Many of today’s phones feature battery capacities in the 2,000mAh-3,000mAh range, with some pushing even further. And, while that’s often enough to get us through a typical day or two of usage, we don’t always have the luxury of plugging in when we’re low. A long day of geocaching or a few hours of pushing music to a Bluetooth speaker can put a damper on your evening plans to stream a game.
Even as phone batteries get higher capacities and quicker charging times, we’re still fans of portable power solutions. They’ve gotten smaller over the years yet the power levels have increased. Mophie, is a brand who has been in the game for some time and continues to put out excellent choices. We were sent a Mophie Powerstation Plus to review. Read on for our take on the portable unit.
The Mophie Powerstation Plus (branded as mophie powerstation plus) is a portable battery back (6,000mAh) with a premium design. Featuring a built-in cable with tips for both microUSB and Apple Lightning, it also packs a second USB port for plugging in a secondary device.
There’s essentially zero setup to the Powerstation Plus. Take it out of the box, plug in your phone, and you’re all set. The included cable tucks away nicely along the edge and only needs to come out when charging your handset.
The cable comes with two different tips, a microUSB for most legacy Android devices and a Lightning tip for Apple models. The Apple tip snaps on to the microUSB and is rather small. You might feel compelled to toss it aside if you don’t own any Apple products, but it leave a weird space in the side of the unit and doesn’t snap in tightly.
The model we were sent was silver (space grey) on top with a black bottom and side trim. There are other color options to choose from, including gold, rose gold, and PRODUCT (RED). Go for the two gold flavors and the back will be white while the red gets the black treatment.
We found that the black material was prone to pick up oils from hands almost too easily. See below for a picture to see what we mean. The space grey aluminum was soft to the touch but has been tough enough to withstand general abuse and tossing about.
Charging the Powerstation Plus up is done via a microUSB port; a 9-inch micro USB cable comes with the charger. Along the side of the device are four small indicator lights. With each representing 25% worth of juice, it’s a convenient way to figure out how much power is left.
Whereas the microUSB and Lightning port should cover the bases for most users, some of us are carrying devices with USB Type-C ports. As such, you’ll need to plug into the USB port, which is a convenient inclusion. Just bring your own cable.
The Mophie Powerstation Plus has an overall footprint that feels like a smaller smartphone. Given that every phone has a different size, it might feel wonky carrying the phone and charger at the same time. Our advice is to simply plug it in and set it off to the side.
The Powerstation Plus offers up 2.1A output and smart adaptive charging technology so that your connected phone gets the fastest and most efficient charging speeds available. This way you can be up and running again in no time.
The Powerstation Plus comes with a higher price tag than most of its competitors. At $79.95, it’s not exactly cheap. But, if you’ve ever spent time with products from Mophie, them you know you’re in for quality. Not only that, but products are covered by a two-year warranty.
While you might be tempted to go with a different brand, we suggest checking for other capacities from Mophie, first. The Powerstation Mini (4,000mAh) is $59.99; the Powerstation Plus XL (12,000mAh) is $99.95.
Needs type c get with the times mophie ?