Practically, the battery cannot keep up with your power requirements without the need of re-charging every 8 hours or so. On the helping side there are a lot of applications that promise to optimize and conserve energy, and they do, but the gain is too little, too late. The only thing left  is to buy an extension battery case, one which may even double the energy life of your shinny aluminum smartphone, for a price.

Top 6 extended battery cases for iPhone 5

In this article I will talk about some of these extended battery cases that are very slim and powerful, adding the supplementary energy and protection that you need for your iPhone 5. You need to know that all of these units will add different weights and thickness, but the majority will also double the life of the battery. So, if this is the price you will have to pay for having more “juice” to play with, I think it fully deserves.

Mojo Hi5 Powerbank Case and Battery Case

Mojo’s Battery Case weighs only 76.5g and it’s around 125.7 x 60.4 x 18.2 mm in size. It is made from plastic and when connected, it leaves the iPhone’s top and bottom uncovered so you will have to be careful with it. While it is one of the best looking cases, it is not the best protection for your phone. It comes in two colors, white or black with a tribal pattern at the top and the bottom back of the phone. Mojo’s nice project also has a hidden advantage, halving the charging time of the iPhone 5 or the extension unit itself.

iExpander

iExpander was a project funded by KickStarter last year. This project was the initiative of Charlie Corry who owns a manufacturing company in Chicago. Full of the problems that the iPhone generally has, such as taking poor quality pictures, rapid draining battery and little internal storage, he along his colleagues designed a multi-function device for the iPhone users. iExpander is the name and aims at  iPhones with three new features: a Micro SD card slot compatible with cards up to 64 GB, a LED flash and the extra battery that doubles the life of the iPhone 5. The LED flash and the extra battery are features seen at other cases too, but the ability to add a Micro SD to the iPhone that is built to not recognize other memories is truly interesting. Basically, it is like an external hard-drive because you will have to copy all the files from the phone’s memory to the Micro SD with their special application. The price of iExpander is not that cheap, $119.99, but I think that this revolutionary feature makes all the money for your iPhone 5.

Buy the Mojo iExpander

Lenmar Meridian

The Lenmar Meridian extended battery case was presented a while ago at the Consumer Electronics Show and is not available yet (even a proper launch time is missing from their schedule). It promises double time for talk, texting and surfing the internet for your iPhone 5. It will be available in three colors: Rubberized Black, Metallic Red, Glossy White. The Lenmar Meridian battery case is not the thinnest battery case because it has the dimensions 138 x 65 x 15 mm. The battery is a lithium polymer one with the capacity of 2300 mAh and has a warranty of 1 year. On the back has a button that if it is pressed one time, a led power indicator will light up, pressed for three seconds will charge the iPhone’s 5 battery and held for another three seconds will stop charging it. From the preliminary tests made at CES it seems that the cellular and Wi-Fi signal dropped a little when it was used on the iPhone 5. At the moment, the unit can only be can be pre-ordered from the official site at a $89.99 price.

Tylt Energi Power Case

Tylt Energi Power Case is a very thin iPhone 5 extended battery case adding only 9 mm to thickness and 10 mm to length to your very own iPhone 5. This case it is not available yet, but it will be commercialized at a price of $100. Another interesting thing is that the unit slides into the phone, without fiddle. The pack contains a battery dock, two slim-line cases (one black and the other colored), one micro-USB charging cable and a user guide. The battery is a lithium ion type and provides up to 9 additional hours of talk time. The Tylt Energi Power Case not only charges your phone, but through it you can also sync, transfer data and listen to music, without having the need to get it out. Even that it is so thin and has the dimensions small, is weighs 95g so from this kind of view it is like a mid-weight extended battery case.

For more information of Tylt Energi Power Case

Mophie Juice Pack Air

Mophie Juice Pack Air comes at a price of $99.95 and follows up on the realease of the Mophie Juice Pack Helium. The difference between the two is that the Helium recharges only 80% of your battery and the Air will get a full charge on the iPhone 5. This is on paper, because the tests showed that The Helium recharges only 60-70% and the Mophie Juice Pack Air recharges something like 85-90%. This application has advantages too. Apart from the black color, the producers announced that for the iPhone 5 Air will be also available a special red version. It has sleek lines and beautiful construction that attracts everybody. On the bottom of the back there’s a Lighting connector, the button to switch the power and four white battery lights that indicate the battery level. In addition, Mophie, the producers of this battery case are pioneers in this kind of business and have 6 years of researching and development so, I believe that they know what are they doing.

Buy the Mophie Juice Pack Air

PowerSkin

Powerskin comes at a cost of $79.99 and it is already on the market. It weighs only 80g and the battery has 1500 mAh saving up to 6.5 hours of talking and 8 hours of using the Wi-Fi. This is one of the thinnest battery cases that you can get because it adds only 7.6 mm to the thickness of the iPhone 5. PowerSkin claims that it can re-charge the battery with up to 70 percent. They argued that the first sign of low battery for the standard iPhone 5 comes at 20 percent and using this extended case you users can re-charge the unit to a full battery. As a trick, the PowerSkin box has an earphone extender cord to offer the possibility of connecting your headphone when the unit is attached.  As for materials, rubber was mostly used for its flexibility and to offer a nice felling at touch.

Buy the PowerSkin