By ‘Doctor Dave’ Greenbaum
The Kensington PowerLift Back-up Battery (http://us.kensington.com/html/17866.html) is an exciting, convenient and portable way to charge your iPhone at a desk or on the road. Its unique stand allows for easy use of FaceTime while charging and a nice boost of power when away from a computer.
It’s compact design folds to 2.5 x 2.3 x 0.7 inches and it and weighs 1.76oz — perfect for slipping into your pocket or a laptop bag. The USB connector recesses into the unit and the stand and dock connector folds in, as well. No exposed parts means less problems in the long run. No wonder the Kensington PowerLift Back-up Battery won a 2011 CES Innovations and Engineering Award!
Although the battery is relatively small at 1200 mAh, Kensignton claims it provides an additional 3.5 hours of talk time. Not a full charge by any means, but a nice little boost, as well as an easy way to use FaceTime with its built-in stand. A battery status button has four blue lights to indicate how much of a charge you have. At a retail of $49.99, it’s a pretty good deal for a nice compact external battery charger.
The only negative is that the compact design is hard to figure out at first. It’s easy to fold it out incorrectly and insert the iPhone incorrectly. It takes some getting used to, but otherwise it’s so darn handy!
Pros: Compact and portable, built in usb cable
Cons: A bit tricky to learn
8 out of 10
