At Home with Tech

Is this what your smartphone’s battery icon displays at 2:55pm? You really need help from a Mophie battery case.

Red Alert!
Smartphone batteries can’t get you though your day anymore.
Everybody out there seems to need a battery with more ‘mAh’ capacity.
(‘milliamp hour’)

Whenever someone shows up for a meeting with me,
the first comment I often get after “Hello!” is
“Can I plug in my phone somewhere?”

Worse yet, they often ask if I can loan them my iPhone charger for a quick hit.
It feels like they’re bumming a digital cigarette off me.
Now, I’m their personal power refueling station?!

Your Smartphone is Hungry!
This isn’t a new problem, but it seems to be getting worse.

Once upon a time, I could get through two days on one iPhone charge.
Then, as I discovered more apps to use, I wasn’t so sure.
So I made it a point to juice up every night.

Now with iOS 7, my little partner seems even hungrier.
I watch its battery percentage icon drain away throughout the day, and I often have to ration my afternoon email check-ins to keep the phone alive until I make it home.

And I don’t really consider myself a power user…

Better Keep that Smartphone in your Pocket
I think the good news is it’s okay to admit you can’t get through your day without a little extra juice…
I’ve always felt I was somehow hiding this deep, dark secret that I couldn’t keep my phone going all day long.

But there’s really no shame in it.
You’re not some sort of malcontent who can’t control your impulses to overuse your smartphone.
(If you are… sorry for calling you out!)

Sure, there are ways to cut back on the power drain:

• Close unused apps
• Turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth if your not using them
• Don’t check your email with a poor signal
  (That makes your phone work harder.)

But the truth today seems to be that smartphone batteries just can’t keep up with the normal drain that’s put on them.

So until that problem improves, you’re going to have to take matters into your own hands.

You Need Some Portable Power
Last year, I got the tiny Innergie PocketCell for my iPhone to help keep it alive on the road with me.

This elegant $60 white ‘stick’ is small enough to slip into your back pocket and is great as a portable power back-up solution for lots of your hungry digital devices.  The one big downside is you always have to carry it around with you.

Plus, it’s cumbersome to set up your little digital MASH unit in the wild and execute a power transfusion whenever your smartphone runs low.

Feed your Digital Beast!
So I finally decided it was time to get with the program and upgrade to an augmented and elegant onboard battery solution…

Unfortunately, smartphone manufacturers don’t offer this tech through their own brands.  (That would suggest their technologies are somehow lacking.)

The added juice you need comes hidden in the bodies of
third-party smartphone battery cases.

And the good news is… There’s a lot of choice out there for you.

Size Doesn’t Matter
Sure, battery cases will inevitably make your smartphone’s footprint a bit larger.
But today, that’s not so much of an issue.
In fact, if anything, bigger is better.
iPhone users are drooling over all the larger screens out there.
Have you seen the size of these Phablets?
They’re huge!

So a little extra heft is really not a deal breaker anymore…

Mighty Mophie to the Rescue
A digitally enlightened friend of mine has happily used
the Mophie Juice Pack Plus.
So instead of going through my usual painstaking research before pulling the trigger on a battery case, I quickly settled on the Mophie.

Call me impulsive.
Or maybe it’s just the time of year, where you don’t have a lot of spare time to brood over the perfect power accessory for your smartphone.
(If you do, you should know that Mophie also offers a couple other design flavors.)

All my right-brain decision-making aside, Mophie is still highly regarded.

It’s Going to Cost You
Of course there’s a catch…
Convenient battery back up from Mophie doesn’t come cheap:

• $100 to fuel the 4/4s
• $120 for the 5/5S
• $100 if you’ve got the Samsung Galaxy S4

But can you really put a price on having enough power to get you through your day?  Mophie claims to almost double the runtime of your iPhone.
Sweet!

Discovering a Great Last-Minute Tech Gift
What choice do we flawed, digitally dependent humans really have?

• If you’re going to get caught on a few long phone calls throughout the day
• If you like to stream a little Hulu video or watch part of a movie you downloaded from iTunes
• If you pay a fair amount of attention to your email
• And if you don’t want to plot your day based on where you can plug in

…You really need one of these battery cases.

And who wants to spend this time of year worrying about your power limitations?  Open up your brain space for more important concerns.

Like….
Time is running out and you don’t have all your presents yet!?
If only it was easy to find a great last-minute tech gift.
Wait a minute!

Got to run…