Battery cases are something that you may not think you need for your phone but once you do get one, you’ll start thinking to yourself, “how did I live without this?”
Sure you could get a portable battery pack, but that is an extra thing to carry around when you want to charge your phone. Mophie has become the go-to brand for battery cases for popular smartphones like the Apple iPhones, Samsung Galaxy and just recently the Google Pixel with their Juice Pack for the Pixel XL.
I’ve been testing out the Mophie Juice Pack for Pixel XL for the past couple of weeks and I would have to say that it’s one of the best battery cases you can get for the Google Pixel XL.
The Mophie Juice Pack for the Pixel XL has a slight texture on the outside, which makes it easier to hold in your hands. On the back, you’ll find the battery life indicator for the case and the button to turn it off and on. To turn it on, just hold the button for a few seconds and to turn off the case, just hold the button again.
This is one of my first gripes, I’ve had the case on my Pixel XL and then I would put that in my pocket and I’ve had this happen a few times when the battery case got turned on by being in my pocket. I really think that Mophie should have made the on/off button into a switch instead, that would have made it easier to prevent accidental pushes of the button while in my pocket.
With any battery case, it will add some bulk to your smartphone and the one of the Pixel XL is no different. But it isn’t so bad, partly because the battery in the juice pack is enormous, you can expect the battery case to add about 50 hours of talk time to your phone.
To charge the Mophie Juice Pack, all you have to do is keep it on your Pixel XL and then plug your phone normally into its charger. When plugged in, it will send the charge to your phone first and then charge the battery case. It takes a couple of hours to fully charge the Mophie Juice Pack so I would recommend charging it overnight.
The great thing about the Mophie Juice Pack for Pixel XL is that it’s compatible with Mophie’s Charge Force accessories, which add wireless charging capabilities. There are quite few Charge Force accessories available, including a battery pack, desktop charger, car charger and a wireless charging pad.
I was able to test out the Charge Force battery pack and the desktop charger. The Charge Force battery pack is able to wirelessly charge your Mophie Juice Pack and it uses magnets to attach and align with the charging coils. If you do decide to wirelessly charge your Mophie Juice Pack on the Charge Force battery pack, you’ll have an extra USB port to spare to charge another device.
The Charge Force desktop charger makes it easy to charge your device with its Mophie Juice Pack while you’re working at your desk. That way, you can also see notifications from your phone as well. I wish that the Charge Force accessories had USB Type-C ports instead of microUSB but I can understand that it would up the price of them and USB Type-C is still relatively new and not every device has it.
The Mophie Juice Pack for Pixel XL goes for around $99 USD from Mophie’s website but Amazon.ca has it for $90 CAD but currently ships in 1-2 months. As for some of the Charge Force accessories, the car dock goes for around $50 CAD, the desktop charger for $70 CAD, the wireless charging base for $30 CAD and the external battery pack for around $100 CAD.
The other thing is that I wish that Mophie had made a Juice Pack for the standard 5-inch Google Pixel. The smaller Pixel has a smaller battery than XL and Mophie already do make battery cases for both size iPhones and both size Samsung Galaxy phones, so why not make one for the standard Pixel in addition to the Pixel XL.
Overall, I really liked using the Mophie Juice Pack for Pixel XL, it made it much more convenient to charge my phone, rather than using my portable battery pack. I would absolutely recommend picking one up, albeit a few minor annoyances.
Pros
- Nice design
- Adds a good amount of battery life to Pixel XL
- Compatible with Mophie’s Charge Force accessories
- Case charges over USB Type-C
- Thinner than other battery cases
Cons
- On/off button issues
- Can be expensive, especially adding on the cost of Charge Force accessories
TheCanadianTechie 