Kensington Battery Pack and Charger for iPod; iPhone 1G, 3G
March 24th, 2010 Posted in IPhone
- Compatibility: iPhone 1G, 3G; iPod classic 4G, 5G, 5.5G, 6G; iPod nano 3G
- Rechargeable battery pack extends playing time up to 100 hours of music, 21 hours of video, or 6 hours of talk
- AC power adapter with USB allows you to recharge your battery pack
- Includes dock connector to power and charge your iPhone and iPod
- Mini USB cable included to power and charge other mobile devices, such as cell phones, PDAs, and more
Amazon.com Product Description
Got a lot of music and videos on your iPod? The rechargeable Kensington Battery Pack and Charger for iPhone and iPod provides a go-anywhere boost of juice so that the music and videos can keep playing. Simply … More >>
Kensington Battery Pack and Charger for iPod; iPhone 1G, 3G
March 24th, 2010 at 10:42 am
The Kensington battery Amazon is selling is model K33396US. Amazon just shipped me the K38021/K33396, but the packaging still has K33396US printed on it. Why is this important? The K33396US has a battery charger designed for travel abroad. It has two European style plug adaptors that slip into the battery charger. The K38021/K33396 has a fixed battery charger with a US only plug.
I think Kensington decided to save a few pennies by reducing the product’s capabilities and then saved even more money by not changing the packaging or UPC. But not telling Amazon to update the model number on their product page? Not nice!
Rating: 3 / 5
March 24th, 2010 at 12:00 pm
I can absolutely confirm that this works withthe iPhone 3G.
After searching around trying several devices including the Duracell PowerSource Mini which did not work, and various “USB charging
solutions which did not work, I sent an e-mail to Kensingtion. They confirmed to me that this works with the iPhone 3G. So I went to the Apple store to buy it.
Pros:
- USB charging port withs with the iPhone 3G
- Wall AC Adapter with USB port also charges the iPhone 3G
- Comes with a sync / charge cable that syncs fine with a PC, but also charges in PC USB port, battery pack, and Wall AC USB charger. Also, this cable does NOT need to have the sides depressed (just like the Apple USB sync cable), which is nice for easy insertion and removal.
- Battery pack is nice and small and light.
- Comes with everything you need to charge the iPhine and recharge the battery pack.
Rating: 5 / 5
March 24th, 2010 at 2:47 pm
This has been the best accessory that I’ve bought for my iPhone so far.
I took it on a short business trip to Europe. Not only was I able to use it to recharge my iPhone from ZERO to FULL on the plane and train (ie. Eurostar), but my husband discovered the included mini usb cable can recharge his BlackBerry as well. So we are able to share this one device for several of ours.
On top of that, the package included an iPhone sync cable. You can never have enough of these!
Rating: 5 / 5
March 24th, 2010 at 3:09 pm
I have an iPhone 3G which needs to be recharged just about every day that it’s used. That can be a challenge when I’m traveling, although if I have a laptop it’s possible to recharge the iPhone via the laptop’s USB port — as long as the laptop has enough power to spare. The Kensington set is a good backup. It will fully charge a nearly exhausted iPhone battery in an hour or less. You can use the phone while you’re charging it (although that means you’ll use some of the stored power). The battery has a button that lights up a set of LEDs to show you how fully charged it is. It comes with both a wall plug and a USB cable. It’s small enough to carry in a pants pocket. You also have to carry the included cable to connect it to the iPhoe or iPod. You could carry the whole set – battery, wall adapter and two cables — in a jacket pocket.
The only thing that’s missing is a case or bag with a drawstring. One or the other would be very helpful for storing the two cables, the wall adapter and the battery itself.
Rating: 5 / 5
March 24th, 2010 at 3:27 pm
Pros:
- if I start with a fully charged brick and a fully discharged iPhone and leave them on the table I get close to a fully recharged iPhone in a little while. I haven’t timed it but it seems pretty quick.
- because it uses a cord, it charges or powers any device that charges by USB. iPhone (any), Blackberry, GPS…
- you can use the iPhone while it is charging and it still charges (albeit more slowly).
- the brick is pleasantly small and pocketable.
Cons:
- requires a different (mini-usb) wire to charge the brick, so you have to carry an additional wire to recharge the brick after you’ve had to use it.
- connects to the iphone with a cord. It works to hold the phone to your ear and have the cord dangling to the brick in your pocket, but the cord is a pain. I like the idea of the mophie juice pack, which would still fit in my pocket or on the table or hold up to my ear, with no cord. They don’t make that for the iphone 3G yet but I will get one of those too when it is available.
- my particular unit has never showed a full charge from day one, just 4 lights out of five. It works fine, I don’t know if it is holding less charge than it should or if the 5th light isn’t working, but it suggests less than perfect QA.
Rating: 4 / 5