iPhone gains battery life, camera flash, loses sex appeal with FastMac's iV

Why yes, FastMac -- we want 24 hours of talk time, 72 of audio, 20 of video, and 31 days of standby on our iPhones and iPhone 3Gs. Throw in a camera flash that doubles as a flashlight, and the ability to charge a USB device like a Bluetooth headset right off the phone, and you've got a deal on this iV charging kit of yours! Oh, there's a catch? It's a wee bit bulky, with an aesthetic similar to that of mophie's Juice Pack? Hey, it could be worse. This largification -- along with $79.50 -- is apparently the price you pay for digital endurance.

[Via Macworld]

[LiqwidZero @ Nov 3rd 2008 3:11PM]

Yeah, umm, I think I'll be buying this. A camera flash is something that the iPhone desperately needs.

[Bobby @ Nov 3rd 2008 3:37PM]

So ... news about slashing iphone production filtered out but this lame overpriced battery gets through ?
Pathetic.

[wuzy @ Nov 3rd 2008 5:00PM]

Just get an extended battery.
Oh wait, the Jesus phone doesn't have removable battery.

FAIL

[puhsitch @ Nov 3rd 2008 6:17PM]

Bobby, I'm sure there are lots of people who will find this very not lame and overpriced. And I don't know about you, but I think that a useful product is much more interesting to read about on a gadget blog than news of a company scaling back production during a recession. Now if they started shuttering their retail stores en masse, that'd be a different story.

[Jhongerkong @ Nov 3rd 2008 3:12PM]

when would it ever be appealing to have sex with an iphone?

[Alex @ Nov 3rd 2008 3:17PM]

When it's in vibrate mode and the phone is ringing.

[Christy McGrory @ Nov 3rd 2008 3:22PM]

And the ringtone is 'Lets GET IT OOOON'

[lowdef @ Nov 3rd 2008 3:43PM]

and your member can fit in the recessed headphone jack...

[iEye @ Nov 3rd 2008 3:53PM]

I don't know about that but I once fell asleep in bed with my iPhone...

[justus87 @ Nov 3rd 2008 3:20PM]

Makes it sound like 31 *hours* of standby... I think that should say "days".

[Samuel Axon @ Nov 3rd 2008 3:27PM]

D'oh! Everyone's human. Thanks!

[happy_penguin @ Nov 3rd 2008 3:50PM]

No, not everyone, Samuel. Have you read many of the comments on Engadget?

[PG @ Nov 3rd 2008 3:22PM]

"31 of standby"

I just love when i can listen to music longer than i can have it in standby!

[Mr. B @ Nov 3rd 2008 3:22PM]

...and the cottage industry of accessories to give Apple products features everyone else builds in continues.

[Chris @ Nov 3rd 2008 3:24PM]

HA!

[Bender Bending Rodriguez @ Nov 3rd 2008 3:29PM]

You find me a single commodity cellphone that offers the same battery life as the iV. The iPhone is already a leader in battery power, only being bested by a couple Blackberrys on EV-DO networks because it still can use CDMA for calls, while GSM wasn't designed with soft handoffs for UTMS.

[Mark Anderson @ Nov 3rd 2008 3:52PM]

@Bender

You find me a competing phone that needs an external battery instead of just slotting in a wallet sized spare.

[VanillaSpice @ Nov 3rd 2008 6:42PM]

You know its funny, Mark, but neither myself nor any of my gadget-freak friends carry (or own) second batteries for any of our devices that could use one. Our phones, DAPs, laptops, PDAs, all have removable batteries, and yet a battery swap has never been needed, and I've never seen anyone with a second battery (exception: AAs and AAAs for cameras)

I am sure there are some people in some industries who need their elec devices to have removeable batteries, but for the mainstream, for 98%+ of people who buy, a removable battery is a non-feature. Gadget freaks don't need that feature and the general buying public simply does not rate it as important (c.f. sales figures for iPods and iPhones).

What the mainstream really likes is the thinness of the iPhone. That thinness is achieved by having the insides as thin as possible AND by having the shell as thin as possible. To achieve the same overall strength, a shell with no large cutouts, separate sections, hinges or slots (i.e. stuff necessary for a removable battery) can be much, much thinner than a shell which has them. So the iPhone's successful design is partly achieved by deliberately NOT having a removable battery.

[Mr. B @ Nov 3rd 2008 7:17PM]

I have a spare battery for my RAZR and three batteries for my laptop.

[burnsideo7 @ Nov 4th 2008 7:02PM]

VanillaSlice, your other devices that have removeable batteries probably don't need them as much as the iPhone does, they simply don't drain as much as the iPhone. Not to mention the tendancy for these batteries to lose life/overall capacity over the long-term; that'd be my main issue with owning an iPhone. As for that last bit about the thinness of the iPhone, well, I'm a whole lot smarter for reading that...

