Gizmodo: battery pack

Kensington Dock Charges Mini Battery Alongside Your iPhone/iPod

Danny Allen — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 09:15:24 EDT

There are more than a few iPhone/iPod battery packs floating around these days, but Kensington's gone and thrown one in with its new $70 charging dock.

The err, adventurously named 'Kensington Charging Dock with Mini Battery Pack' comes with its own mini battery that charges next to your dock-compatible iPhone/iPod. Kensington claims it'll provide an extra 30 hours of music or 6 hours of video on an 3rd generation iPod Nano, and an extra 3 hours of talk time on an iPhone.

Kinda cool, but enough to make you excited for yet another iPod dock?
[Kensington via Engadget]

I Love Battery Packs and Portable Chargers

Jason Chen — Fri, 22 May 2009 00:00:00 EDT

As Matt explained last year, batteries are holding up laptops, cellphones and PMPs from lasting long enough and running fast enough to get things done properly on the go. What's my solution? Portable battery packs.

I've reviewed a few iPhone battery packs and a few laptop battery packs, and the common conclusion is that these are fantastic for the person who needs to work from the field.

The current battery I'm looking at—the HyperMac External Battery—actually delivers an extra eight hours of power to the MacBook Pro. If we had a MacBook Air, it might even deliver up to their claimed 32 extra hours.

So why do I love these so much when it's another thing to carry around? There aren't always outlets to plug into when blogging from the field, and Apple Liveblogs are a perfect example where you have to keep going while sustaining an EVDO connection and transferring images every few sections to your laptop. That's not a time for your equipment to die. Eight extra hours of power? Yes please.

As for phones, there's always a need for extra power for smartphones. I welcome the extra heft if it means that many more songs, or movies, or emails or tweets. Until batteries get good enough that we can either charge them in a few seconds (capacitors), or dump a few ounces of liquid inside (fuel cells), I'm going to stock up on external battery packs.

SOLiCharger Powers iPhones Through Every Means Under the Sun

Mark Wilson — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 10:20:00 EST

The SOLiCharger is solar-chargeable lithium ion pack for your iPhone that can fill to capacity in four hours of sunlight.

Priced at $40 and available now, the SOLiCharger battery pack (left) is compatible with all of your standard iPhone charging options (AC, USB and car), but its big claim to fame is the ability to recharge itself via bundled solar panel (right).

The only catch is that the SOLiCharger contains only half the battery capacity of the iPhone, meaning that a theoretical 8 hours of sunlight would be needed to fill the iPhone entirely. But if you're stuck in the desert, your leg trapped under a rock, and just want to browse the NYTimes in your remaining time on earth, it seems like a feasible, decently-priced solution pending your blood loss is not too rapid. [SOLiCharger via Crave]

Richard Solo 1800 Charges Your iPhone, Entertains Your Cats

Sean Fallon — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 17:40:00 EST

Richard|Solo has unveiled a backup battery for the iPhone that has some features its competitors don't—a built-in LED flashlight and a laser pointer. All gimmicks aside, the 1800mAh capacity is good—but I just don't see the value in buying one of these awkward extenders for $70 when you can pick up a more practical case version like the Fastmac iV for only $10 more. [Richard|Solo via TUAW]

FastMac iV Triples the Battery Life of the iPhone 3G

Sean Fallon — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 10:40:00 EST

FastMac has unveiled their second generation iV battery pack for the iPhone 3G, and it promises to deliver up to 24 hours of talk time, 750 hours (31 days) of standby, 20+ hours of video and almost 72 hours of audio playback time. Depending on your settings, we are talking triple or even quadruple the available power here. It looks a little bulkier than Mophie's Juice Pack, but the extra battery life and added touches like a built-in LED flash/flashlight and a second USB port to charge additional gadgets definitely makes it the more attractive option on paper (a hands-on will be coming up shortly to put this to the test). Plus, it is priced less than the Juice Pack at $80. Update: The iV uses a 3100 mAh battery.

[FastMac]

Sony Discontinues PSP Extended Battery Pack

Jason Chen — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 12:30:00 EDT

PSP Fanboy just learned that Sony's discontinuing their 2200mAh PSP battery pack, an official aftermarket addon that would allow you to game for up to 12 hours or so. What's the deal? We're not sure, but someone from Sony said they're looking at other ways to "service the consumer," which might say to us that they're looking at ways to extend battery life without making the back of the PSP bulge out in an unseemly manner. And just when we learned how to hack your PSP for homebrew apps too. [PSP Fanboy]

Hands-on With FastMac's iV iPhone Battery Pack

Jason Chen — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 13:55:48 EST

The Gadget: iV iPhone case and battery, which adds 4x as much battery time to the iPhone while not adding too much more bulk.
The Verdict: The rubberized plastic feels nice, the LED flash/flashlight on the back is good for finding your keys or taking low-light pictures and it clips neatly onto your belt if you're one of those belt dudes. There's also a USB port on the back for charging another device while your iPhone is being charged/docked. $79. [Fastmac]

DS Lite Battery Pack Fattens, Extends Your Gaming

Jason Chen — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 18:20:08 EDT

Even with our extreme weekend Pokemon binges, the DS Lite usually doesn't have to be charged more than once every few days. Which means this DS Lite battery pack isn't for us. But for those of you who go on long car trips or plane rides, this could mean the difference between catching them all or being bored to tears.

According to Kotaku, the power pack gives you over 40 hours of gaming. It comes in the same color as your DS Lite, and can either be set to run off the DS Lite's internal pack, the battery pack, or four AA batteries.

If you can stand the fact that it's as thick as the DS Lite, then you've got a winner. – Jason Chen

Japanese Page [Ascii via Kotaku]

Wii Powerstation Charger and Battery Packs

Jason Chen — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 14:04:08 EST

We don't know if it's the motion sensing or the Nunchuk two-for-one peripheral design, but the Wiimote's battery life is pretty miserable. The default Xbox 360 wireless controller's batteries lasted at least twice as long as the Wii's, forcing me to change batteries twice while going through Zelda. Now with Joytech's rechargeable Battery Pack, that's no longer a problem.

The Power Station has slots for two Wiimotes and two battery packs, plus a sort of docking device for your Nunchuks as well. The other side seems to be USB-compatible, so you can grab one of the PowerBlocks and charge this from any USB port—even the Wii's own USB ports.

The Power Station will be availalbe January 26 for $39. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Gameseek via Video Games Blogger]