For those of you wishing to get a whole heck of a lot of battery life out of their smartphones, your time has arrived. If there’s one system that’s working right now that, besides is obvious added bulk, will make your smartphone into a easy day’s worth of workhorse at least, that being PowerSkin rubberized case and smartphone battery charger attachment. What PowerSkin offers you is a bit of protection and one whole heck of a lot of additional battery power in the form of a constant charger. You plug the microUSB in the slot, slip the smartphone in the skin/case, and you’re on your way. You’re able to go about your day as per normal then, charging the charger and the device up with a new port that you’ll see coming out the side of the charger, and a powering you shall go!
You’ll remember our report of the two chargers we’ve got here back a few weeks ago in our announcement post, then we’ve continued coverage up to the same group’s Nexus S 4G version of the power solution. This group PowerSkin creates skins for each individual device, not one single solution for all, this being because each device has a unique set of features and PowerSkin likes to optimize for each battery, camera location, speaker location, and unique feature. On the ThunderBolt, for example, this includes a unique solution for the smartphone’s kickstand, one where the skin doesn’t quite hold the front of the device down with as much material, therefor allowing it to sit up in the skin like it’s a little boat.
Have a look at our hands-on review video of these two skin/cases:
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Then hear this: the battery times on these devices vary widely depending on what you’re using them for and how long you’re using them at any given time during the day. That said, the average time yours truly has seen the Sensation working is nearly a day. This is pretty average for a modern dual-core device, so we cannot discount the fact that a new battery might not be a thing you NEED for this device – BUT – know this: when the Sensation-specific PowerSkin battery is attached to this device, you’ve got a day and a half’s-worth of power without so much as a doubt on its mind.
For the ThunderBolt, on the other hand, you’re looking at a full day’s charge (without the battery pack) if you’re LUCKY. For the most part you’ll be looking for battery power about 3/4 of the way into the day if you’re not the sort of person to plug your smartphone in whenever you get the chance. This can get aggravating, of course, so likely you’ll want to check out one battery increase solution or another. While we found the HTC-made extended battery to ramp us up to a full day’s usage for the most part, the PowerSkin battery extension gave us TWO FULL DAYS without a problem, basically no holds barred. That’s rather impressive if I do say so myself.
Now, again, you’ll have to look at the bulk these skins add to your device, because if you’re looking for slimness in your device overall, this is not the solution for you. On the other hand, the rubbery skin does feel rather nice to hold on the whole, and the ability to see how much charge you’ve got left on the back of the device with simple press of a button and glance at blue lights really lets you know that you’re utilizing a high-quality product here. Well played, PowerSkin.
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lint magnets and ugly too. why would anyone want one of these? not to mention that while its plugged in your status light is on so u cant tell if you have a notification or not without turning the phone on.
lint magnets and ugly too. why would anyone want one of these? not to mention that while its plugged in your status light is on so u cant tell if you have a notification or not without turning the phone on.
I bought a Power Skin 3 months ago, for my galaxy s 2. The Power Skin will no longer accept a charge. I tried contacting the company, but they will not return my calls or my emails. Needless to say I’m not happy with this product or the company.