USBFever sent me their new iPhone 3G extended battery pack for review. I have been learning to manage the battery power on my iPhone 3G by charging whenever I’m within easy reach of a power source. However there are times when I’m traveling where it is not convenient to reach a power source and an extra three hours of power time can be a lifesaver.

The iPhone 3G battery pack clips to the back of your iPhone and supplies power after your main source has been exhausted. This battery pack also charges your main battery as if it were connected to a regular power supply.

One unique aspect of the USBFever battery pack is the external speaker. This speaker allows for much louder playback of music and phone calls.

While the external speaker is a nice touch, I have three concerns about it:

1. The volume is not controllable by the iPhone volume controls or the batter case itself. At a minimum a “mute” button is needed.

2. If playing games on the iPhone 3G you cannot turn down the sound- so if you give your kids the phone in this case and they start playing games in the back seat you’re going to be treated to Super Monkey Ball at full volume for the entire trip.

3. The volume is too loud for most applications and when I received incoming calls I had and annoying buzzing in the external loudspeaker for about 5 seconds.

Still, this external battery is about 1/2 the price of competing solutions such as Mophie.

I would use this power supply in situations where I needed to quickly recharge my iPhone 3G. I probably would not use my phone attached to this case since it about doubles the width of the device.

All of the regular controls (headset jack, volume, camera lens, charger adapter) are easily accessible when the device is in the case.

The iPhone 3G must be removed from the case in order to synchronize with iTunes (a shortcoming common to the Mophie extended battery as well).

Overall the battery performed well in my testing – delivering at least an extra 3 to 4 hours of added life. The added bulk makes carrying the phone in the case a bit of a chore. I would recommend using the case separately for on-the-go rechargers instead of trying to keep the phone inside full time.

Link: USBFever iPhone 3G Extended Battery

What I Liked:
- Inexpensive and affordable
- Easy to insert phone to case (top slides up)
- Easily added 3 to 4 hours of battery life
- Quick recharge of batter – approx 2 hours

What Could Be Improved:
- External speaker needs independent volume control
- Bulky
- Front case button should mute speaker as well as control battery power