Incase Power Slider for iPhone 3G Review
Search Brand/Device: Incase | iPhone Reviews
CaseandCover.com reviews Incase cases and covers for the iPhone, iPod, and BlackBerry. Trusted reviews, from trusted sources throughout the internet.
Mophie was obviously on the right track when it unveiled the strap-on iPhone battery called Juice Pack last year, but some notable quality control problems and a high price took away from an otherwise smart product's appeal. This week, Incase released the Power Slider Case for iPhone 3G ($100), a product very obviously inspired by Juice Pack, sharing most of its features while improving on some, diminishing a major one -- run time -- and falling a little short of greatness of execution of others.
Both Juice Pack and Power Slider start from a smart premise: Apple’s iPhones have mediocre battery life, but it’s not always convenient to carry a spare dangling battery and/or charging cable around. So instead, these are custom-molded back-mounting batteries, formed like huge rucksacks with integrated, wraparound Dock Connectors. While Juice Pack somewhat awkwardly created a half-shell with pit-like grooves for the iPhone’s bottom speaker and microphone, Incase has instead integrated its battery into a redesigned—mostly thicker—version of its Incase Slider Case
This is a smart concept, as it gives users a combination of iPhone 3G body protection and spare power for use when traveling. Notably, Power Slider is now coated in clean, black soft touch rubber, and though there isn’t any screen protection—a continued, annoying omission from Incase’s cases—the company unusually includes a carrying bag for the case. This bag looks nice, and is useful for storage if you’re traveling, but we’d have been more pleased with a film screen cover, say nothing of integrated rubber button covers. With Power Slider on, the 3G’s camera and headphone ports are generously exposed, though the largest oversized headphone plugs won’t work with this case, and you will need to remove it entirely to dock the iPhone 3G or use it with other bottom-mounting accessories.
Fans of Incase’s slim plastic case designs may find one of Power Slider’s inescapable design elements to be less than pleasant: because there’s a battery in the back, and connection hardware on the bottom, this case roughly doubles iPhone 3G’s thickness and adds a bit to its height. Your iPhone goes from looking sleek to resembling a big black brick, and even users who aren’t thinness-obsessed may well want to remove the battery when it’s not in use. That turns out to be trickier than one might hope.
Blame the battery. Incase has picked a 1330mAh lithium-ion polymer cell, which is claimed to be capable of more than doubling the iPhone 3G’s battery life. Notably, however, this cell has less power than the same-priced 1800mAh Juice Pack battery, say nothing of notable $40-$60 batteries we’ve tested from companies such as Just Mobile, Kensington, and RichardSolo. In our continuous tests over four days of traveling, running zero, partial, and full depletion tests of the iPhone 3G before connecting Power Slider, we either received one full iPhone recharge or fell a little short when Incase’s battery was completely charged. In other words, a power user who adds Power Slider will find that the iPhone 3G will likely run all day, rather than just for half of it.
The iPhone 3G did best when it and Power Slider were completely charged at the start of the day, connected to each other, and used such that Slider provided sips of power for the 3G whenever it wanted them. It did worst when the 3G was at 10% power and desperate for a recharge; we noticed Slider actually heating up when it was trying to bring the iPhone’s battery back to life, and only just completed a charge; it didn’t have 20-30% left to go. In other words, prepare to keep Slider attached for at least the first half of your day, and thereafter unless you want to carry a second, thinner case around as well.
There were a couple of other little things worth mentioning in Power Slider’s design. By contrast with Mophie’s Juice Pack, which looked amateurishly rough, and had rubber peeling off before we even started to use it, Incase’s use of soft touch rubber and general case design is very handsome, other than its thickness. We’ve pocketed it for days without any problems with the rubber, and we actively liked the back, which contains five white LED lights and a recessed button to indicate power status.
