I haven’t posted a lot of product reviews, but sometimes an item is so essential to my productivity that it’s a must. At a recent Christmas party a group of us were discussing those things that had made a huge different in our lives this past year. I mentioned that I had purchased a mophie Juice Pack Plus and Dock Bundle while I was in New York this summer, and it had made a huge change in the way I was able to use my iPhone 5s.

Apparently just about everybody at the table had an iPhone, and the biggest problem that everyone had over the past year was battery life. It’s funny, but since I bought my mophie, I haven’t even thought about it. The most I’ve had to do is flip the switch when my phone reports that it’s at 20% battery, and then I haven’t had to think about it for the rest of the day.

From the reactions around the table, I could tell that this was an amazing revelation to lots of folks.

The most important feature of the Juice Pack Plus is the battery. All the literature says that it provides 120% extra battery. I’ve found that to actually be on the low end. I get somewhere between 150% and 175% on my iPhone 5s with my normal usage. While I don’t watch a lot of video on my phone, I pretty much do everything else that anybody could ever want to do. I don’t have to worry about whether surfing the net will use too much battery. I take video with reckless abandon. Photos, texts, calls are never limited by how much power I’m consuming. In all honestly, the Juice Pack Plus has allowed me to just use my phone, without having to worry about whether it will run out of power.

If the battery was the only component to this solution, I would be pretty happy, but the killer application part of this solution is the Desktop Dock. Rather than simply plugging your phone into a charging cable and having it lay on your desk or bedside table, the Desktop Dock allows your phone to stand tall. This makes it tons more useful, as you can see the notifications that come in without having to pick up your phone. The dock holds the phone securely enough that you can even make selections, type, and generally use it any way that you choose while housed in the dock. Quite honestly this improved my interactions with my phone so much that I can’t even quantify it. I find myself using my phone for short periods on a regular basis, rather than for long stints that interrupt my productivity. This is a big deal to me!

Prior to the purchase of the Juice Pack Plus, I had been looking at cases for my phone For the most part, I’m really careful with my phones. I always have been. But one freak accident had left a singular crack in the upper left corner of my phone’s face that really bothered me. While it doesn’t actually impact my usage whatsoever, I really didn’t want to risk more damage to the phone. I’m too cheap to replace my phone or even get it repaired, so keeping it in good to great condition was really important to me. With the mope Juice Pack Plus installed, I feel a lot more secure. My youngest daughter has dropped my encased iPhone to concrete on two occasions (that’s what I get for letting her borrow it, I guess). Despite those drops, the phone has sustained no additional damage. One drop was enough to scuff the battery case a bit, so it was a pretty significant drop.

So, if you’re looking for a case, plus battery, plus dock for your iPhone 5s…you should definitely consider the mophie Juice Pack Plus and Dock Bundle. You can also get the Juice Pack Plus by itself, and the dock is now available separately as well. mophie also has other solutions for the iPhone family, as well as the Samsung Galaxy S5.

I can’t imagine using my phone without my Juice Pack Plus, and I can’t imagine being nearly as productive when I’m at my desk if I didn’t have the Dock.

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