-in battery.
I reviewed several Mophie battery cases for the iPhone 4 and 4S. I loved the Mophie Juice Pack Plus (4.5 out of 5 rating), liked the Juice Pack Air (3.5 out of 5), and liked the rugged Juice Pack Pro (3.5 out of 5). So I was eager to get my hands on Mophie’s first battery case for the iPhone 5, the $80 Juice Pack Helium. My friend and colleague Dan Frakes gave us a first look at the Helium; here's my full review.
A battery of tests
The Helium packs 1500 milliamp hours (mAh), which matches the capacity of the Juice Pack Air. In practical terms, this means that the Helium can’t fully charge an iPhone 5’s battery from empty, but in my testing the Helium can get awfully close: If my iPhone displays the (too-familiar) 10-percent battery warning, the Juice Pack Helium can push the phone’s battery back up to over 90 percent charged. Mophie says to expect an additional six hours of 3G or LTE use for calls and data, or up to seven hours of additional Wi-Fi usage. The company also says it takes two to three hours to fully charge the Helium’s battery, and that matched with my experience.
Mophie praises the case’s slimness: The case measures 2.49 inches wide, 5.49 inches tall, and 0.59 inches thick. Though the case is indeed thinner than previous Mophie battery cases, that advantage is mostly attributable to the iPhone 5’s own slimmer profile. The case of course adds heft and weight to the iPhone 5, but not uncomfortably so.
To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
http://www.macworld.com/article/2028718/review-mophies-juice-pack-helium-is-a-solid-battery-case-for-iphone-5.html