[Mark Anderson @ Nov 4th 2008 7:02PM]

@Vanilla

Two points:

1) Why is the E71 as thin or thinner than the iPhone with a removable battery then?
2) Since the article is about an external battery pack for the iPhone you might want to consider context here.

[bob sakamano @ Nov 3rd 2008 3:22PM]

iViagra

[Lowest Ranked @ Nov 3rd 2008 4:39PM]

No haha. iVagina.

[thecatboyfelix @ Nov 3rd 2008 3:28PM]

haha iViagra

[Boarderwoot @ Nov 3rd 2008 3:30PM]

Better check that iV, I heard it's laced with Windows Mobile.

[Bender Bending Rodriguez @ Nov 3rd 2008 3:31PM]

Does anyone know the mAh of this battery pack?

[Brian @ Nov 3rd 2008 3:32PM]

When you go to order, you have to pay an extra $10 for the 3G "option." - So really the price is $89.

[iHoppipolla @ Nov 3rd 2008 3:36PM]

And now for the iV-equivalent that maintains some sort of aesthetic appeal...

[felix @ Nov 3rd 2008 3:36PM]

haha iviagra

[LiqwidZero @ Nov 3rd 2008 4:14PM]

Fail.

[Unique Gift Ideas @ Nov 3rd 2008 3:52PM]

I still wouldn't throw that thing on my phone, extended battery life or not.

[Colin Potter @ Nov 3rd 2008 4:07PM]

FIRE THE DE-BIGULATOR!

[Muhammad @ Nov 3rd 2008 4:08PM]

Wow, pretty sure you are late on this one! This pack is nasty it comes out too much at the bottom and adds some bulk. I got one from Instylegadgets.com and it did the same thing but fit more like a case than a damn brick.

[Muhammad @ Nov 3rd 2008 4:12PM]

Oh, and it made the speaker louder too.

[Muhammad @ Nov 3rd 2008 4:11PM]

Wow, pretty sure you are late on this one! This pack is nasty it comes out too much at the bottom and adds some bulk. I got one from Instylegadgets.com and it did the same thing but fit more like a case than a damn brick.

[UnixSystemsEngineer @ Nov 3rd 2008 6:02PM]

The flash part seems particularly pointless. Not because the iPhone couldn't use a flash, but because nobody's going to use this all of the time.

If you need this kind of battery life, the iPhone is the wrong device. Nobody will rock this battery pack all the time. The only real sales I can see are to road warriors who might want to have it "just in case" ... extra movie time, as a failsafe in case your battery runs out when you really need it. But nobody will have this attached to their phone 24x7 -- again, if you do, you bought the wrong device.

And that is why the flash is useless, because it won't be used all of the time.

[Muhammad @ Nov 3rd 2008 6:37PM]

You are right, this is too much of an EXTRA weight, if you wanted the extra life get a different phone. But I have always had my iphone in a case, then I found this case that also charges the phone, and pretty much I have been using it ever since. I dont look like a fool since the case is made of leather, myphone is always charged, the speaker sound is booster, the flash is THERE whether I use it or not, and my phone is protected from scratches. I think it costs less too, instylegadgets.com mine is the iCharge Elite.

[Gottahaveit @ Nov 3rd 2008 6:18PM]

Please with 3x battery life & no more cables, this is a winner! No wonder Fastmac's iV won best in show at Macworld!! You want sexy- just pull out your iphone and you have a fully charged iphone and thats sexy!!!! Also love the fact that it fits in the dock perfectly. A very needed product that will come in handy to all iphone users.

[whatishalo? @ Nov 3rd 2008 6:59PM]

Wow, they have successfully made and iPhone look like a G1 !

[Argot @ Nov 3rd 2008 7:16PM]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

[Evan @ Nov 3rd 2008 7:28PM]

Engadget: "20 of video"

Read Link: "Up to 10.5 Hours of Video Playback"

fail?

[koala72 @ Nov 3rd 2008 7:33PM]

Since when did the iPhone actually have sex appeal?

[michaelportent @ Nov 3rd 2008 8:02PM]

The battery looks like the iPhone has a beard. =P

Srsly, iPhone needs a shave. Goatees haven't been cool since the mid 90s!

[John @ Nov 3rd 2008 9:41PM]

Psht. Talk about ugly. Once you have attached that thing to your Iphone, you could use it to prop up your house.

Would much rather get a Devotec solar charger. its half the price and doesnt make my Iphone look like its circa 1986

[whatishalo? @ Nov 3rd 2008 11:29PM]

ha ha. The i80s called and they want their iBrickfone back

[Crow @ Nov 4th 2008 2:50AM]

Tsk tsk... When will Apple learn?
Or the people for that matter! I'm sure there will be tons of idiots buying this "BOOM! NEWLY ENHANCED IPHONE 3G FOR 76 BUCKS EXTRA OONNLLYYY!!!"

[Mark @ Nov 4th 2008 4:16AM]

I was on the FastMac web site the other day and apparently the $79.50 price is for the 1g iPhone (it's $10.00 more for the model that works with the 3g iPhone).