Incase also includes what it says is a special USB 2.2 cable for charging of the battery. Apart from its case-matching rubber coating, we’re not going to claim to know what makes the cable special, but can tell you that recharging takes quite a few hours given the battery’s limited capacity, and the battery doesn’t seem to stay at 100% for long. On several occasions, we charged the battery fully at night, then came back in the morning to find it at only 4 out of 5 dots. We tried a test on one of these occasions and found that the iPhone 3G received something a little short of a 90% charge, suggesting that this wasn’t just an accuracy-obsessed LED design, but a reflection of quick drain when not in use. Some other cells use on/off switches to avoid this issue; in any case, we’d advise topping Power Slider off before putting it into use.
Finally, our iPhone 3G exhibited mixed interference test results. On a positive note, there were no noticeable wireless interference issues when used with Power Slider. Five-bar cell, three-bar Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS all appeared to work the same whether this battery was attached or not; any difference there may have been was in no way obvious. Unfortunately, though Power Slider has an attractive plastic mesh grille at the bottom to cover the iPhone 3G’s speaker and microphone while positioning a mini USB plug for recharging, our test caller reported “profound” echoing back of his voice when Power Slider was on in speakerphone mode, some but less echoing in handset mode, and none when Power Slider was removed in either mode. A redesign of the speaker pass-through appears to be necessary to improve audio performance.
Our overall impression of the Power Slider Case for iPhone 3G is mixed. While Incase has done a generally good job on the case’s aesthetic design, it’s no more protective than a typical Incase Slider, which fell below our recommendation level; Power Slider’s additional thickness, height, and speakerphone performance may also be challenges for some users to deal with. We might be able to deal with some of these issues if the battery was a stronger performer, but as Incase is offering lower capacity than virtually all of its peers—at the highest price, no less—we find it hard to generally recommend this case. With Juice Pack, you buy a more powerful battery and a less protective shell; with Power Slider, you trade battery life for some but not complete coverage, and lose longevity.
Despite our very strong preference for a battery in this form factor, we don’t think anyone has gotten the protection, power, and pricing formula quite right yet; it is far easier to recommend more capacious, better-priced cabled options such as the Just Mobile Gum batteries instead. Most users don’t expect to shell out half the price of an iPhone 3G for extra battery life, however, Power Slider is a better than average option for those who value one-piece convenience enough to pay the steep premium, and deal with other compromises.
By Jeremy Horwitz
Editor-in-Chief, iLounge
Published: Monday, December 1, 2008
Mophie was obviously on the right track when it unveiled the strap-on iPhone battery called Juice Pack last year, but some notable quality control problems and a high price took away from an otherwise smart product's appeal. This week, Incase released the Power Slider Case for iPhone 3G ($100), a product very obviously inspired by Juice Pack, sharing most of its features while improving on some, diminishing a major one -- run time -- and falling a little short of greatness of execution of others.
Both Juice Pack and Power Slider start from a smart premise: Apple’s iPhones have mediocre battery life, but it’s not always convenient to carry a spare dangling battery and/or charging cable around. So instead, these are custom-molded back-mounting batteries, formed like huge rucksacks with integrated, wraparound Dock Connectors. While Juice Pack somewhat awkwardly created a half-shell with pit-like grooves for the iPhone’s bottom speaker and microphone, Incase has instead integrated its battery into a redesigned—mostly thicker—version of its Incase Slider Case
This is a smart concept, as it gives users a combination of iPhone 3G body protection and spare power for use when traveling. Notably, Power Slider is now coated in clean, black soft touch rubber, and though there isn’t any screen protection—a continued, annoying omission from Incase’s cases—the company unusually includes a carrying bag for the case. This bag looks nice, and is useful for storage if you’re traveling, but we’d have been more pleased with a film screen cover, say nothing of integrated rubber button covers. With Power Slider on, the 3G’s camera and headphone ports are generously exposed, though the largest oversized headphone plugs won’t work with this case, and you will need to remove it entirely to dock the iPhone 3G or use it with other bottom-mounting accessories.
