techminute

iPhone’s are notorious for their not-so-great battery life, because of the iPhone 3G, so that notion has sort of stuck, even though the iPhone 4’s battery life has greatly improved from it’s predecessor. Still, if you are doing a ton of web surfing, if you use GPS-heavy apps a lot, or if you’re just in general, addicted to your iPhone, then the Exolife battery pack is a wise choice.

The case comes in two pieces. The battery pack is the main piece; while this clear plastic band is used to secure the phone to the battery pack. It seems really fragile and easy to break, although that just isn’t the case in the tests we ran it through. While Exogear, the manufacturer claims to double the iPhone 4’s battery life, I was doubtful. To test this, I did what I do for most batteries. I turned on the Wifi, and Bluetooth but didn’t connect to anything while I streamed a Internet radio station via 3G until the phone shut down. It lasted about 410 Minutes with the case, and 205 minutes with no extra power at all, except at fully charged iPhone battery. So essentially you do in fact double your phone’s life, but i wouldn’t recommend actually turning on the battery pack until the phone gives it’s 10 percent battery warning. This can give you even more time, so you get to re-charge your internal phone’s battery via the Exolife. It’s a great case, and it’s easy to hold with it’s non-slip grip on the back. On the bottom is a Mini-USB jack which allows for charging of the case. I would like to see a manufacturer incorporate a Dock Pass-through jack at the bottom, so the user doesn’t have to take the phone out of the case in order to dock the device to a speaker dock. The Exolife is both Powerful and light, while it minimally thickens the iPhone 4’s form factor. It isn’t tough to remove from your pocket either, like many rubber backed cases.

Exogear – $89.99