The Mophie juice pack helium is the first certified iPhone 5 case to incorporate a battery, protecting your iPhone while simultaneously charging it.
Mophie says the juice pack helium is it’s thinnest and lightest case to date. It certainly smaller than the Mophie PowerStation, adding around 68g to the weight of the phone, which isn’t really noticeable. It does however take time to get used to the extra length it adds to the phone, although the curved back ensures it feels comfortable in the hand.
The case comes in two pieces, the biggest section slides over the top of the iPhone and includes cutouts for the lens and volume control, the bottom section clips on top and includes the on/off switch and LED indicators.
Judged purely as a case the Mophie juice pack helium feels very solid, providing ample protection for the iPhone 5, with raised edges to protect the screen. Our sample had a soft touch grey matte finish, which looks stylish in an understated way, although after a few days of consistent use it does exhibit scratches. To protect the iPhone 5’s crystal and glass back, the inside is softer than Mophie’s juice pack air
The highlight of the Mophie juice pack helium is its charging capabilities, when the battery gets low, flick the switch and the case charges the phone. Mophie claims the 1500 mAh battery provides around 80 per cent more battery when fully charged, a figure which we found fairly accurate – we let the battery drop right down and it charged the phone to around 80 per cent.
Apple moved the headphone jack placement placement has moved from the top (on the iPhone 4S) to the bottom (on the iPhone 5). The depth of the juice pack helium makes it tricky to insert headphones securely without removing the bottom, then feeding the headphone jack through to ensure it attaches firmly.
Overall the Mophie juice pack helium manages to be fairly attractive and (above all) extremely useful case, reasonably priced at £59.99. We perhaps wouldn’t use it every day, but if we knew we were heading out in the evening, going on holiday or would be using the iPhone’s battery a little more than normal, we’d click on a Mophie juice pack air.
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