Stuff We Like: Mugen Power extended batteries

As the holiday season nears, we’re going to run an occasional series called Stuff We Like. In this edition, we look at extended batteries.

Everyone runs out of juice. Whether you’re taking too many photos or chatting away for hours, your smartphone battery has a finite life. Unless you want to constantly be near a wall outlet, you have to be prepared. Some people prefer to have an external battery back such as the ZAGGspark, while others like high-capacity replacement batteries for their devices.

Mugen Power is one of the top brands for extended batteries in the mobile industry. They not only supply high-capacity cells for specific devices, but custom-designed battery covers to keep everything together.

The company sent us three replacement batteries to try: a 3600mAh cell for the HTC Sensation; a 3200mAh cell for the Samsung Galaxy S II; and a 1500mAh “shell” for the iPhone 4(S).

The Sensation battery essentially triples the battery life of the existing 1520mAh battery, but doubles the thickness of the phone in the process. With the custom battery cover on, which is made of high-grade plastic instead of aluminum, the phone measures 23mm from the original 11.3mm. While it may seem like this would make the phone too heavy and uncomfortable to use, we found the extra weight and size extremely manageable.

In terms of battery life, we used the device almost constantly for two days and by the end of the second day we still had nearly 25% battery life left. If you’re used to your Android device dying by 6pm, this battery will be a lifesaver.

The iPhone battery pack, which resembles the Mophie Juicepack series in its design, is a little clunky, but its 1500mAh battery pack kept our iPhone 4S chugging along for nearly twice the length of its regular battery. Plugging in your iPhone to the Mugen Power case charges the phone battery first, and once it hits 100% will then power the phone from the pack itself. This ensures that even if the battery case depletes, your iPhone will still have sufficient charge to continue alone.

We depleted the iPhone 4S down to 0% and placed it into the Mugen Power battery case. After charging quite quickly, the pack died with the phone at 86% charge. While it doesn’t manage to literally double battery life, it does almost as well.

The Galaxy S II fares a little bit in terms of aesthetics, as the extended battery itself isn’t quite as big, nor is the phone thick in the first place. We could easily see ourselves using the Galaxy S II with the extended battery full time. In terms of overall battery performance, we found it gave us an extra 10-15 hours on a single charge over the stock 1650mAh battery.

Pick up your Mugen Power battery on their website. They have extremely reasonable, duty-free shipping to Canada and are a perfect present for the phone obsessed friend or family member in your life.