Jackery. Rhymes With Daiquiri.
Coincidence? I doubt it. Last month Nicole made the trek to San Jose to attend the annual BlogHer conference and I’m sure more than one daiquiri was consumed. If you’ve been to one of their gatherings in past years, you know it is three days of networking, socializing, learning and most of all, running back and forth from location to location as you try to squeeze as much as you can into the extended weekend. She was honored to be on a panel of speakers for U.S. Cellular as well as an ambassador for McDonald’s and their amazing closing party featuring Reverend Run of Run DMC fame. But what she forgot was how quickly your phone battery depletes when it is constantly searching for new connections as you go in and out of buildings.
Fortunately she remembered to bring her portable battery from Tego, but it didn’t do her much good when she left it in her hotel room to make room in the purse for extra business cards. It’s too late to save her now, but we have found a solution for next time that is not only affordable but stylish as well: the Jackery Leaf.
Instead of just trying to attach an external battery to your iPhone, Jackery takes a unique approach in that they provide you with two different colored phone cases that can be left on your phone and used as your regular protective solution. When you’re ready to travel (or just don’t want to be caught off-guard), you slip the phone, case and all, into the specially-designed battery. Connecting at the bottom through Apple’s charging port and on the back of the case via a button & hole technique, it holds your phone securely in place for both carrying and using.
Of course adding a second ‘case’ to your phone along with a hefty 2400 mAh battery will add some bulk, but fortunately they have kept the total weight of the accessory to only 3.4 ounces. The smooth rounded edges of the battery shell allows for easy stowing in your pocket or purse.
This battery is a true ‘backup’ in the sense that it is not in an always-charging state. Rated to hold its charge for up to six months, you activate it by holding a discreet power button on the back and it begins to dump its storage to your phone, recharging it to full in a few hours. Of course you can also use your phone while it is charging – if only Nicole had one of these in California, then she wouldn’t have missed singing her girls to sleep at night! You can find them on Amazon for around $60 and in a couple different color combinations.
Jackery isn’t a one-trick pony though, they have another battery solution for when this one runs out and it is humongous! If you need more power than what this portable battery supplies then you need to just run to Sears and pick up a DieHard and jumper cables. I present to you the Jackery Giant+!
Weighing in at a claimed 10.4 ounces (ours weighed exactly 11.0 ounces), this behemoth stores up to 12,000mAh of power, extending the capacity of most smart phones 500%! That’s more than double of what we’re using with our Tego at a size not that much larger! The Giant+ features two charging ports (one 1.0A and one 2.1A) along with an unnecessary, but handier-than-I-thought-it-would-be LED flashlight.
Even though the case for the Leaf is plastic and the Giant+ is aluminum, Jackery did a great job of assuring that the colors matched (which obviously my color-challenged wife will appreciate).
If the Giant+ is too big for your needs, Jackery has a whole line of different sized portable battery options in a handful of colors. You can always contact them through their Facebook and Twitter pages to watch for new product announcement or to just bother them about making more colors! Just don’t do like us and leave them in the hotel room – the maids might wonder what the batteries are REALLY for!
It’s cool. Thanks for sharing
Love these gadgets! I’m always looking for gift items for my adult kids that are useful items. I will be putting these under the tree for my three.
Love this so much can also say my brother would to he is into gadgets .
This sounds like a great gift item for a couple of people on my list!!!! I will definitely be looking into this one.
I was just starting to look at external batteries. Love how small it is!
Awesome review Scott and WHOHOO for Nicole for all her ambassador ships, she is awesome !!!! And I love love love this battery pack. I need to get one, my phone runs through a full battery like it’s going out of style… CRAZY fast, bet this will keep me connected longer, what a great review and I’m adding this to my wish list for sure.
Oh, Melanie. You are just too sweet. That’s why I love you. 🙂
I would love to have one of those extra batteries for my phone. What a great convenience! Love your play on the “Orange is the new Black” by the way!!
I need this in my life. I was just commenting to my husband how frustrating it is when I lose battery life on my phone and have no way to immediately charge it.
just noticed now you covered two models. The Giant is the model that I want!
I can not live without my external battery charger but I hate dealing with it. I NEED this.
I Want The Jackery Giant It’s Must Have And Get A Few For The Family!
I love products that extend my cellular battery life. This one is so sleek. Very nice, indeed!
This is a great device. It is powerful, but seems small enough that you can keep it with you at all times in case you need it.
I actually use the smaller orange jackery to charge both my phone and kindle on my busy days or when traveling. Seems to work pretty well and the built in flashlight comes in handy too.
We love our extra chargers like this for travel! Definitely need to grab one of these for our boys so they don’t go without battery life!
I was at Blogher in San Jose too and it was an amazing closing party!
i really could have used one those batteries, it would have saved me on a couple of occasions.
I love the covers/ products in general!
🙂
Sold! I’m going to get one. I was thinking of getting one but you sold me on doing it now.
I have a portable charger for my iPhone and it’s literally the best money I have ever spent.
What a great charging solution! I love the way this product look, and I’m sure it would help in desperate low-battery moments!
This is great. I think I’ll add this to my “must get” list. I love how it’s not bulky.
Definitely need one of these!! We are often traveling and on the go so charging the batteries can be somewhat hectic. This looks like it would clear up all problems with that. Thanks for the in depth review!
I pretty much love that you can use it right over the case your phone is already in!
What smart technology! I need one of these!
I love technology! I am always finding I need to charge my phone. The worst is when I am out and I hear that dreaded beep beep telling me my phone is about to die! This looks like the perfect solution to me!
This is pretty neat! Love the shade of orange as well.
So awesome! Love the way it looks! Thanks for the post.
Pretty cool gadgets! Do they make this for android?
The big one can be used to change ANY device that charges from USB (Android, iPad, etc.), but the phone case is strictly iPhone 5 right now.
That is very neat. I love having an external battery. I end up using it more than I expect.
I’ve never tried this product before, looks nice!
Wow, these are great ideas. I’ve never heard of them. I’ve been feeling bummed out lately how fast my iPhone battery seems to get depleted.
I love the big boy myself just because I don’t have an I-phone. These are really both awesome. Thanks for sharing.
iPhone users will definitely love this. Thanks for the great review!
that looks great. i love portable batteries. my phones seems to loose it’s charge so quickly these days and i would be lost without one of my batteries. this one looks great.