Power to the iPhone

Let’s face it, as great as the iPhone and iPod Touch are, they could both use boosts to their battery life. When yaking over a 3G connection on your iPhone, the battery power plummets faster than Enron stock. And the iPod Touch is no slouch when it comes to power consumption, absolutely obliterating that little green meter into a blank screen when connected to a WiFi network. So it comes as now surprise that third party developers are crafting up power-packs and battery-boosters to supplement your communication and browsing times. Today we’ll look at two designed for the iPhone 3G (however, the Juice Pack also comes in a iPod Touch flavour). mophie’s iPhone 3G Juice Pack and Incase’s Power Slider.

First off is the Juice Pack (pictured above). This buxom battery bolsterer boasts up to 350 additional hours of standby, 6 more hours of 3G talk time (12 for 2G), or 6 more hours of browsing. The design is of the ‘sled’ variety, wherewith you slide your iPhone into a shell that contains the additional power supply. Points for getting the job done, but aesthetics take a hit here and that’ll have to be something you consider along with the $99 price tag.

In contrast we have the Incase Power Slider (pictured below). With 330 additional hours of standby, 5 hours more of 3G (10 hours 2G), or 5 hours more online, the Power Slider is slightly inferior in the battery boosting department. However, in a quid pro quo, what it lacks in battery life, it makes up for in its visual appeal. The Power Slider has a more uniform design, and appears much more naturalistic in contrast with the Juice Pack.

So it comes down, as life so often does, to looks versus power; beauty or brawn. Both make steps towards a more integrated power solution (over some other sloppy peripherals that dangle off the device like a vestigial appendage). But either way, you’re packing more pounds and additional inches onto your device.

The Juice Pack is already on the market, and the Incase Power Slider debuts November 28th (pricing forthcoming).

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