Since the beginning of February, Mophie has gone from having zero iPhone 5 battery cases to having three. Today the popular case maker announced yet another battery case tailored for the iPhone 5, the Juice Pack Plus. The case costs $120, and it contains more juice than its predecessors.
Amen! A charging case designed for the iPhone 5. Mophie’s new Juice Pack Helium ($79) is one of the first of its kind that work with longer iDevice, so if you find your i5’s often running in the red battery zone by noon each day, read on for the full review. This sleek and slim charging case might just be exactly what you need.
![Sneak Peek: Mophie’s JuicePack Air For iPhone 5 Launches Tomorrow [Mobile World Congress 2013]](http://cdn.cultofmac.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/1361734745.jpg)
BARCELONA, MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS – Pssst… don’t tell anyone, but I just saw Mophie’s new Juicepack Air for the iPhone 5. After months of abusive complaints in forum and comment threads the world over, the Air is now finally… almost… available for the slim new iPhone.
It’s taken nearly five months, but Mophie has finally announced its battery case for the iPhone 5. The Mophie Juice Pack Helium for iPhone 5 contains a 1500mAh battery in a case that’s 13% slimmer than its predecessor. The pack promises to give six to seven more hours of battery life to the iPhone 5 in normal use cases. The Juice Pack Helium costs $80 while supplies last, and shipments start going out on Valentine’s Day.
CultCast Christmas art courtesy of listener & UK-based iPad Artist Matthew Hall!
On this week’s CultCast, we’re ending the year with our favorite gear! Don’t miss our “End of Days, Faves ‘N Raves,” where pitch our favorite apps, accessories, games, even shows, of 2012.
But before that, we’ll break down the whole Instagram debacle for you, and tell you why you should be paying attention to the big I’s plans for your personal pics.
All that and Tim Cook, person of the year?
Join us, friends! Subscribe to The CultCast now on iTunes, or easily stream new and previous episodes via Apple’s free Podcasts App.
Show notes ahead!
We’re continually seeing examples of how the iPhone has exploded its horizons to become much, much more than just a phone. Case (ha) in point: Why shell out $300 for an action cam when you already own a video cam with stellar optics and image-stabilizing, a big, beautiful screen and the ability to upload your exploits whenever you damn well please? All you need to turn your iPhone from video cam to action cam is a rugged, weatherproof case with a wide-angle lens, and the ability to stick the whole thing onto a helmet or such. And that pretty much describes the $150 Mophie OutRide system.
Power! It’s the stuff I’m always hunting for in the halls of conventions, like the upcoming 2013 Consumer Electronics Show (CES). For you see, when you’re multi-touching your iPhone 5 morning, noon, and night, a once-a-day charge isn’t going to cut it.
So this year, when I’m gadget-hunting on the floors of CES, in my bag I’ll definitely be carrying the Mophie Juice Pack Powerstation ($79). It’s tiny, looks great (more on that in a sec), and will charge a dying iPhone 5 up to two times. Yes sir, in my short time with it thus far, I reckon it’s already become one of my favorite new iPhone accessories.
There’s an important list every serious outdoor junkie has at least heard of — it’s called the Ten Essentials, and it lists gear no adventurer should journey into the wilds without. But it was codified long before the digital age arrived; now that power-hungry electronic gadgets are a part of adventuring, a relaible backup fuel tank is pretty important. It could even make the difference between life and death.
That’s where Mophie’s Juice Pack Powerstation Pro ($130) comes in. It’s a monstrous 6000 mAh chunk of a battery guarded by a ruggedized, military-spec housing — and it’ll charge practically anything short of a laptop.
Mophie, the JuicePack company, has flipped out and gone in a totally new direction, head first into an equally crowded market: iPhone sports camera enclosures. Mophie’s version is called the OUTRIDE, in ALL-CAPS.
My first decision is easy when heading out on an outdoor adventure: Take the iPhone with me? Oh, you betcha. The next one is much more difficult. Since the iPhone requires a boost in both protection and juice when playing Indiana Jones, I’m forced to choose between slipping on a battery case and worrying about my iPhone shattering on a rock, or (painstakingly) wrapping it in a rubber case and hoping it doesn’t run out of power.
But Mophie’s new $130 iPhone 4/S battery pack — sort of a cross between a tank and a tanker — says “COMPROMISE IS FOR THE WEAK.” And also, the poor.
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![Mophie Juice Pack Powerstation Pro : The Eleventh Essential for Adventure Junkies [Review]](http://www.cultofandroid.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/mophie-jp-psp-cover-1.jpg)
