Tag: battery

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5 Ways to Keep Your Mobile Devices Charged When You Travel

As I head out this week on another Iceland adventure I started to layout the gear that I plan on taking. I’m excited to document this trip with my new DJI Mavic Pro drone, but as usual I will have my iPhone 7 Plus, iPad Pro and 360° cameras. All of these devices need to be charged. For the Mavic it’s not much of an issue as I have multiple batteries, but for the smaller devices with built-in batteries I need to be able to charge them when I’m not near an outlet. That’s why I’ve standardized on Anker batteries (and cables). I put this short video together highlighting my three favorite batteries:

5 Ways to Keep Your Mobile Devices Charged When You Travel

I use the Anker PowerCore 20100 as the battery that’s always in my bag. This ultra high capacity battery can charge my smartphone and tablet multiple times before needing to be recharged. I can usually get a few days of use out of it before needing to recharge the battery itself. So if I forget to charge it at night it’s not the end of the world. Next up…

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Apple’s New iPhone Battery Case is Ugly

iPhone Battery Case
As many of you know I’ve been a fan of Apple’s products for years. Usually I’m attracted by the style, integration, and ease of use. Yesterday, I was left scratching my head like many of you. Apple all of a sudden decided to get into the iPhone backup battery game. That in and of itself surprises me. What it says for the first time is that we admit that our iPhone batteries don’t last long enough for some people so we’re gonna sell you a battery to make it last longer. Just not a move that I expected from Apple.

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This Battery Came in Handy During the Last Power Outage

HyperJuice 2

There I am at my desk at 5PM on a Sunday and I can hear the rain outside. Next I hear the wind really whipping by and bam, there go the lights. After a few seconds the lights came back on and then after a few more seconds they went off for good! Sure my APS UPS Systems kept my Server and Internet Router going for a while before they eventually ran out of juice. Since I was headed out of town the next morning I just decided to relax and take it easy for the rest of the evening. However, the one thing that I definitely wanted to keep charged and running the entire night was my iPhone. I have a battery that I keep in my backpack which is good for a couple of charges, but I had never tried to go all night with it. Also while I was sitting at my desk I hadn’t plugged my phone in so it was already down to around 40% battery left. That’s when I remembered my HyperJuice battery that was also in my office and fully charged!

DTE-iPhone

I commend DTE Energy for having a nice App to not only report the outage, but get status updates and see what other areas are affected:

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The HyperJuice  to rescue!

hyperjuice2-ports

This battery is really designed to power your MacBook for long periods of time when AC power isn’t readily available. However, it also has a USB port for charging/powering phones and tablets. I plugged my iPhone into the USB port and not only did I wake up fully charged 8 hours later, but the HyperJuice still had plenty of juice to top off my MacBook Pro as well! When I originally bought this battery it was for long flights and being at seminars where there were no plugs nearby. I hadn’t carried it in a while and never thought that I’d be using it to get me through the night because of a power outage.

You can get/find out more the HyperJuice here.

BTW, it’s 2014! Can’t we agree that power lines should be buried? Sigh…



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Mophie Juice Pack Air for iPhone 5/5s

mophie-juicepack-air-red

If you use your iPhone a lot during the day then chances are you’ll run out of battery before you run out of day. While at my desk I keep it plugged in and while in my car I use this car charger. However, when I’m on the road I tend to use my iPhone 5s quite a bit when I’m not near a power source. I also depend on it heavily and can’t afford to run out of juice. I’ve used a variety of external batteries before, but the one that is definitely the most convenient is the Mophie Juice Pack Air. The reason I like this one best is because it doubles as a case for iPhone 5/5s. This means that while your iPhone is in the Juice Pack Air it’s being charged and protected at the same time. Because it is a battery it does add a bit more bulk than a standard case, but not too much. It’s also very light and therefore doesn’t add a ton of weight. The Juice Pack Air charges via a micro USB cable (supplied). At first I was a bit disappointed in this because I had hoped for a Lightning connector pass-thru. However, on the plus side micro USB is more common and easier to share with non-iPhone users. You can charge just the Juice Pack or both the Juice Pack and iPhone at the same time. The Juice Pack Air has a physical switch to turn it on/off and an LED readout to let you know how much “juice” is left. The 1700mAh battery is designed to give you 100% more power effectively doubling your iPhone 5/5s battery life.

The Mophie Juice Pack Air comes in Black, White and PRODUCT (Red). I went with the PRODUCT (Red) one. I keep it charged and available for those “long days”. I’ve used previous models on previous iPhones and they have never let me down.

You can get the Mophie Juice Pack Air here.