I have 2x New Trent 5000mAh battery chargers and 2x Philips SCE4430/05 battery chargers.

The New Trent 5000mAh will give me about 40% extra power on my iPad (which already enjoys a massive 10 hours battery power), or I can get around 3x full charges of my iPhone 4.

The Philips SCE4430/05 which I have previously mentioned here and here, will give me around 1x full charge of an iPhone 4. I actually do have 3x of these and not 2, although one requires a reverse adapter (which I conveniently forget) so I tend to not use this one so much.

So in essence if I take all 4x battery chargers out I can get a massive 8x full charges of an iPhone. For the most part I never usually have to charge up my iPad as I’m never away for more than 10 hours from an electrical plug socket, but it’s nice to know I have some power on tap if I need it.

For the most part if I’m only out and about for a few hours then I’ll take my Philips SCE4430/05 with me, or if I’m out for 5+ hours then I’ll carry around the New Trent 5000mAh charger. I usually keep at least one in the car, so if I need to I can run back to the car to get additional juice.

The great thing I like about both of these battery chargers is they have a standard USB socket on them, so pretty much any USB cable you have for a phone or gadget will connect into these devices. So no real need for these attachment bits that some chargers come with (and that you always happen to lose).

The Philips SCE4430/05 is great for putting into your shirt pocket with ease, the New Trent will fit into your shirt pocket and it’s the same dimensions of the iPhone 4, but a little heavier, so although you could put your iPhone 4 and New Trent charger into the same shirt pocket, it does look a bit on the bulky side.

I always pack at least one of the New Trent 5000mAh battery chargers into a bag I carry whether it’s an iPad bag, gadget bag or even my Messenger (over the shoulder) Laptop bag or rucksack. That way I always have something available fully charged and ready to go just in case I ever need it. You’d be surprised the amount of times you think, I’m running low on battery or I need a quick top-up. Whether it’s in meetings where you might have plug sockets but no charger plug lead to being out in the street, out on location photographing something or at a friends house.

The big downside is the additional thickness and weight it will add to the iPad.

“the icon”, was inspired according to the battery icon on the iPhone, and is designed specifically for the iPhone backup power solution. From “the icon” unique outlook, it enable you to extend your iPhone talk time up to 3 hours and audio play back up to 18 hours. “the icon” has an innovative design which uses an EL film on the front panel of the battery charger to display the power status of the battery. “the icon” will charge your iPhone once you connect the battery charger to the iPhone, and it will show you the remaining power while you remove it from your iPhone.

This may be what all new battery chargers will look like over time.

I currently have both iPhones setup similar (but not exact), e.g. one iPhone uses a contract SIM on O2 and the other a PAYG SIM on O2. I don’t have all of the exact same apps/games installed onto both, but both have my core apps/games, so if I want to switch between one and another then I can do at ease.

I charge both iPhones up over night, only one gets used for calls in the day. When my backup iPhone isn’t being used and I’m at a desk, then it gets charged up in my JBL Speaker Dock. I charge the main iPhone probably a couple of times a day (more so when I’m using the phone for around 4 hours in a day).

If I’m going for what I’ll call a heavy use session on the iPhone, e.g. game playing or lots of surfing or social media then where possible I’ll use my Philips SCE battery charger (I usually carry two of these). The Philips charger allows me to get at least one full charge of an iPhone. So effectively you could say that on any one day, I have the battery power of 4x iPhones.

On a real power hungry day then I might take my Juice Pack Air battery sleeve with me, that kinda got neglected until recently, but now the dust has come off the cover and I’m using it a little more.

Do I really need two iPhones? The answer for me is Yes, because I do a lot of testing.
Do I really need 5x the battery power? Oh yes! You can’t believe how handy this is.

With the Philips battery chargers, I can carry two of these around in a soft pouch, basically equaling the size of a regular iPhone. They can slip into any of my pockets and go unnoticed and I can whip them out with an Apple USB charger cable at anytime to give me a little battery top-up.

Personally I try not to run the battery power much below 50% although on some heavy days if I don’t charge often then I can get down to below 20%.

This pocket-sized battery has a solar panel to charge your device from the sun. It can also charge from a USB cable, on cloudy days. Once it’s powered up, plug it to any device that works with a USB port to charge that device.

The SolBat II’s interface is pretty simple. A red light lets you know when it’s charging and a green light tells you it’s transferring that stored energy to a device. The lithium ion battery has a capacity of 1500mA and an output of 5V, so it charges at the same rate as a wall charger.

The SolBat II comes with a suction cup for sticking it to your car’s windshield and a chord for attaching it to your backpack.

The SolBat II is available now for $29.99.

