Shane Cole
Accessory maker Mophie on Tuesday unveiled the Space Pack, a new variant of the company's popular iPhone battery cases that grafts up to 32 gigabytes of external storage onto Apple's iPhone 5 and 5s.
Mophie says the Space Pack is designed to enable iPhone owners to keep more photos, videos, and music directly on their devices, rather than depending on cloud storage that may or may not always be accessible. The Space Pack can also provide enough power to double the iPhone's battery life, a combination that Mophie claims is the world's first.
CEO Daniel Huang said that Mophie "wanted to create a product that enables iPhone users to truly enhance their experience by solving some of the core limitations of smartphones."
The Space Pack's storage can be managed either on a user's desktop computer or via the new Mophie-designed Space app. The app allows users to play back music and movies and view documents stored on the Space Pack and provides quick-sorting options that let users browse the contents of the Space Pack by file type.
In addition, the Space app features AirPlay and AirDrop integration for wirelessly streaming files to home entertainment systems or transferring data between iOS devices.
The 16-gigabyte Space Pack will set buyers back $149.95, while the 32-gigabyte model will cost $179.95. Both capacities are available for pre-order today at mophie.com and the company expects shipping to begin March 14.
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9 Comments
But what about the connector - I would like to get the extra battery life - and the extra storage is nice - but if I can't plug it into my car for both charge and sync without removing it from the case then it less useful. Not that anyone is really doing that - the closest I think I have seen is a battery pack that has a detachable cable from the pack to the phone meaning you can bypass it - which might work since the primary times you need the extra battery power are when you are away from any charging source which most likely also means not syncing via cable.
I didn't know Apple allowed any sort of additional storage to be connected directly to its iOS devices.
[quote name="1983" url="/t/161474/mophie-combines-external-battery-storage-in-new-space-pack-iphone-cases#post_2454722"]I didn't know Apple allowed any sort of additional storage to be connected directly to its iOS devices.[/quote] The additional storage is only accessible from their own apps now. iOS never sees it. I bet Mophie will add API for third party to access this storage though.
But can you sync to your computer using the USB cable without having to remove the case?
Check the specs for this product. This will sell!
I have a Mophie case, and used it intensively with an iPhone 5 (since the battery life was getting problematic), but the phone is really much less pleasant to use with the case -- the case is really bulky. (I have apple's case for my current phone, and that is really nice, despite lack of extra juice.