Dave Burrows – Tech / iPhone Blog – Technical Evangelist

You don’t quite know how much you really need your device and it’s battery power until you find that you go to switch your device on and either the battery is flat, or that you only have a few minutes use left.

The backup battery market is really now maturing for the iPhone and iPod Touch. No longer do you just have 2 or 3 types of battery backups, there’s now a huge selection to choose from. Below we’ll show you quite a few battery backups that work for both the iPhone and iPod Touch. Some are plug in connector port backup systems, some use your existing iPod cable, some are sleeves, and some work with other phones that have USB, mini-USB or micro-USB connectors, so hopefully there’s one type of backup system for everyone here!

Dexim DCA121B BluePack S5 Backup Battery

This is a good backup battery that plugs into your sync port on the iPhone and iPod Touch.

• Dexim BluePack S5 extends your iPhone usage time up to 5 hours for talking, 9 hours for video playing or 45 hours for music playing!
• It can automatically charge and sync your iPhone/iPod
• Made for all ipods except shuffle
• Also works with newest iphone
• Innovative and compact design, lightweight features make it fit for your pocket, purse or briefcase.
• Snap on the battery, charge your iPhone/iPod immediately
• Smart protection technology circuity to prevent from shorting Automatic on/off charging technology prevent the battery from over charging.
• While charging, you can also press the switch to check the power status.
• Connect BluePack S5 to PC computer or Mac with included mini USB cable, you can also transfer datas to computer while charging.

Price: £34 approx – Amazon

iPhone 3G Extended External Battery

This is very similar in design to the Dexim Battery Backup, it also has a battery monitor so you can see how much battery power it has left in the battery but offered at a lower price.

et more battery life out of your iPhone 3G with this mobile power station. Simply clip into the charging port of your iPhone 3G and instantly have more power. Also charges all other ipods with dock connector.

• Capacity – 1,000 mAh / Lithium Ion Battery
• Rated input: 5V 800 mA Rated Output: 5V 500 mA
• Charges Apple: iPhone 3G and all Apple ipods with Dock connector

Price: £10 approx – Amazon

TeckNet 1900 mAh Mobile External Battery

The TeckNet battery carries a much greater capacity running at 1900 mAh which will give you a faster battery backup than the 1000 mAh versions of other batteries and supports iPhone’s (3G and 3GS), iPod Touch, iPod Classic and iPod Nano.

• Dimensions: 0.6 x 2.3 x 2.6-inches (H x W x D, approximate)
• Capacity – 1,900 mAh / Lithium Ion Battery
• With 4 LEDs built-in power meter, Rated input: 5V 800 mA Rated Output: 5V 500 Ma
• Supported Models: Any iPhone or iPod with a dock connector iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPod 3G, iPod 4G, iPod 5G, iPod Classic, iPod Colour, iPod Mini, iPod Nano 2G, iPod Nano 3G, iPod Nano 4G, iPod Nano 5G, iPod Nano Chromatic, iPod Photo, iPod Video, iPod Touch, iPod Touch 2G, iPod Touch 3G

Price: £10.99 approx – Amazon

Kensington Battery Pack And Charger For iPhone And iPod

This battery is a lot larger than the ones above but does claim up to 4x times the charge on an iPod.

• Rechargeable battery pack extends playing time up to 100 hours of music
• 21 hours of video
• 6 hours of talk
• AC powered USB charger allows users to charge their iPod
• While charging an iPod, the lithium ion polymer battery can also be recharged simultaneously
• Compact design is easy to pack away for travel
• Battery will fully recharge a completely drained 30GB iPod at least 4 times without needing to be re-charged itself
• Includes USB Chargers
• Includes both EU and UK adapters for charging
• Battery life indicator

Price: £34.95 approx – Amazon

Mophie Juice Pack Air for iPhone 3G & 3GS

If you’re always seeking more battery there’s a case out that gives you an extended battery as well as providing a hard case for your iPhone called the Mophie Juice Pack. Mophie claim they have the “The world’s thinnest rechargeable battery case for iPhone 3G & iPhone 3GS.”

The great thing about this is it’s a sleeve for your iPhone so you don’t need to plug in a separate battery backup pack, and there’s a switch on the sleeve to turn it on and off depending on whether you want it always supplying power to your iPhone battery or whether you only want to supply backup power when your iPhone battery is low.

