Provides: Additional battery life
Developer: Mophie
Minimum Requirements: iPhone 3G or 3GS
Price: $79.95
Availability: Now

A little low on juice?  Just can’t make it through the day? Are your mornings filled with smile and sunshine, yet your afternoons filled with darkness and a constant grimace (no, I’m not talking about the mysterious purple creature we all know and love…or am I?). Sounds like you need more battery life on your iPhone. Mophie can help.

The Mophie JuicePack Air is one of the premiere external battery solutions for the iPhone 3G and 3G S. It’s a case with an extra battery in it. The whole package couldn’t get much more simple, though that doesn’t mean it’s perfect.

All you do is slide your iPhone into the bottom portion of the JuicePack Air and follow it closely by the cap on the top. Fits like a glove; a super tight glove that isn’t coming off anytime soon, so I hope you like it. On the bottom are the Micro USB slot and power switch, and the back has a button that lights up the battery guage (four LEDs).

On the bright side, it’s simple, it works, and it adds a layer of protection to the iPhone’s backside as a result of it being a case. You’ll get about a full recharge or so out of this battery, or supplemental battery, for some time. I’m told the iPhone uses more energy when charging, so you might be able to squeeze more time out of it by only flipping the switch to on when you actually need more power. And batteries like the iPhone’s rapidly charge to almost full, but take longer to top off, so you also might consider not filling up to full.

Did I mention you get to choose which color you want? As long as that color is Black, White, or oddly enough, Purple. So you can make a mild color adjustment if you wish, or just match your iPhone’s color.

On the not so bright side, it’s slim for a battery pack, which means it’s large for a case. You’ll definitely notice this in your pocket. A minor bonus is that you’re iPhone will feel super thin when you finally take it out. The case is very tight around the iPhone, which makes it fairly difficult to remove. And finally, it uses a Micro USB cable, because why, oh why would you want another dock connector cable on your iPhone when you can have something else?

I think this is not the sort of “case” you would use on a constant basis (not that this scenario doesn’t happen), so the relative thickness of this guy isn’t that much of an issue. The tightness is quite annoying, because it’s very difficult to remove your iPhone from the case without feeling like you are going to break or scratch something. And the Micro USB cable? That’s just irritating; it should have been a dock connector.

I don’t think anyone who doesn’t honestly need extra battery life is even considering this, mostly because it’s not priced at an impulse buy price point; $79.95 is far from cheap. But if you need the extra battery life, I think the Mophie JuicePack Air is a great choice. It works very well, adds battery life, and protects your iPhone in the process. You just have to decide if doubling your battery life is worth the price, or should you just pick up an extra iPhone cable to charge in the car or from the wall for significantly less money.