X
Tech

Mophie Juice Pack for iPhone 6 and 6 Plus hands-on: Portable power when one day is not enough

Apple's iPhone 6 Plus provides enough power to get heavy users through a day, but sometimes when you are on the road you need more capacity. That's where Mophie comes in with the Juice Pack.
Written by Matthew Miller, Contributing Writer
retailpackage.jpg

I have never been able to use an iPhone for a full day without having to charge it up, until I bought the Apple iPhone 6 Plus.

However, when I am out on a shipcheck or traveling across the country I still need more capacity and Mophie has once again stepped up to provide solutions for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

6plusinhand.jpg
Juice Pack for iPhone 6 Plus: The iPhone 6 Plus is a large phone and putting it into a Mophie makes it even bigger. I have fairly large hands and don't mind big phones, but the Mophie Juice Pack about doubles the thickness and adds over half an inch to the length.

The Juice Pack for the iPhone 6 Plus contains a 2,600 mAh battery that adds 60 percent to the large battery already contained in the phone. Mophie states it will add an additional 14.5 hours of talk time, 7.5 hours of web browsing, 8.5 hours of video playback, or 48 hours of music playback.

This Mophie Juice Pack is available in white, black, and gold. Mophie sent along a white one to test out. I'm personally not a fan of the glossy white material and prefer the soft touch black finish.

imag0419.jpg
It's easy to insert your iPhone 6 Plus through the top portion of the case. There is a status button, indicator lights, and a switch to control charging on the lower back. An ample opening for the camera and flash are present so your photos will not be impacted by the case.

A standard microUSB port is on the bottom to charge your Mophie and iPhone 6 Plus. There is also an opening for the headphone jack, but unfortunately you will have to use the pass-through adapter to use any of your headphones since there is about a half-inch opening to get to the iPhone 6 Plus headphone jack.

I do like having the speaker opening on the front as it tends to redirect the speaker from the bottom up towards you for a better audio experience.

imag0417.jpg
While the Mophie Juice Pack provides some serious additional battery capacity, I would like to see a couple design tweaks to make it more functional for my needs. First, I want an integrated kickstand. If I need this much extra battery capacity, it is usually to enjoy media on a flight and given how massive the iPhone 6 Plus and Mophie combo is I think having a kickstand makes perfect sense.

I also want to see a redesign of the headphone jack opening. The pass-through cable is a bit of a pain to always have around and can get lost. While it make not look as good, I would prefer to see a cut-out that supports using headphones directly with my iPhone 6 Plus.

The Mophie Juice Pack for the iPhone 6 Plus is available for $99.95. If you have serious power needs, want some drop protection, and don't mind carrying your iPhone in your backpack (there is now way the combo can fit in any pants pocket) then you may want to consider this battery pack.

Juice Pack Plus for the iPhone 6: The Apple iPhone 6 is quite a bit smaller than the 6 Plus, but it also has a smaller capacity internal battery. My coworker has an iPhone 6 and he states that he can get through most of a day with his iPhone, but when he arrives home after work he is down to about 10 percent. As I stated in the beginning, I have never had an iPhone get me through a full 18 hour day with moderate to heavy usage and his experience confirms mine.

I passed along the Mophie Juice Pack Plus for him to test for a week and he loves it. He has purchased Mophie packs for all of his previous iPhone models and until this new Mophie was released had been testing out other competitors products. He confirmed the Mophie product is still his favorite.

imag0415.jpg
The Mophie Juice Pack Plus for the iPhone 6 contains a 3,300 mAh battery that provides a reported additional 17 hours of talk time, 12 hours of web browsing, or 13 hours of video playback.

This product also has an additional level of protection provided through an impact isolation system with internal bumpers and extra cushion along the edges and corners. Mophie states that the Juice Pack Plus provides level 3 protection while the Juice Pack for the 6 Plus provides level 2 protection.

The Mophie Juice Pack for the iPhone 6 is available for $119.95 in black, white, and gold. The Juice Pack, pass-through headphone adapter, and microUSB cable are included in the retail package.

Editorial standards