• Double your power
• Dedicated battery pack On/Off Switch
• Pass-through USB – Charge and sync your iPhone to iTunes without removing it from the juice pack air™
• Intelligent Power Distribution
• Powerful and Safe Battery Cell – Built in overcharge, short-circuit and temperature protection
• Light LED Battery Status Indicator

Price: £65 approx – Amazon

NuPower Charge and Sync

The NuPower comes in at $39.95 and the battery is a 1400 mAh battery which covers almost identically the same battery you will have in most of your power hungry phones like the iPhone or a Windows Phone. Using the NuPower you should be able to approximately double the length of your battery by just plugging it in with one of the flexibile connectors that are supplied. Currently they supply three connectors, one for the iPhone and iPod Touch devices, another for mini USB devices and another for micro USB devices. For me that pretty much covers it as all of my devices are mini USB, a few are full size USB and now I’m starting to grow more gadgets that are using the new micro-USB standard.

The NuPower weights in at 3.12 ounces measuring 2.875″ x 2.25″ x 0.625″.

Price: $39.95 approx

Philips SCE4430/05 mobile charger for iPhone

The Phlips SCE4430/05 has a button on the front that allows you to check a 4-bar status on how much battery power is left. Gone are the days where I run out of battery life because I’ve put my phone/device in my pocket and it’s powered itself on and drained the battery. Sports a Lithium polymer – 2000 mAh integral battery.

These are awesome little USB battery chargers, and can charge the iPhone up to about 3 times.

Great if you go away and don’t have any kind of mains/car charging facility all day. These by far are the best mobile chargers I’ve found and carry a load of charger bits to work on other devices and not just USB or miniUSB!

• Product Description: Philips Power2Go SCE4430 – power pack – Li-pol
• Product Type: Power pack
• Dimensions (WxDxH): 6 cm x 1.6 cm x 8.7 cm
• Weight: 88 g
• Localisation: United Kingdom, Ireland
• Voltage Required: 5 V
• Battery: Lithium polymer – 2000 mAh

Griffin TuneJuice 6242-TJ3 Battery Backup

Now you can expect more out of your Iphone and Ipod. With the new TuneJuice your Iphone’s or Ipod’s battery life to enjoy more time in listening to music and watching videos. It charges your Ipod using the 4 x AAA batteries in it. Never cut short another conversation or song again; just plug in TuneJuice, and your iPhone or iPod battery starts to safely recharge and keeps on playing. A must have for air travel, camping, urban hiking, road trips or anywhere else you could face the ugly prospect of a dead battery.

TuneJuice will provide up to 8 hours of additional play; a completely drained iPod will get up to 4 hours. Pop a standard 9-Volt battery into the TuneJuice and keep rocking.

• Battery Backup for iPod
• Works with any dockable iPod or iPod mini
• Provides up to 8 hours additional play

Price: £17.99 approx – Amazon

Dexim DCA103B Blue Pack Backup Battery

Keep on talking! Charge your iPhone/iPod on the go. Extends up to 10 hours talking time,12 hours video playing time or 72 hours music playing time by dexim BluePack S3 with 2600mA Polymer Lithium battery. Dexim delivers dream and love. We call for a new lifestyle as our slogan says:” Put your dreams in life”. dexim creates products from our hearts to offer consumer enjoyable, personalized and superior using experience.The inspiration of dexim merges Chinese and Western culture. dexim is a Chinese translation which involves three layers of meaning: ethic practice，3 wins situation, bright future. The First Win stands for consumer by offering best using experience. The Second Win stands for our business partners for long-term cooperation. The Third Win stands for shareholders & employees for continuable development.

• Officially licenced – Made For Ipod and Works with Iphone
• BluePack S3 2600mA Polymer Li-Ion battery extends 10hrs talking time
• 12 hrs video playing time or 72 hrs music playing time
• Smart technology prevent from over charging
• LEDs for indicating charging and remaining battery life
• 2600mA Lithium Polymer Battery
• Compatible with Blackberry, T Mobile G1, HTC Phones as well!
• Compatible with all iPhones including the newest iPhones, all iPod models except shuffle

Price: £43.79 approx – Amazon