The iPhone 6 charging cases are arriving, and Boostcase has returned with its modular design, offering additional battery life when you want it, and a slim protective shell when you don’t. It’s a clever take on the usual static bulky mass, and it does what it promises to, extending your device’s battery life by a non-trivial amount for those times when you need your smartphone to outlast a normal day’s worth of use.
Basics
- Six color options
- Two-piece design
- 2700mAh battery more than doubles iPhone 6 life
- LED strip charge indicator
- Pass through charging via micro USB
- MSRP: $99.95
- Product info page
Pros
Cons
- LED charge indicator hard to translate
Design
Boostcase is a product focused on modularity, which means that it hews pretty close to the standard sizeable lump when it comes to its battery case design, but there’s a twist in that your iPhone can also slide out of said case wearing only a close-fitting shell, with a design on the back that features some cut-out holes to add some stylistic flair to its trademark locking system. The docking design serves both form and function, giving you a better looking option without a complicated and cumbersome case removal process for the backup battery itself.
The version I reviewed featured the matte black finish, which is a good standard look for people with more conservative tastes in accessories. The cutouts provide access to the camera, power and volume buttons and speakers/headphone/Lightning jack, and when you plug the slim case into the battery there are speaker redirect ports so that you don’t lose sound. When the cases are combined, the Boostcase feels very solid, as if it was one piece, but it also loses most of its design originality – at a glance, most would probably just assume you had a Mophie or something generic.
Still, the battery portion is mostly functional, so that’s not really a hit against it. The bottom of the device features a physical switch for turning the flow of power on and off, and there’s also an LED battery indicator to tell you how much charge is left. Unlike on competing devices, such as the Mophie series, this light is a continuous strip that actually wraps around the bottom edge of the device. While some may appreciate the unique design, I found myself missing the series of discrete LEDs used by others, since it provides a much easier way to accurately assess how much charge you have left in the tank at a glance.
Overall, though, the modularity of the Boostcase design makes up for the LED quibble, leaving this as one of the best options out there in terms of looks for those who don’t want to sacrifice fashion for the sake of power.
Performance
The Boostcase for iPhone 6 does indeed extend the life of your device considerably, and in my testing has more than doubled my usual usage time before requiring a charge. I’ve repeatedly managed to get more than two days of iPhone time without having to plug in, and I find that using it switched on even when the iPhone’s fully charged to continually provide a top-off adds maximizes your practical use time.
Boostcase’s modular snap-in design is sometimes a bit too good at keeping the iPhone 6 with the slim case in place – it requires a good bit of elbow grease to get it to slide out. This is mostly to the credit of the design, however, since it means there’s no wiggle at all between the two components, and no danger that the top portion will separate accidentally.
The iPhone 6 Plus’ best feature might be its extensive battery life, but with the Boostcase, you get very similar performance, with the accessory possibly helping the iPhone 6 edge out its larger sibling. I’m not a case fan in general, but in situations where extra power is needed, I appreciate having the option to pare down to something much sleeker in a pinch.
Bottom Line
The Boostcase for iPhone 6 is a smart take on the standard battery backup accessory design, with a unique feature that’s actually practical and well-executed. If you’re looking for spare juice, there are definitely cheaper options out there, including standalone external battery packs, but the Boostcase has MFI certification from Apple, and modularity that doesn’t altogether sacrifice the benefits of a slim iPhone design for spare power.
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