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I bought the Mophie Juice Pack Plus a month back and it has been an absolute life saver. I am traveling at the moment and not in and out of the office all day so having this extra power has kept me going all day. THe case also isn't that hard to get used to.

You missed the best one: the Energizer AP1201 case with built in rechargeable battery. They retail for $25-35 and I've been using one for months. It's a one-piece neoprene-type protective case and after spending all day using my iPhone online for business purposes I still have plenty of battery life at the end of the day, whereas I used to always be in the red by about 5PM. Between the price, the simplicity and the extra power, this one can't be beat. Overnight I leave the iPhone in it and plug the case into a power adapter with one of those mini US plug: it recharges both the case and iphone batteries at the same time.

This version of the Sol pack would be a bad choice, in my opinion. Without an off switch, the iPhone thinks it is attached to unlimited power and inherently uses more power than normal, so the extra power provided will not provide any where close to the potential of a unit with an off switch.

I have yet to find a battery case that would continue to allow my iPhone to fit inside my belt holster case.

The Sol Hybrid charger is actually a form fitting power pack not a case, even though it does add some protection for the phone. As far as a switch goes a power pack really does not need on, when the phone is not in the power pack, no energy is being used, it only turns on when it realizes a phone has been connected.For those of you, who wish to leave the power pack on all the time, the internal circuitry only transfer what power is needed by the phone. The reason you see the charge symbol always on is that the power pack is supplying power to run the phone, not the phone battery. last but not least, your phone battery only has 500 odd charge cycles before it starts to degrade, so have your phone battery full all the time, even at the expense of the power pack, is just going to make the overall condition of your phone battery stay at optimal performance.

elaineTx, on 02 September 2011 - 10:00 AM, said:

I always use a belt pouch and and when I got the Energizer battery case I had to get something bigger: I now use a Lowepro, the Dublin 30 I believe it is. It has a wide, secure belt loop and a velcro closure. It's worked out quite well, and is still fairly compact. So many of the pouches are too thick.

There are actually two different Mophie Juice Packs: one that only Apple Stores sell and one that everybody else sells. The Apple Store exclusive version is much more friendly to those of us who need access to the dock port (I plug my Alpine car stereo's iPod interface into it during my commutes). Rather than the phone sliding into it and a top cap securing it, the phone snaps into it and a bottom cap comes off, revealing the dock port.

BTW, Mophie makes belt cases that will fit an iPhone equipped with a Juice Pack but not with a Juice Pack Plus.

You missed this one too ;-)

http://www.amazon.co...duct/B00551WRFK

Davecampbell, on 02 September 2011 - 12:05 PM, said:

Does this mean that the Sol Hybrid charger will (almost?) fully discharge before the iPhone reverts to using power from it' internal battery, i.e., the Sol is the primary power source?

osantosg, on 05 September 2011 - 04:36 AM, said:

I've specifically noted different "neglected" models as well, and read comments from several different people in that same vein in the past... but then I started thinking about it, and realized that Macworld publishes new iPhone case/iPhone battery case reviews every month or two -- and yet, even with that frequency, they will probably never account for every iPhone case in existence. Even so, the commentary gives us a starting point to research these things, and some valuable insights into the usability of different design choices, so there is certainly still a great deal of value in the reading.

As a related aside: Since you just happen to be pointing out a 1700mAh battery case at a lower price bracket than any of the cases in this article... I'll offer up the opinion that the whole economics "supply-vs-demand" principle is dramatically more important than any other factor in determining the price of any of these doo-dads. Take these two models, for example:

"Boost" brand 1700mAh case: http://www.amazon.co...y/dp/B0044TM0OC
"Blackbox" brand 1700mAh case: http://www.amazon.co...r/dp/B0050Z2C56

Glance at the various prices on each of those pages, and specifically take note of the "More Buying Choices" price listings for each case... and then look very closely at the stock photography for each. Notice anything peculiar? I certainly did.

Emmett, on 05 September 2011 - 05:39 AM, said:

I'm pretty sure that's basically the standard method of handling these things... I seem to recall some of Macworlds past reviews have specifically noted this, and for what it's worth, I've also observed the same trend in my own research of different models. Mind you, the power button on other models gives the decision over which is truly treated as primary right back to the user... so I can see why Friedman is anxious to see the next version of the Sol Hybrid.

<a href="http://www.mallextreme.com/qyg-power-f8-portable-battery-power-case-charger-with-bracket-for-iphone-4-4g-black_p27149.html">QYG-Power F8</a> is a protective power case designed specially for the iPhone 4. The case has a slim and light weight design with a special built-in stand in the back that can nearly double the battery life of your iPhone 4

peterhe, on 20 September 2011 - 05:27 AM, said:

Thank you: you have just (likely inadvertently) pointed out one more tech-spec that people should probably be looking at when buying a battery case: The amperage ratings on charging the phone, and on charging the battery case itself. Images at the link you provided indicate that the "QYG-Power" case only operates at 500mA on both input and output, which is basically a trickle charge compared to the 1 amp car and wall chargers that most people use with their iPhone 4s... so now I'm left wondering: what are the amperage ratings of all these other cases? For that matter, is 500mA even enough to use the phone, without also draining the internal battery? Hmmmmm.....