For us smartphone users, aside from cell connection, the thing that matters most is our precious battery life. As phones draw more juice with faster processors and bigger screens, power is at a premium. Tennrich International Corp and XPal Power have released the PowerSkin line of smartphone battery cases. We managed to get a hold of their iPhone 4 version, which fits both AT&T as well as Verizon iPhone 4’s.
The PowerSkin case is pretty thick, making your iPhone 4 increase girth to 0.77 inches. The width and length of the units also increase, making the iPhone 4 5.1 inches long and 2.5 inches wide – so it definitely makes your iPhone 4 larger than you are used to. It could be an issue for those people who keep their iPhones in cargo and carpenter pockets, so be sure to take note prior to purchase. The case itself is an attractive black silicone with a nice rubberized feel.
Inserting your iPhone 4 into the case is exceptionally easy – in fact, far easier than most cases I have seen. The phone simply slides into the case, bottom-first, then the top part of the silicone case snaps over the top of the phone. Along the bottom side of the case are four blue LEDs which display the battery cases current charge level. By pressing and holding the button on the bottom-side of the case, you can power on and off the PowerSkin. Once plugged in, I got about a day and a half out of the case with a standard amount of usage. Taking the phone to Disneyland today, I got about a full day’s worth (in the amusement park, I took hundreds of images and video for an upcoming segment).
PowerSkin was taking photographers into account with this case as well as the camera port is tapered to allow for a full field of view. Also, the material is a matte finish so you will not get any strange reflections from it onto your lens. In fact, it has enough depth to actually shield the lens from the sun in outdoor conditions while still allowing for photos to be taken.
The PowerSkin uses a mini-USB cable to charge and dock it to your PC. Thankfully, the cable allows for full iPhone 4 sync and charge functionality so you won’t be missing your standard iPhone 4 cable anytime soon.
Overall, I am very impressed with the iPhone 4 PowerSkin battery case. It features a smooth, sexy design with outstanding battery life. Plus, at $79.99 (right now on sale for $69.99) the unit is very reasonably-priced!
