The iPhone is truly an amazing device. Capable of so many tasks, it is at the very least, a jack-of-all-trades style cell phone. Capable of searching the web, playing stunningly beautiful games and let’s not forget, phone calls, the iPhone has won itself quite the reputation around the block as the top contender of it’s kind. The one thing that can put your iPhone out of commission? The same things that make it amazing, well, maybe not directly, but they sure do suck up the battery life. While the latest iPhone, the iPhone 4, boasts of a bigger battery it is still just not enough to cover a full day of surfing, gaming, organizing, connecting, playing and just doing those things that only Apple can make seem completely necessary. While there are car-chargers and computers and all of the different alternatives to being plugged into a wall, how helpful are they really if your on-the-go all day? Or if your just too lazy to stop flinging colored birds at defenseless pigs to care your battery has dropped to critical. Problem solved. The exolife by EXOGEAR is the answer to your lithium-ion depletion problems.

A slim fitting dock with a polished hard-plastic backing, the exolife is truly a nice looking product. It features a docking platform in which, your iPhone 4 fits nicely. Once it is in place, your iPhone is snapped into place with a plastic band that fits around the edges of your phone as well as the bottom part of the exolife, meshing the two together. Once in place, you’ll notice your phone has put on a few pounds. Your iPhone will feel a bit beefier and not in a bad way. The case makes your phone a bit thicker and a tad longer, but not as much as some cases out there, and this one has an excellent battery in it. The exolife also has a batter indicator light on the back that features four sections that will give you a rough indication on the battery power left (by 25 percent marks). The plastic band around your phone is transparent but lightly tinted so your beautiful steel banded iPhone can still show through. The bottom of the exolife itself is painted the color of the steel band on the iPhone and comes to mesh with it making it appear that your iPhone is simply longer, not extended by a case. The back of the phone is hard plastic and slightly rounds out the edges of the phone. It is very slim and looks very nice, making it about half an iPhone 4 thicker. The iPhone camera and flash is left open for picture taking. The only downfall to the construction of the exolife is the Hard-Plastic itself. It is glossy and polished, meaning if your drop it or slide it too hard, it will leave scratches on the surface. These scratches are not obvious but just apparent enough to make you regret dropping it. The iPhone also fits nicely inside and does not rattle around. The band is a bit loose on the sides but this is only noticed when squeezing the sides and does not put your phone in any risk. The exolife boasts of ExoClear technology which eliminates interference for phone calls as well as the legendary “death-grip”.

The battery itself works very well. EXOGEAR boasts that it will virtually double the life of your device, as do all other makers of battery boosting products. EXOGEAR has separated themselves from the pack however, with one distinct feature; ExoSave. ExoSave automatically turns the case off when it is not needed, therefore it does not keep charging your device even when it is full, although you can manually turn it on if you wish. This feature saves valuable battery life by only charging your phone when it is needed. Manually turning off the exolife can mess up the cycle though, and it will not automatically turn on resulting in your needing to manually turn on the case which is easily accomplished thanks to the power button on the bottom. This button also doubles as the method used to check the battery left in the case. This process is covered in the manual but can be confusing at best. holding for seconds while off does such, while pressing while on does such. At first this can be confusing but enough use takes care of that. The button is also placed in a section of the case that can easily be hit with the pinky finger while hitting the lock button on top of the phone. This isn’t a huge deal, as accidental pressings only result in in the battery indicator lighting up while exolife is on and powering up if pressed while it is off. After a full day of use, I still had half the battery of the case left and just under full charge on my iPhone. If you need a big boost to your iPhone, this case will provide it.

Conclusion 5/5

The exolife passes all tests for boosting battery life. As a case, it will protect the cosmetics of the phone, but due to the hard-plastic structure, a drop will sound like a gun-shot and nearly have the same effect on you. Your phone will not be fully protected from blunt force trauma as a result but it will soften the blow greatly. The price tag on the EXOGEAR website is $89.99 USD. This is a steep price, but easily remedied by shopping around.  All-in-All, the exolife does exactly what is says it will do, and it exceeded my expectations. Well done, EXOGEAR.