I was having issues with my iPhone 4S right before CES, problems with battery charging. I took it into the Apple Store where they said it was fixed, and I went home to the same problem. So, thinking maybe part of the problem was the foot-dragging I was doing regarding updating to the latest iOS, I updated and headed off to CES. That’s when I found out my phone was dying. A lot. I was having better charging luck but the charge was being suck down like a milkshake on a hot summer day. As luck would have it, one of our first stops at CES was at the Anker booth where I met my new little buddy, the Astro the External Battery.
The Description on the box says “Scanning the walls for open outlets wasn’t ever fun. The Astro breaks you free from the wall outlet – and the fear of getting disconnected…” I want to say it was only mildly embarrassing scanning the coffee shop for an outlet during lunch or plopping down in one of the corners of the press room where people circled the outlets with their wall warts waiting for an opportunity to plug in and juice up to send out some more pics and tweets. The embarrassment wasn’t mild and it was certainly frustrating. So, when Anker handed me a fully charged Astro and sent me on my way I plugged it into my phone and left both in my backpack, taking the phone out to take pics or send messages or tweets but putting back in when I was done. At the end of the night of heavy use I actually had a higher charge on my phone than I did when the day started and when I plugged it in to charge Astro was still at 3/4 full.
Turns out I was running around with the baby bear of the three Astro batteries, the 2nd gen 6000 mAh version. The larger ones come in 9000 mAh and 12000 mAh flavors. If that just sounds like techy-goop to you think of it as the 6000 mAh providing 3+ charges of your iPhone and about 2 charges on a Galaxy S4. Honestly I just drooled on myself at the thought of having the 12000 mAh in my bag.
Since CES, I have lo0ked up all the optional settings on my iPhone’s latest iOS that I can do without and my battery life has greatly improved. Don’t think that I will ever cover another event or even go on an overnight trip without my little Astro external battery in my pocket though.
[easyreview title=”Anker Astro External Battery Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”5″ ]
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