Phonesuit Flex Pocket Charger (for iPhone 5)

• Pros

  Portable and pocket friendly. Built-in Lightning connector. Sturdy aluminum construction. Provides hours of battery life for iPhone 5.

• Cons Easy to lose removable cap.
• Bottom Line

  The Phonesuit Flex Pocket Charger is a sturdily built, portable battery with a built-in Lightning connector?it'll add hours of battery life, but your best bet for all day endurance is still a battery case.

By Eugene Kim

Adding LTE, making the screen larger, and slimming down the dimensions all made the iPhone 5 one of the best smartphones available, but none of those things did it any favors for battery life. Those changes, coupled with the slow rollout of Apple-approved Lightning connector accessories means batteries and battery cases for the iPhone 5 are few and far between. The Phonesuit Flex Pocket Charger ($69.95 direct) is one of the first portable batteries we've seen with Apple's Lightning connector built right in. While its removable cap is too easy to lose, the sturdy aluminum casing, portable design, and hours of battery life make it a good choice for people who want to keep extra power on hand, but don't want the added bulk of a battery case.

The Phonesuit Flex is pocket friendly at 1.1 by 2.8 by 0.8 inches (HWD) and 2.78 ounces. The barrel-like design features a teardrop profile, with the bottom encased in anodized aluminum and a removable plastic cap on top. One end is bare, while the other houses a micro USB port, four LED indicators, and a capacitive status button. A notch in the middle of the cap makes it easy to remove, revealing a single Lightning connector. I would have liked to see some sort of tether for the cap, as I can see myself easily losing it once removed. The Lightning connector is slightly elevated on a small platform, making it easy to use even if you keep your iPhone 5 in a case. The Flex outputs at 1 amp, so while it can provide power to the fourth-gen iPad and iPad mini, it'll be slow going, since both require 2.1-amp power sources. ??

Inside the Phonesuit Flex is a 2,600mAh battery, which is nearly double the iPhone 5's 1,440mAh internal battery. The Flex allows pass-through charging, meaning you can charge both the iPhone 5 and Flex at the same time using the included micro USB cable. In my tests, making a continuous call with LTE enabled with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth switched off, the Flex added 6 hours of talk time to my completely drained AT&T iPhone 5. The iPhone 5 itself lasted 8 hours, 40 minutes on the same test, while a battery case like the Mophie Juice Pack Helium?added 6 hours, 20 minutes. ?

When it comes to iPhone 5 battery accessories, your choices are still a bit limited. If you like to keep your phone in a case, you'll probably want to check out the aforementioned Juice Pack Helium, which combines a sleek and lightweight case design with solid battery performance. Not everyone wants the added heft of a battery case, though, and the Phonesuit Flex is a great choice for people who want to keep spare power on hand just in case.

By Eugene Kim Junior Analyst, Consumer Electronics

Before joining the consumer electronics team at PCMag, Eugene worked at local news station NY1 doing everything from camera work to writing scripts. He grew up in Montclair, New Jersey and graduated from the University...

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