NewTrent IMP500 IPhone Battery Extender only $41.95

The new iPhone 4 has amazing battery life when compared to it’s predecessors, but i’ve found that when you go a little camera crazy with it, your battery life tends to drop a lot faster…especially when you max out the brightness of the screen so you can see it in full sun. As we’re about to take off on a week long trip, I figured it was time to think about possible external power sources.  But if I was doing that, I wanted something beyond the little booster battery packs I had for our original iPhones, the kind that will give you a few extra hours usage and that’s all. I wanted a power pack good for more than one charge, and that worked with any device that could charge via USB–our Bluetooth headsets, the Kindle, and of course, the iPads.

After some research, I ordered this through Amazon:

NewTrent IMP500

The NewTrent IMP battery packs seem to have some of the best review ratings I’ve seen on any product, and they seem to be remarkably consistent in product quality.  Mentions of interactions with customer service also appear to be overwhelmingly positive. I was lucky enough to catch one of these while they were still in stock direct from Amazon, but shipping from NewTrent is free, and they are US based according to some reviews, so there shouldn’t be any long delays related to overseas shipping from Asia.

I went with the NewTrent IMP500 over the newer model IMP880 based strictly on price. Through Amazon, it’s around $40. The IMP500 is about $25 or so cheaper than the new version, and is good for three full charges of an iPhone, while its larger cousin is good for 5 charges.  The IMP500 is also good for a 50% capacity charge of an iPad, which of course has two batteries and a much higher capacity than an iPhone. For me, 50% of the iPad battery life gives me at least another 5 hours of usage–add that onto my typical 10+ hours I get per charge, and I’m not likely to run out of juice on anything short of an intercontinental jaunt. But for those who do that sort of thing regularly, you may want a bigger battery pack, or multiples.

The IMP500 is a little bigger than my iPhone, about the size and weight of a deck of cards, so it should be easily portable.  I used a regular iPhone/ iPad cable to test it out with those devices. The iPhone 4 immediately accepted it and started sucking down power, charging quickly even while in use. The iPad, as I expected, pitched a mini fit when plugged in, putting up the “not charging” icon next to the battery indicator. While plugged into the battery and briefly in use, however, the battery charge level did not drop, and as with USB charging via computer, when I put the device to sleep and came back 10 minutes later, it had in fact added two percentage points of charge. So the IMP500 can in fact charge an iPad, as advertised.

I’m doing a good deal of video with the iPhone this weekend, and as I said, we’re traveling next week, so I’ll add to this review with some longer term usage in the future. But at first glance, I’m pleased with this particular purchase..

Originally Posted at:External battery: a first look at New Trent’s IMP500 for iPhone and iPad