Fans of Incase’s slim plastic case designs may find one of Power Slider’s inescapable design elements to be less than pleasant: because there’s a battery in the back, and connection hardware on the bottom, this case roughly doubles iPhone 3G’s thickness and adds a bit to its height. Your iPhone goes from looking sleek to resembling a big black brick, and even users who aren’t thinness-obsessed may well want to remove the battery when it’s not in use. That turns out to be trickier than one might hope.
Blame the battery. Incase has picked a 1330mAh lithium-ion polymer cell, which is claimed to be capable of more than doubling the iPhone 3G’s battery life. Notably, however, this cell has less power than the same-priced 1800mAh Juice Pack battery, say nothing of notable $40-$60 batteries we’ve tested from companies such as Just Mobile, Kensington, and RichardSolo. In our continuous tests over four days of traveling, running zero, partial, and full depletion tests of the iPhone 3G before connecting Power Slider, we either received one full iPhone recharge or fell a little short when Incase’s battery was completely charged. In other words, a power user who adds Power Slider will find that the iPhone 3G will likely run all day, rather than just for half of it.
The iPhone 3G did best when it and Power Slider were completely charged at the start of the day, connected to each other, and used such that Slider provided sips of power for the 3G whenever it wanted them. It did worst when the 3G was at 10% power and desperate for a recharge; we noticed Slider actually heating up when it was trying to bring the iPhone’s battery back to life, and only just completed a charge; it didn’t have 20-30% left to go. In other words, prepare to keep Slider attached for at least the first half of your day, and thereafter unless you want to carry a second, thinner case around as well.
There were a couple of other little things worth mentioning in Power Slider’s design. By contrast with Mophie’s Juice Pack, which looked amateurishly rough, and had rubber peeling off before we even started to use it, Incase’s use of soft touch rubber and general case design is very handsome, other than its thickness. We’ve pocketed it for days without any problems with the rubber, and we actively liked the back, which contains five white LED lights and a recessed button to indicate power status.
Incase also includes what it says is a special USB 2.2 cable for charging of the battery. Apart from its case-matching rubber coating, we’re not going to claim to know what makes the cable special, but can tell you that recharging takes quite a few hours given the battery’s limited capacity, and the battery doesn’t seem to stay at 100% for long. On several occasions, we charged the battery fully at night, then came back in the morning to find it at only 4 out of 5 dots. We tried a test on one of these occasions and found that the iPhone 3G received something a little short of a 90% charge, suggesting that this wasn’t just an accuracy-obsessed LED design, but a reflection of quick drain when not in use. Some other cells use on/off switches to avoid this issue; in any case, we’d advise topping Power Slider off before putting it into use.
Finally, our iPhone 3G exhibited mixed interference test results. On a positive note, there were no noticeable wireless interference issues when used with Power Slider. Five-bar cell, three-bar Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS all appeared to work the same whether this battery was attached or not; any difference there may have been was in no way obvious. Unfortunately, though Power Slider has an attractive plastic mesh grille at the bottom to cover the iPhone 3G’s speaker and microphone while positioning a mini USB plug for recharging, our test caller reported “profound” echoing back of his voice when Power Slider was on in speakerphone mode, some but less echoing in handset mode, and none when Power Slider was removed in either mode. A redesign of the speaker pass-through appears to be necessary to improve audio performance.
Our overall impression of the Power Slider Case for iPhone 3G is mixed. While Incase has done a generally good job on the case’s aesthetic design, it’s no more protective than a typical Incase Slider, which fell below our recommendation level; Power Slider’s additional thickness, height, and speakerphone performance may also be challenges for some users to deal with. We might be able to deal with some of these issues if the battery was a stronger performer, but as Incase is offering lower capacity than virtually all of its peers—at the highest price, no less—we find it hard to generally recommend this case. With Juice Pack, you buy a more powerful battery and a less protective shell; with Power Slider, you trade battery life for some but not complete coverage, and lose longevity.
