Yes, it’s my 40th birthday today and I’ll cry if I want to write what I want to. It’s almost relevant.
I know a lot of you love Apple devices. I do too. Although I do worry each time Apple launches a new phone or device that’s slimmer than ever – normally that means either they’ve done some black magic with battery capacities… or that the amount of time that phone runs has shrunk.
(There was going to be an amusing anecdote here – but I realised I might have sensitive readers).
When in the air and you’ve got no external power source – this can leave a lot of gritting of teeth (or if you’re in the office and can’t find your spare lightning cable… the result is pretty much the same).
Apple may have tactfully acknowledged that the battery life of the iPhone 6s may not best with the launch of a $99/£79 “Apple Smart Battery Case“.
The Apple Smart Battery Case in Charcoal – Image, Apple
The Apple Smart Battery Case in White – Image, Apple
Two things stand out with this – one visual and one which a little more worrying.
The first elephant in the room is the styling. Morphie have some nice power-packs that extend to the whole case… where as the Apple case looks like someone has stacked a deck of business cards in the back on a iPhone case.
The second bigger elephant is that there is currently no published power rating for the battery pack in milliamp hours. This is currently what every other vendor who sells extended runtime batteries.
According to Apple:
Charge your iPhone and battery case simultaneously for increased talk time up to 25 hours, Internet use up to 18 hours on LTE, and even longer audio and video playback.
Also:
Hmm.
AppleInsider took a look inside the Apple Smart Battery Case, noting it has:
- Integration into iOS9 by providing a second battery meter
- An integrated antenna so signal coverage is not impaired
- Charging via existing Lightening cabling.
You’ll notice my tone – and I’ll admit – I’m not sold on this. A few too many questions, a lack of battery rating, and it looks as ugly as sin.
I’ll stick to my external battery packs and cables. For heavy users of iPhones – I’d consider looking elsewhere until there are lot more real life reports of this case.
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