Today we’re taking a look at Brando’s iPower charger for the iPhone (well, 3G, really). It’s a relatively rare breed of chargers that actually fit on the devices they charge. I’ve taken a look at the Mophie charger over on JAMM but Brando offers a similar sled charging form factor for a just under half the price. The 2200 maH battery on this model sounds like it’ll give a fair amount more power and they’ve even thrown in a boosted speaker in the back for some added value. Hit the jump to see how this affordable charger/speaker set fares!
Design
The charger is made out of a glossy black plastic and so fingerprints aren’t that noticeable unless you’re looking for them. Otherwise I’d say the design is very much function over form here. The charger alone doesn’t look great, but it gets the job done: you can use the iPhone and effectively double its battery life. So what else is there to the charger?
Instead of simply sliding the device in you have to push springs upwards (you can see the spring area – it’s near the ringer switch) to make room for the phone. This really actually scared me at first because I found the whole mechanism so precarious that I was scared of snapping my dock connector while placing the phone inside.
The model I received says 3G on the box so it wasn’t quite meant for my model, but my iPhone still fits without much trouble. I do believe the fit will be a much better fit for the 3G though, since the charger has a clearly curved inside.
Once you’ve docked your phone two things are going to happen:
1) You’ll be charging the phone. (cooool!)
2) The sound will now come from the back.
Charging the phone on the go is obviously awesome. The fit is quite snug, so you can use the iPhone like normal (well, normal + black case latched on the back).
The front panel consists of three LEDs and a power button for the charger. I’d guesstimate the whole thing charges up in about 5-8 hours, but it was hard to tell since I also kept using it around the house. The bottom of the charger has a dock connector just like the iPhone, although this connector is for charging only, no syncing unfortunately.
The speaker in the back isn’t advertised as a main feature of the device, so I wasn’t expecting all that much from it. Overall, it’s really a glorified and louder version of the iPhone’s speakers. One drawback of this setup is that the speaker doesn’t use the iPhone native volume. The other sound-related Brando device I reviewed also had this problem. The other possible drawback is the fact that the speakers are at the back of the charger, so if you just place the whole thing on the desk your sounds are going to be muffled a bit.
Battery Life
The charging speed isn’t as fast as using an AC charger, but it’s certainly fast enough to restore batt life even while you use the phone. My battery life has just about doubled with the use of the charger, so I am able to go for about four days without touching the AC plug. Not bad!
Conclusion
If you’re looking for a no-nonsense, affordable charger for the iPhone then look no further than Brando’s iPower Power Station with Speaker (boy, that’s a mouthful!). At $44 I really think the device covers a great niche in the mobile charger market. You’ll get a good deal and great use for your money from the iPower as long as you don’t mind the look or the extra bulk while it does its thing.
Info:
Price: $44
Availability: Brando
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