Despite our very strong preference for a battery in this form factor, we don’t think anyone has gotten the protection, power, and pricing formula quite right yet; it is far easier to recommend more capacious, better-priced cabled options such as the Just Mobile Gum batteries instead. Most users don’t expect to shell out half the price of an iPhone 3G for extra battery life, however, Power Slider is a better than average option for those who value one-piece convenience enough to pay the steep premium, and deal with other compromises.
By Jeremy Horwitz
Editor-in-Chief, iLounge
Published: Monday, December 1, 2008
Incase Bamboo Slider for iPhone 3G Review
Search Brand/Device: Incase | iPhone Reviews
CaseandCover.com reviews Incase cases and covers for the iPhone, iPod, and BlackBerry. Trusted reviews, from trusted sources throughout the internet.
by Joe Hutsko on Mon, Apr 20, 2009
After accidentally knocking my original iPhone off my desk, which caused the glass screen to smash into a pretty spiderweb-like pattern that, thanks to my Invisible Shield screen protector, allowed me to continue using the smart phone as I stood in line to buy an iPhone 3G when it went on sale the next day, I decided it was time to surround the new one with a protective case.
Although I initially went with InCase’s leather-wrapped Slider Elan, I later chose the InCase black Slider (pictured on the left) as my iPhone 3G’s protective partner. The case’s tight fit adds minimal thickness to the 3G, and its lightly rubberized finish provides just enough grip to prevent accidental sleights of the hand, so to speak. I’ve also used Griffin’s Clarifi for iPhone 3G, but only on the couple of occasions when I needed to take a close up snapshot, thanks to the Clarifi’s built in lens, which corrects the iPhone camera’s farsightedness.
InCase recently sent me their new Bamboo Slider for iPhone 3G, and having just finished Green Gadgets For Dummies, I welcomed the new model’s reduced carbon footprint, thanks to the case’s composition of 40 percent recycled bamboo, 60 percent polycarbonate construction.
InCase says the bamboo pulp used to create the case comes from “reclaimed bamboo shards of materials such as construction scaffolding and chopsticks.”
In hand, the Bamboo Slider feels like plastic, though a deep whiff of the case’s backside betrays plywoody hints that evoke memories of under-construction new homes and lumberyards.
Bottom line: The inclusion of bamboo is an interesting novelty, but the case’s less grippy finish was reason enough for me to stick with the lightly rubberized Slider that’s served me well since acquiring my iPhone 3G.
by Joe Hutsko on Mon, Apr 20, 2009
After accidentally knocking my original iPhone off my desk, which caused the glass screen to smash into a pretty spiderweb-like pattern that, thanks to my Invisible Shield screen protector, allowed me to continue using the smart phone as I stood in line to buy an iPhone 3G when it went on sale the next day, I decided it was time to surround the new one with a protective case.
Although I initially went with InCase’s leather-wrapped Slider Elan, I later chose the InCase black Slider (pictured on the left) as my iPhone 3G’s protective partner. The case’s tight fit adds minimal thickness to the 3G, and its lightly rubberized finish provides just enough grip to prevent accidental sleights of the hand, so to speak. I’ve also used Griffin’s Clarifi for iPhone 3G, but only on the couple of occasions when I needed to take a close up snapshot, thanks to the Clarifi’s built in lens, which corrects the iPhone camera’s farsightedness.
InCase recently sent me their new Bamboo Slider for iPhone 3G, and having just finished Green Gadgets For Dummies, I welcomed the new model’s reduced carbon footprint, thanks to the case’s composition of 40 percent recycled bamboo, 60 percent polycarbonate construction.
InCase says the bamboo pulp used to create the case comes from “reclaimed bamboo shards of materials such as construction scaffolding and chopsticks.”
In hand, the Bamboo Slider feels like plastic, though a deep whiff of the case’s backside betrays plywoody hints that evoke memories of under-construction new homes and lumberyards.
