Mophie Juice Pack Boost review

For extended trips away from an outlet (or "mains," for the British among us), the iPhone instills far less confidence than some of its rivals for two simple reasons: one, you can't carry a second battery even if you want to; and two, the ubiquitous, dime-a-dozen micro-USB cables that you find everywhere simply aren't going to do you any good in the event you want to jack in to your laptop's USB for a quick charge. Sure, your local Apple Store is happy to rob you blind of $20 for an extra iPod cable... but we digress.

Naturally, the iPhone's ginormous accessory industry has come to the rescue in a pretty big way. Mophie'sJuice Pack Air series (and products like it) are the most integrated solution: you trade in some of your phone's slimness and sexiness in exchange for a combination case and extended battery. Unless you're taking your phone to the backwoods and you don't plan to reemerge for a few days, it's theoretically going to have you covered -- you just need to be willing to carry around some extra girth. Another option, though, is to simply carry around an external battery pack. Doesn't sound very appealing at first, but consider the advantages: your iPhone still looks like an iPhone, you can use the designer case of your choosing, and if you're in a situation where you don't think you're going to need it, you just don't bring it with you. No muss, no fuss.