I can always use more battery life from my iPhone. The thing is great but if you spend any length of time, playing games, or surfing the net the battery gets sucked down very swiftly. Today I am looking at a product called the iON Universal Mobile Power Bank that promises up to 50 additional hours of power for iPods and works with the iPhone as well. Read on for all the details.

Specifications

The iON Universal Mobile Power Bank is a small external battery that is about the size of a credit card, but much thicker. The overall dimensions of the device are 3.39″ W x 0.35″ H x 2.24″ L and it weighs only a few ounces. The device ships with tips for the iPod and iPhone as well as a standard barrel connector and USB output cable. The battery has 1500mAh of power and can be recharged up to 500 times. A small travel pouch is included with the device as well.

In Use

The iON Universal Mobile Power Bank is very easy to use. When I received the device, I plugged it into the USB port on my computer to charge overnight. After a full charge, I connected the cable and iPod connector to the battery pack and plugged it into my iPhone that had about half its charge left.

The iPhone recognized the charger immediately and gave me the audio and visual charging indicators you get when it is plugged in. The manufacturer of the iON Universal Mobile Power Bank, FSP Group USA, claims that the iON adds up to 50 hours of run time to your iPod. I can’t really test that claim so I simply plugged it into my iPhone and used the phone as I would any other day to play games, surf the net and make calls.

At the end of the day, my iPhone had about the same amount of charge in it and I left the iON Universal Mobile Power Bank plugged into the iPhone overnight. The next morning the iON was out of power and the iPhone had about 3/4 of a charge in it, more than it had when I went to bed.

The only real downside I found to the iON Universal Mobile Power Bank is that it is rather awkward to use. The cable isn’t that long, but the battery pack is heavy enough that when you pick the phone up and let the iON hang it can put stress on the connector and the iPhone charge port if you hold the phone at an angle.

The battery pack is also a bit awkward because there is no way to secure it to the iPhone so it just hangs there and gets in the way. I found the best way to handle the iON Universal Mobile Power Bank was to wrap the cable backwards and hold the battery in my palm behind the phone. The iON Universal Mobile Power Bank does add significantly to the bulk of the iPhone, but more bulk is definitely better than running out of power. Overall, the iON Universal Mobile Power Bank works well and adds lots of extra power to the iPhone.

Pros

• Light
• Easy to use
• Decent battery life

Cons

• Adds bulk
• No way to secure battery to phone

Verdict

The iON Universal Mobile Power Bank works well and if you can deal with the bulk it adds to the iPhone it’s a nice device. You can also use the battery to charge devices other than the iPhone.