Bottom line: The inclusion of bamboo is an interesting novelty, but the case’s less grippy finish was reason enough for me to stick with the lightly rubberized Slider that’s served me well since acquiring my iPhone 3G.
Incase Power Slider for iPhone 3G Video Review
CaseandCover.com reviews Incase cases and covers for the iPhone, iPod, and BlackBerry. Trusted reviews, from trusted sources throughout the internet.
Incase Power Slider for iPhone 3G
Incase Power Slider for iPhone 3G
Incase Slider Case for iPhone Review
Search Brand/Device: Incase | iPhone Reviews
CaseandCover.com reviews Incase cases and covers for the iPhone, iPod, and BlackBerry. Trusted reviews, from trusted sources throughout the internet.
by Dan Frakes, Macworld.com
Incase’s $35 Slider Case for iPhone (4 Stars out of 5) , available in glossy white or black, is very similar to the Agent 18 case, above. However, instead of two equally-sized pieces, the Slider Case uses a main piece that slides over the top of your iPhone and a smaller bottom piece. The reason for this approach is that, because the bottom of the Slider covers much more of the iPhone’s bottom edge, you can’t connect bottom-mounted dock-connector accessories, or place your iPhone in a dock cradle, while the phone is in the case. To get around this restriction, the bottom piece of the case is made to be easily removed. It simply slides off, giving you full access to the dock-connector port. When you’re done using dock accessories, you just slide the bottom piece back on.
Although this design works well, keep in mind that if you frequently use such dock accessories, you’ll find yourself removing and replacing the bottom piece of the case many, many times. Over time, this repeated wear and tear could result in scuffs or scratches to your iPhone. I did prefer the Eco Shield’s design in this respect.
Another difference between the Slider and the Eco Shield is that the inside of the Slider includes two thin, low-profile silicone strips—which contact the back of your iPhone—to provide a good grip on the phone without requiring the case to fit so tightly. In theory, these strips should reduce the chances of the case actually scratching the back of your iPod due to dust or dirt inside, although the silicone does leave some marks of its own; thankfully, these marks rub off easily. (Incase also claims the strips offer some shock protection, although the strips are so thin that I would suspect the actual degree of protection to be minimal.)
I especially liked the Slider’s glossy coating, which in addition to being very attractive—especially the white model—was also surprisingly scratch-resistant in my testing.
by Dan Frakes, Macworld.com
Incase’s $35 Slider Case for iPhone (4 Stars out of 5) , available in glossy white or black, is very similar to the Agent 18 case, above. However, instead of two equally-sized pieces, the Slider Case uses a main piece that slides over the top of your iPhone and a smaller bottom piece. The reason for this approach is that, because the bottom of the Slider covers much more of the iPhone’s bottom edge, you can’t connect bottom-mounted dock-connector accessories, or place your iPhone in a dock cradle, while the phone is in the case. To get around this restriction, the bottom piece of the case is made to be easily removed. It simply slides off, giving you full access to the dock-connector port. When you’re done using dock accessories, you just slide the bottom piece back on.
Although this design works well, keep in mind that if you frequently use such dock accessories, you’ll find yourself removing and replacing the bottom piece of the case many, many times. Over time, this repeated wear and tear could result in scuffs or scratches to your iPhone. I did prefer the Eco Shield’s design in this respect.
Another difference between the Slider and the Eco Shield is that the inside of the Slider includes two thin, low-profile silicone strips—which contact the back of your iPhone—to provide a good grip on the phone without requiring the case to fit so tightly. In theory, these strips should reduce the chances of the case actually scratching the back of your iPod due to dust or dirt inside, although the silicone does leave some marks of its own; thankfully, these marks rub off easily. (Incase also claims the strips offer some shock protection, although the strips are so thin that I would suspect the actual degree of protection to be minimal.)
I especially liked the Slider’s glossy coating, which in addition to being very attractive—especially the white model—was also surprisingly scratch-resistant in my testing.