When traveling, keeping your iPhone safe, charged, and accessible is pretty much a constant battle. What kinds of accessories you need to do so will depend on your destination, your transportation, and (obviously) your budget. Here are a few suggestions for stuff that you might find helpful when travelling with an iPhone.
The iPhone has pretty decent battery life, all things considered. It is a smartphone, however, and all smartphones use a lot more battery than the old feature phones used to. To keep it charged and at the ready for longer than a day, or under heavy usage, you might want to consider an external charger, or a case with an extra battery in it. Two that I use are the Mophie Juice Pack and the Scoche goBAT II.
The Mophie Juice Pack Plus is a solid protective case that allows an iPhone 4 or 4S to slide into it, connecting to a 30 pin slot at the bottom. While connected and on, the Juice Pack will provide a constant stream of power to your iPhone, keeping it charged far longer than the standard iPhone battery does. When I use it, it generally provides a good double the battery life. There’s a similar model, the Juice Pack Air, that costs $20 less, but provides a little less power on the go.
The Scoche goBAT II is an external hard drive-sized little gadget that provides two or three charges for my iPhone 4, or about a charge or two for my iPad. It has two USB ports on it, one at the higher 2.1 ampere level to allow for that iPad charge. You can connect up to two devices to the goBAT II, and it’s not limited to iOS devices; this baby will charge anything that uses a USB charging cable. To charge the goBAT II itself, simply connect a micro USB cable to the provided port, and then plug that USB cable into a wall charger or computer.
Whether you’re going on a trip far away or just a day jaunt to a museum, having something that allows you to use your iPhone and doesn’t require you to plug your phone into a computer or wall plug is pretty darn sweet, right?
Got your own special charge and protection tips? Let us know in the comments below.
Rob LeFebvre is an Anchorage, Alaska-based writer and editor who has contributed to various tech, gaming and iOS sites, including 148Apps, Creative Screenwriting, Shelf-Awareness, VentureBeat, and Paste Magazine. Feel free to find Rob on Twitter @roblef, and send him a cookie once in a while; he’ll really appreciate it.
4 responses to “Keep Your iPhone Charged And Safe On Vacation [iOS Tips]”
Sometimes you need just a little extra charge. I just bought the Credit Card sized charger for those types of situations.
Keep your iPhone charged with app Energy Charger Pro
Nice summary. Is there any chance with the Scoche goBAT II of plugging a device into the wrong USB slot and frying it? I thought the USB charging was the same across i-devices (obviously not), so that’s a concern if one can plug, say, the iPhone USB cable into the iPad one!
My road gear is the New Trent iPulse, with retractable cables for Apple, Micro and Mini-USB.