Tylt’s Energi Battery Case for iPhone 5 and Galaxy S3 is The One I Want Most at CES [CES 2013]
LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 – I always pack two cases when I’m about to embark on heavy travel with my iPhone: a battery case and my trusty Incipio Feather Ultralight case. I realize toting extra juice is a necessity I have to live with, but I haven’t yet found a serious battery case with dimensions I can live with — I simply hate the bulkiness. This means I’m often stuck balancing my need for my juice with my want for less bulk by constantly swapping cases, and frankly, it’s a pain in the ass.
Evidently someone at Tylt feels my pain, because they’ve come up with the Energi, a meaty 2,500 mAh battery that slides over a thin-shell case. Presto, no more stupid fiddling.
The Energi Case has all the standard stuff, like a luggage-handle pass through, LED battery indicators and whatnot. There’re two versions, one for the Galaxy S3 and a Lightning version for the iPhone 5.
The other cool thing I found at the Tylt booth was their Energi Backpack, a gadget hauler with a slew of smart features and a removable battery with the juice capacity of an aircraft carrier’s nuclear powerplant. You can use the 10,400 mAh battery’s three outputs to charge tablets, an AT&T store full of phones, or start your truck or whatever.
The bag itself seems able to swallow a ton of stuff, and it’s full of pockets and nifty features like internal cable routing (so your stuff can charge while you’re on the move), a TSA-compliant laptop compartment and a luggage trolley passthrough.
The Energi cases will be available in March for $100; the Energi backpack is also out in March with two versions, one at $200 (the one we’ve pictured) and one with somewhat less-snazzy material at about $40 less.
When he was eight, Eli Milchman came home from frolicking in the Veld one day and was given an Atari 400. Since then, his fascination with technology has made him an intrepid early adopter of whatever charming new contraption crosses his path — which explains why he's Cult of Mac's test editor-at-large. He calls San Francisco home, where he works as a journalist and photographer. Eli has contributed to the pages of 
