Mugen iPhone 5/5S 4200mAh Extended Battery Case Review
The iPhone 5 is getting a little old now and if you're like me, you have noticed your battery has started to suffer massively. Gone are the days of charging over night and having enough juice for the entire day. I now find myself charging twice a day at home or up to four times on 4G for the day. In my case my iPhone 5 is used primarily for Whatsapp, social media and occasionally Binging something.
There are many solutions to this terrible battery problem, many of which I've tried. The Mugen battery case is my favourite at the moment.
Let's start with a brief description. The case comes in black with two different textured finishes. On the bottom there's a Micro-USB port, four blue LED lights and a small circular button. If you short press the button the LEDs will show you how much life is in the battery, long pressing the button will begin charging your iPhone. The back of the case has a rather large “stepped” hole for the camera, this helps with stopping flash glare. There's also a small Mugen logo. The front of the case has a smaller logo at the bottom and very good sized cut-outs for the microphone and speaker. The left side has all the buttons you'd expect and an actual switch built in to the case that controls the switch on the iPhone for muting sounds. Now on to the size. What bulk will this add on to your phone? Well, a lot... I personally don't mind but when I first put it on my iPhone I was astonished. It triples the thickness, probably weights quadruple the iPhone. I like it though, it doesn't feel like I'm going to break it, it adds some sturdiness to an already pretty solid phone.
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Now for my cons of the case.
I don't particularly like that there's two different finishes on the case, there's a nice rubbery plastic on the back where it protrudes out but the front and a third of the sides are a somewhat poorly finished black plastic. There's noticeable pitting and marks out the box. I would have liked to have seen the whole case covered in the black rubbery plastic.
The included charging cable isn't very long. If I had to guess, probably half a metre. Cables are dirt cheap these days, why not throw in a one to two metre one.
Even though I like the rubber plastic, it does get pretty messy. I get quite sweaty hands in the warm and it really shows on this case, it is really easy to clean though. Not a big deal but something to look out for.
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My pros for this case are.
First point and the whole reason for getting one is the amazing battery life. You can get at least 3 full charges out of this case. I only have to charge the case and phone to 100% every two days.
It comes with a really good little extension for your headphones because the case adds about 1cm to the bottom of the phone so most headphones may not fit. It's a nice touch that Mugen thought of this.
The build quality is great, it's a strong feeling case and has a nice weight to it. The shiny plastic looks cheap but other than that it's great!
All buttons work well, they line up perfectly and have never had any problems.
Overall this case is really great, I'll be using it as long as I have the iPhone now. I couldn't recommend it more if your iPhone battery is starting to degrade. It's the best solution I've had the pleasure of using. It saves you carrying about an external battery which I was doing for a while.
Benjamin Lothian
