Apple Smart Battery Case review: Forget that charger for two days. Period

Smart Case, eh? What’s so great about it? One may wonder, while others are always curious about why I would slap such a bulky-looking case on my swanky new iPhone. Well, I put it subtly to them, “I don’t need my charger for two days.” It’s true. Slap one of these cases on your iPhone and you will appreciate it in the longer run.

When I received a Smart Battery Case for the Apple iPhone XS Max, my opinion too was “this will simply make it bulkier and inconvenient for sure.” However, I gave it a chance and allowed myself to sink it in. And to my surprise, I actually love it and am even more carefree — with my iPhone that is. Don’t get me wrong — this case won’t protect your iPhone any better than most protective cases out there, but how it can tweak your daily life is amazing.

The Apple Smart Battery Case is not a simple case with a built-in power bank. Not as slim, but not too bulky either, this case is definitely “Smart” and gains on the comfort levels after prolonged use. Dressed in an all-rubber outfit, this case may be a simple-looking expensive accessory for an iPhone, but it does what it is meant to do — keep your iPhone powered.

What’s ugly? Probably the looks — that bump may not be as good looking since your iPhone is a sleek masterpiece. However, that bump is pretty small in comparison to carrying a bulky power bank around. Yes, it can inconvenience your travel if you are a person who sports a slim-fit jean all day, but there are alternatives you can adopt. You could carry the case around in your haversack and slap it on the moment you feel your iPhone is running dry.

Best of all, the case is all grip — thanks to the rubber exterior, the iPhone feels even more secure than being completely bare bodied. Trust me, the iPhone is very slippery when naked (the iPhone, not me), and even I am confident it won’t slip off my hands, there’s always a scare of damaging my precious investment. The case may be inconvenient in the initial stages, but believe me, it will soon go unnoticed. The case fits on very snug and protects the iPhone with its rubber exterior. The case is pretty comfortable in the longer run and is extremely grippy. Tip: keep it away from dust and lint.

The Apple Smart Battery Case has a built-in battery and can power your phone with almost twice. The case is all rubber on the outside with a soft layer on the inner side which protects the phone from scratches and alike. Inside the case is also a small LED that notifies the charging in orange and fully charged with green lights. A simple Lightning connector on the bottom and a lightning port on the outside is all you see on this case. Power and volume buttons are added to ensure that the device is used without any hampering with external use, while the mute button has a hole or gap which gives easy access to that physical switch. Neatly printed is an all-black Apple logo on the rear. One needs to simply slide the iPhone from the top. The upper area is soft rubber that bends to accommodate the iPhone into the case. The rear has a bump and is stiffer/harder because of the battery.

Once you insert the phone into the case, you don’t need to do anything anymore. The iPhone intelligently detects the case and instantly shows up a notification that a smart battery case has been installed and it will report the batter life of the case in addition to its own battery status. Now that the case is on the iPhone, its main duty is to ensure that the iPhone’s battery is always at 100 per cent, and that’s what is smart about it.

The battery case is smart — when you charge it, it will first ensure that the iPhone is charged, at least to around 80 per cent, and only then proceed to charge itself, slowly. If you are using a smart charger, then the battery slowly charges itself too when the iPhone’s battery reaches around 30 – 40 per cent. So if you use the 5W charger that comes with the iPhone, the battery will charge the iPhone first, but if you use a 10 or 20-watt charger, you can see both the battery case and iPhone charging together. However, using a wireless charger will give preference to the iPhone battery first.

Another smarter part of the case is that it also features wireless charging. Yes, the iPhone can be wirelessly charged with the case on as it also features its own wireless charging characteristic. So, if the Smart Battery Case has an iPhone inside or not, you can still charge it with a wireless charger. Here’s another plus — you can charge the case and the iPhone separately and you have twice the power backup at the same time.

Using the Apple Smart Battery Case is very simple — all you need to do is DO NOTHING. But, you will know that your investment is paid off when you reach the end of your exhaustive productive day and still find your iPhone battery at 100 per cent. Yes, the battery case ensures that your phone’s battery is always full. The Smart Battery Case is compatible with Qi-certified chargers and you can charge your iPhone and battery case simultaneously for increased talk time up to 33 hours, Internet use up to 21 hours, and even longer audio and video playback.

With the Smart Battery Case on, the intelligent battery status is displayed on the iPhone Lock screen and in Notification Center, so you know exactly how much charge you have left. The case can be charged even faster with USB-PD compatible chargers. It also supports Lightning accessories, such as the EarPods with Lightning Connector, or the Lightning Digital AV Adapter.

The case is definitely beneficial for those who are outdoors and don’t get enough time to charge them frequently. You could carry this case along and use it whenever you run out of power if you feel it is too bulky. The phone + battery case can give you an additional day’s worth of power. With the case installed, I found myself running to the charger after an average of 36 hours of use, if not more. Now I sleep peacefully — I don’t bother even if I forget to charge my phone every night since the next day morning, the iPhone’s battery itself is still at 80 – 100 per cent.

Yes, the price is steep, and believe me, it would sting your pocket, especially if you consider it against any power bank out there. You could get a good 20,000mAh power bank for as cheap as Rs 1,500 and charge your iPhone three times or maybe even four. However, the case has the convenience that allows you to get rid of the hassles of that wire dangling down the iPhone and hooked to a power bank. The case is good camouflage, very grippy, convenient and definitely protective. Priced at $129 (Approx Rs 9,800), this is definitely an expensive investment (around 10 per cent of the phone itself), but which Apple product is not? Final verdict: Trust me, you won’t regret the investment. Advise for those finding it bulky: Don’t use it, but carry it around when you run out of power. So if you know that you are heading out for a long day or would be travelling a long route, the case is your perfect companion for long journeys. The cases are available for all the latest iPhone releases and a few before.