• Consequently as soon as you start taking care of you iPhone battery it will serve you longer and better.
• The first and foremost is to avoid your iPhone from dropping. This is the most common rule which is known for everyone but is often ignored and disregarded.
• Let the battery fully discharge and fully charge at least once a month. Thus the buttery keeps the electrons in the lithium-ion battery moving.
• Avoid keeping your battery in the humid environment as well as in the places of high temperature as heat destroys the ability of ionization in the lithium-ion battery. Room temperature is the best for your iPhone to keep in.
• Wireless connectivity as well as Bluetooth has similar battery usage so you should keep these features turned off while not using them.
• Try not to charge your iPhones with vehicles or after market chargers. They are not accurate in charging. Taking into account that lithium-ion batteries are designed to be charged at an exact charge rate and voltage, these chargers will also be likely to damage them.

Yet this is not a full list of rules that have to be fallowed but quite enough to ensure long life for the battery and thus the iPhone itself.

Source: iPhone Blog

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

The concept behind Refresh is simple – it is essentially a small box containing half a dozen cables and connectors, with a rubberised tray sat on top. Just sit your devices on the tray and plug in the connectors and you have a clutter-free method of charging multiple mobile gadgets simultaneously.

The connectors include a couple for iPhone and iPod, plus mini and micro USB (the latter is set to become the standard connector for mobile phones) and a couple of female USB ports that you can use to attach any additional proprietary connectors as well.

Refresh is suitable for office or home and the compact size of the unit, which measures 241 x 142 x 45mm, makes it a good fit on most desks.

Additional connectors can be purchased for the following devices/phones

- EX-001 Nokia
- EX-002 Sony Ericsson
- EX-003 LG
- EX-004 Samsung
- EX-005 Samsung
- EX-006 Mini USB
- EX-007 Micro USB
- EX-008 Various Brands
- EX-009 Palm
- EX-010 Sony PSP
- EX-011 Nintendo DS Lite
- EX-012 Motorola

The price is a little on the high side especially seeing that you have to manually plug in charger cables, it’s not like the PowerMat for instance.

Price: £75 / $89 from BlueLounge.com

The IvySkin Zappak battery back-up solution with dual-USB technology claims to be the world’s lightest and smallest with longest battery life and a built-in USB cable.

You can now charge your iPhone and iPod both at the same time when they run out of battery while you’re out on the go with dual-charging circuits.

The IvySkin Zappak battery pack is available from IvySkin for $49.99.

The Kensington 4 port USB Charger plug will charge everything you need in one place. It comes with 4x USB ports to allow you to plug in your USB cables for various devices and you can then charge these Mobile Devices direct to the plug rather than using your computer or separate charger plugs.  You can charge iPhone’s, iPod’s, mobile phones, SmartPhones, Windows Phones, PDAs and much more.

Features

• Four USB power ports charge up to four mobile devices simultaneously
• Eliminates the need for multiple wall chargers and outlets
• Small, compact design doesn’t block extra wall outlets
• Use with your existing USB charging cable

Technical specifications

• Input: 100-240 VAC, 50-60Hz, 0.3A max.
• Output: 1-4 x USB, 5 VDC, 2.0A max.
• Dimensions (LxWxD): 3.03 x 2.17 x 1.14 in./7.7 x 5.5 x 2.9 cm
• Weight: 4.23 oz./120.0 g

This is a little pricey at £22.95 but if you were to purchase separate chargers then it’s certainly a cheaper option, and by buying one also gives you a good travel charger (as it comes with UK and EU plugs).  Also buy buying one also frees up your other chargers to use them in other rooms

There’s a new portable device charger that works with multiple devices called the 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.

Most devices require the standard 5V input so this will also charge other items like portable Bluetooth headsets, portable Bluetooth speakers and anything else that has a portable battery within it that needs charging.

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

If you’re looking for other variations, why not check out the Philips SCE4403 or if you want an integral battery sleeve for your iPhone then the Mophie Juice Pack Air. Each of these give about the same amount of extended battery usage although the Philips one I seem to get a lot more from it.

More information for the NuPower Charge and Sync is available here.

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The juice pack air™ is available exclusively through mophie.com and Apple stores world-wide. This is the first Apple certified “Works With iPhone 3G(S)” attached battery in the world!

Charging
You can use the included USB cable to charge the juice pack air™ and iPhone simultaneously or charge the juice pack air™ on its own.

For me this looks like an attractive solution, the real downside is almost doubling the depth of the iPhone which makes it less appealing. For now I’ll probably stick with my Philips SCE4403 chargers that I can easily place in my Pocket and whip out at a moments notice and still have the streamlined case of the iPhone.

More information can be found at http://www.mophie.com/product-p/1059_jpa-ip3g-blk.htm

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!

Check out Amazon for more info.

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.

This is a must have for all iPhone enthusiasts!