I’m pretty crazy about keeping anything I own that runs on batteries fully charged at all times. When I got my iPhone last September the first thing I did was research external batteries.

I ended up purchasing Macally’s JBox (IP-A481) from Newegg and I’ve been happy with it ever since. I fly cross country enough that I need extra power to keep myself entertained on the flight and the JBox does the trick. It’s also a huge asset at conferences where electrical outlets are in short supply and your phone is probably seeing heavier than normal usage patterns…GDC always kills my phone battery.

Anyway, there isn’t much to say because the JBox does what is advertised. The battery works great. I’ve used the JBox a bunch of times and it can easily make it through a 3 hour movie and still have a bit of a charge left. If you’re flying you can be sure that you’ll hit the ground running with a fully charged battery…so you’ll have that going for you, which is nice. The JBox charges aything that connects to a standard USB connection so it isn’t really limited to just the iPhone but that’s the only experience I have with the battery pack. The JBox charges off of a standard usb port using a mini USB cable and seems to recharge at a pretty decent rate.

The only real drawback is that the JBox doesn’t tell the iPhone to shut off its internal battery when connected. This means that the iPhone sees the JBox as just another power outlet and will be in charging mode the whole time it is connected. I’m guessing the more expensive solutions, like the Mophie JuicePack, do have this funcationality but at nearly double the price I’m not sure if it is worth the extra expense. I would seriously recommend just buying 2 JBoxes if you’re thinking of going with one of the more expensive solutions.

I think I got my JBox for around $40 from Newegg but it seems like $50 is the current going rate around the web. In any case, it is one of the cheaper battery solutions available and you should own one.

Why am I writing this post? In my opinion, Macally has done a pretty bad job of promoting the JBox and I’m tired of reading posts about what external battery solutions are available for the iPhone. This isn’t an ad and Macally isn’t paying me anything.