As I noted when I reviewed Mophie's Juice Pack Plus here on Forbes, almost as soon as Apple announced the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus smartphones people were asking after a 'battery pack' case. The name that many sought out was Mophie. In a saturated peripheral market having a brand name as strong as Mophie is important.
That brand power has built up over time through a wide range of useful peripherals. Making sure each release delivers a strong solution to keep the brand name strong is important. The strength of the Mophie name is going to have many people giving the company's Juice Pack Dock a lot of consideration.
The premise is simple. The Dock will allow you to charge your iPhone 6 and Mophie Juice Pack with ease - simply drop the iPhone in its Mophie case into the Dock, and the handset and case will start to charge. The recessed slot in the Dock holds the case and smartphone combo snugly, and there's just enough resistance to stop it falling backwards when you tap on the screen. This balance is also helped by the mass in the base of the Dock to aid stability. The Dock also allows your iPhone to stand upright on a desk, but for me it's just a little too upright to make for comfortable viewing (and it's naturally locked in portrait mode).
The key to the Dock is the two metallic push-pins in the base. These make an electrical connection to the base of a Mophie Juice Pack, and as long as you have plugged the USB cabled into a computer or AC adaptor, the charge will flow. As is standard with Mophie cases, your iPhone will charge first, and when the phone is full the case will start charging.
Unlike Mophie's desktop Dock, the Juice Pack Dock does not allow you to sync over the USB cable if it is connected to your PC or Mac. That's not as much of a hindrance as I thought it would be, because I've been using the Dock as a top-up charger throughout the working day. In the same way that I use a wireless charger, dropping the iPhone/Mophie combination into the Dock means it is always charging, but also it is very easy to pick up from the Dock - there are no cables to pull out and it's very much a grab and go situation.
With a list price of fifty dollars on the Mophie website (on top of the cost of the Juice Pack case), this is not a cheap peripheral to pick up. The use case is relatively limited, so you do need to think about how you use your iPhone before making the purchase. But if you're looking for a solution that allows for fast and convenient charging alongside an extended battery case, this combination is one that should be considered.
(Now read about the iPhone technology you can buy today that Apple ignores).
Disclosure: Mophie provided a Juice Pack Dock and iPhone 6 Juice Pack Case on loan for review purposes.
