Using an iPhone & iPad in Thailand Tips, App Reviews and News for the iPhone and iPad by Richard Barrow

Heavy Duty Battery for the iPhone

Although the battery life of the iPhone 4 is good and will last the whole day on most occasions, there are times when I run out of battery when I'm covering a live event. For example, when I was documenting the red shirt protests I was using the camera a lot to take pictures and video and also constantly connecting to the Internet to send out reports and upload both the pictures and video. I use 3G for this all the time and so it can consume the battery quite quickly. A solution to this was the battery pack that plugged into the bottom of the iPhone (see here). The size of this battery is 1900 mAh and is supposed to be able to give a full charge. However, the connection was never that good and if I moved it just a little then it would stop charging. A better solution probably would have been the battery pack that doubled as a case for the iPhone. But, this was three times more expensive.

Then at the Apple store on the 5th floor of MBK I came across the HyperMac Mini which claimed a capacity of 7200mAh. I googled it and found that it could extend the iPad battery life by 10 extra hours or fully recharge the iPhone 6 times, extending talk time by up to 72 hours, standby time by up to 1800 hours, Internet use by up to 54 hours, video playback by up to 60 hours and audio playback by up to 180 hours (click here for website). The battery pack wasn't too big and it connected to the iPhone via the normal white lead. This meant I could keep the battery in my pocket while still using the phone to take pictures and connect to the Internet. The listed price on the Internet was $119.95 (3,588 baht) though some places were selling it for only $99 before shipping and tax. However, in the shop it was priced at 2,300 baht. Although still expensive it seemed a bargain and perfect for my needs. I'm glad I went ahead and bought it as I now think someone had written the price down wrong. At the iStore at Siam Square it was priced at 3,200 baht.

Do you ever run out of battery at the wrong time? What do you do about it?