Macenstein

I have no idea why, but I am a sucker for external iPhone batteries. Given my agoraphobic, anti-social ways (and my tendency to rarely leave my cave house) you’d think I’d never need one, but perhaps it is my shut-in mentality that causes me to fear being away from a power source for too long. Whatever the reason, my heart or my shoes (Grinch reference anyone?), I love these damn things. And while Mophie’s JuicePack has been the media darling for external batteries, there are quite a few lesser name/no name makers that can give Mophie a run for their money. One such offering is QYG’s QYG-Power.

The QYG-Power even comes in white, for all of you who have white iPhone 4’s. Oh… wait…

The QYG-Power is a 1400mAh external battery pack/case for the iPhone 4, with a somewhat unique (to me at least) fold out kickstand on the back of the unit). QYG bills the unit as the “World’s Thinnest external battery for iPhone 4”, and coming in at only 15mm thick, they very well could be.

One of the reasons I love these types of chargers is that there’s not much to write – they work as expected. Basically you charge the unit with the included mini-USB cable either form your computer, or an AC outlet, assuming you have a USB AC adapter (like the one Apple includes with the iPhone). As it charges, a series of 4 tiny blue LED’s on the lower front of the unit will light up indicating the charge. I wasn’t able to figure out an EXACT time to charge, but 2 hours or so seems to be enough.

Once charged, simply slide off the top portion of the case/charger, slide your iPhone in, and put the top of the case back on. By default the charger will not charge your iPhone – you need to press and hold the bottom left of the device to turn it ON. Most chargers have this feature, which is nice, as it gives you control over when your phone is using the built-in battery vs the charger’s. I like the QYG’s method of pressing the corner to turn on/off as opposed to an actual button – it looks a bit sleeker and helps keep the bottom of the charger looking like a continuation of the iPhone 4’s bottom.

Design-wise there is of course a cutout for the camera and a pass-through speaker hole on the bottom, as well as access to the volume and hold controls. The predominant material is a smooth black matte plastic that feels great in the hand, and really does seem to be the lightest feeling battery case we’ve tested. While ti covers most of your iPhone (not including the screen) I would not expect t to serve a s protective case against hard drops – it’s more of a scratch-protector style. Other than that the only notable other design feature of the device is the flip out kickstand on the back of the unit. When flipped, it can hold the iPhone up at an angle suitable for watching a movie hands-free on a smooth surface such as a table top.

One more nice touch is that when the QYG-Power is connected to your computer and the iPhone is docked, it will still sync with your computer. This means in theory you don’t need to ever remove your iPhone from the charger (assuming you don’t need to put the iPhone is a car docking cradle or other speaker or the like).

Power-wise the QYG was able to get my fully drained iPhone 4 up to between 76% and 85% or so, depending on whether I left the iPhone powered off during the charge or left it on and allowed it to check for mail every hour and handle regular Push notifications and such. This seems comparable to the 1500 mAh Mophie Juicepack we tested, at just under half the cost.

Issues

I honestly find the overall look, feel and performance of the QYG to be excellent, with 2 notable exceptions. First, and most annoying, is the top of the case, which slides on to the unit to full encompass your iPhone 4 (with the exception of the screen). The problem is, the latching nibs on either side aren’t really all that well designed, and getting the tabs to lock with the main shell of the case is tricky. They also don’t stay attached all that well, so if you have it in a jeans pocket, there are times when you’ll pull out your iPhone and find that the top of the shell is still in your pocket. This same flaw also makes it very difficult to keep the top on when you do not have the iPhone inside. In fact, the iPhone seems to help hold the case together, and without it, there’s really no way to keep the case together, which makes the prospect of losing the top piece at some point a definite possibility. However, I must say that I have used the pack without the top entirely, and it works great. As I stated earlier, the case is designed more to protect against scratches than a fall, so leaving the top corners exposed is not really a deal-breaker for me, and basically it just turns the QYG into a thinner, sleeker version of the Mili Power Pack. So while I would prefer the tabs to snap securely and keep the case intact, I’m more interested in the power boost and low cost and I can live with the topless look when need be.

The only other problem I have is the kickstand. While I view it a a nice touch, the case is so thin that in order for the kickstand to flip out, it too must be ultra thin. This makes it feel a bit flimsy. Luckily, since I rarely, if ever, planned to use it, it does fold flat and doesn’t feel weird to the hand when collapsed.

Conclusion

The QYG offers many great features at a truly bargain price. For only $43.99, it delivers comparable performance to the $80 Mophie JuicePack Air. However, the lower price and ultra thin design perhaps come at the expense of design quality, as it is often tricky to keep the top of the case attached to the bottom. The case can be sued without the top piece without looking stupid, but it would be nice if it more reliably functioned as intended.

Price: $43.99
Pros: Ultra light, thin design, very nice price, can sync with iTunes without removing iPhone from case.
Cons: Case doesn’t provide much cushion against a fall, Ultra light design seems to have caused the top piece to not be able to really securely attach to the bottom, making keeping it attached a bit tricky.