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if you are not on an Unlimited Plan, it would behoove you to stay within the daily power limits of your iPhone to curtail going over your minutes and pay an exorbitant bill at the end of the month.

Jul 15, 08 - 06:02 pm Comment from: Randian

Does this little goodie (and others sure to come) satisfy the great unwashed Treo, Blackberry, BlackJack masses who simply MUST have a second battery in hand when they travel away from the office?

whine away

...why all the hoopla about the 3G having poor battery life is nonsense:

1. It's BETTER battery life than most (if not all) other 3G phones

2. It's poor only compared to EDGE phones like the old iPhone, and not MUCH lower anyway

3. You can switch it to EDGE easily for BETTER battery life than the old iPhone--best of both worlds

4. The new 3G's battery isn't meant to be swapped often, but it's much easier to change than the old: just 2 screws, and it's not soldered

5. Most people don't even need the maximum 3G battery life anyway--they don't talk for 5 hours a day and they charge nightly (plus you can charge other places like in your car)

And now 6. You can get external batteries like this one if your worried about some unusual situation. It doesn't make your phone bulky until you need it (rare) so carry it and forget it. Best of all, if you have time to charge the phone but no juice, use this instead: it will transfer power to the phone and then you can disconnect it.

Magic Word: wrong. "It is [wrong] to compare the fast new 3G iPhone to a bunch of slow EDGE phones and complain about battery life, when the new iPhone in EDGE mode gets BETTER than they do!"

This type of device is way better than a spare battery as you can charge both at the same time.

Jul 15, 08 - 06:12 pm Comment from: Jubei

There you go. I got batteries when I run out of juice. Very nice.

Jul 15, 08 - 06:21 pm Comment from: Sir Gill Bates

They ad some bulk to the iPhone, but for $50 you could have a couple of them if you really need it.

Jul 15, 08 - 06:51 pm Comment from: Me In LA

This device does not work with the 3G anyway.
The power changed on the 3G, and it no longer uses pinouts like previous units did that were based on the FireWire std.
Even though they were USB, they are not the same.
The new 3G won't work (charge) with many legacy docks/speakers, etc.
I've heard there will be adapters, but nothing official.

Sucks for 3G owners cause this thing is very, very nice. They're about the price of what an iPhone would cost anyway.

I'm going to order one and if I like it maybe another for emergencies.

This is what all battery pack makers should shoot for. Get them down even smaller in size so they won't be cumbersome at all. As portable as this is, an iPod touch user for example wouldn't be able to have their headphones connected while charging.

True, but what really makes this better than a spare battery is that you don't have to turn the phone off before you can use it.

Rather what an iPhone battery* would cost

Jul 15, 08 - 07:12 pm Comment from: Spark

@Me In LA
You may be right, but I'm not sure. I know there are issues between some 3rd party add-on with the Firewire/USB power issue. But Kensington states that this works with ANY iPhone. I find it hard to believe they would introduce this after the 3G intro with that claim if it did not work with it.

Jul 15, 08 - 07:36 pm Comment from: Me In LA

@ Spark,

Yeah, it's an odd one.
I can't find any info on this to be SURE, and I can not find any documentation (I have been looking, believe me) on "Made for iPhone" legalese.
I know the pinouts/circuitry did change, so this is one thing I'm not going to purchase unless I know for sure...

"This device does not work with the 3G anyway.
The power changed on the 3G, and it no longer uses pinouts like previous units did that were based on the FireWire std.
Even though they were USB, they are not the same.
The new 3G won't work (charge) with many legacy docks/speakers, etc.
I've heard there will be adapters, but nothing official."

What are you talking about? The connector is a standard 30pin dock connector on both first generation iPhone and the iPhone 3G. I have personally used 3 different Apple USB cables for charging both units, and not had any difficulties. I have also connected both units to my car stereo and the Alpine dock connector for iPod and it works fine too (for music, music control, and charging). This includes a first gen iPhone cable charging a 3G, as well as syncing, and an old iPod USB cable doing the same. And then I used the new 3G cable to charge and sync the first gen iPhone.

Some proof behind your FUD would be nice...

@Me in LA

I work in the electronics industry and have my new Iphone 3G connected with the same adaptor that I have used for my nano, Ipod touch, original nano, classic and so on. I leave the new cables in the box and never use them. If the pin-out is different as you say than why are the original ipod charging cables working fine on the new iphone. When pin-outs change the cable will not do a thing not work sometimes and not others. So, basically this device simulates being plugged in. Think of it as a battery powered electrical wall outlet and it will work just fine.

Jul 15, 08 - 11:14 pm Comment from: Mr. Reeee

Nice idea.

BUT, it would be ideal if it somehow piggybacked onto the iPhone instead of hung down like it does... so it might actually be able to be carried in a pocket and not fear snapping or bending the dock connectors.

Otherwise a reasonable first draft.

That's a wrong design! iPhone belt holder as a extra battery pack is much better idea.

Jul 16, 08 - 12:52 am Comment from: Macintosh

There are cooler ones that have the rounded corners so it fits nicely against the iPhone. I forgot what they are called though. Search for one made only for the iPhone and not for iPods. You will see it.

I hope Dan Dilger or the like writes up about how there HAVE to be faults with the iPhone.

The battery life issue has been done to death and many people will believe what they have read that iPhone 3G battery life is terrible...

So how many of them will have read that iPhone has the BEST battery life of any iPhone?

Another example is Exchange support.. Ars' iPhone review slams iPhone for not being a good corporate tool. Why? Because it doesn't support the weird and wonderful advanced options of exchange that the Blackberry does. They admit it does everything it does do better than the Blackberry though. So the result is they throw the baby out with the bathwater for the sake of features understood and used by one dozen people..

Doesn't make any sense to me at all.

The iPhone is SUCH a revolutionary device, that I can only believe that there is a real fear in some quarters to admit that. Why?

Ho ho ho...I see adverts on MDN now for kitchens and I wonder how many new kitchen buying decisions will be delayed by people choosing iPhones instead during these hard times...!

Has anyone else had issues with the iPod Touch since 2.0 update?

I wend from having to charge every few days to getting less than a day out of a charge.

Hey asspods, it's not FUD, and I suggest before opening your ignorant mouths and proving you're just so, that you do a little research.

Read CLICK HERE

God, it's just infuriating how many dumb f*cks there are on this site.
You work in the "electronics industry" eh?
What, you put the Energizer Bunny logos on the battery packs?
So much for your job...

Jul 16, 08 - 09:27 am Comment from: Sir Gill Bates

A fake 'Me in LA'.

I ain't clickin' that link.

Jul 16, 08 - 09:30 am Comment from: Sir Gill Bates

"What, you put the Energizer Bunny logos on the battery packs?"

Hey, somebody has to do it. I wonder how well it pays.

Jul 16, 08 - 01:27 pm Comment from: Me In LA

@ SBG: Not a fake me - just not logged in...
It's ok, it goes to an article on ilounge.com.
Click away - really - I want the idiots above to learn something.

Jul 16, 08 - 03:58 pm Comment from: Sir Gill Bates

Me in LA,

Yeah, I clicked right after I posted that. I just couldn't resist. Thanks.

Jul 20, 08 - 09:00 pm Comment from: fuhong

Sure the battery on iPhone 3G is not that great, but what can we do? We want small size phones, powerful features and lengthy battery life.

Just get a backup battery. I got mine from iPhoneck brands. Their new 3G backup battery is probably one of the better looking products in the market. Their website is http://www.iphoneck.com