As Patrick noted, during this past Monday night’s JustAnotheriPhoneChat we got to talking about how adding 3G to the iPhone might impact battery life. Wayne from GearDiary observed that if Apple wants to make a serious move into the business sector  (as the upcoming addition of MS Exchange sync suggests) the new iPhone had better […]
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Note To Self: It Helps If You Plug The iPhone In To Charge

May 9th 2008 by

As Patrick noted, during this past Monday night’s JustAnotheriPhoneChat we got to talking about how adding 3G to the iPhone might impact battery life. Wayne from GearDiary observed that if Apple wants to make a serious move into the business sector  (as the upcoming addition of MS Exchange sync suggests) the new iPhone had better have awesome battery life (one can hope) or the ability to carry and swap out multiple batteries (I highly doubt).

During the chat I observed that I could not be happier with my current iPhone’s battery life. Clearly its design, and the choice to only include Edge, resulted in a device that offers among the best run-time of any on the market.

Unfortunately an experience earlier today proves, even the best design cannot begin to compensate for "user error" (read: STUPIDITY)!

For the first time since getting my iPhone in August I forgot to charge it overnight. By the time I realized that I was almost down to 20% capacity I had already run out to a meeting.

No problem, I thought, I’ll just plug it into the car charger. Unfortunately, I had taken my wife’s car today and since she insists on continuing to use a Treo 650 (I know, I know, I’ve tried to convince her to make a change) I was out of luck with regard to the car charger.

Faced with the problem that it was going to be hours before I could plug my iPhone into a wall outlet, I shut down wifi, killed the bluetooth and dimmed the screen as much as possible.

By the time I finally got to an outlet I was below 10%. A close call.

NOTE TO SELF: Remember to carry a back-up battery.       

So here is a quick rundown of the current options in external:

There is the new Battery Pack and Charger from Kensington for $49.95 and $69.95

There is the Smart Backup Battery Pack from Richard Solo for $49.95

The High Capacity Portable Charger from JAVOedge for 39.95 to 71.98.

There is the iPowerRush for $29.95.

There is the Juice Pack from Mophie for $99.95. (About which some strong opinions were shared on this past Monday night chat.)

After today’s experience you can bet I won’t be leaving home without one of these chargers!!

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