Tag: Backup battery »

As iPhone owners may know, it's far from a perfect device, and its US carrier is far from perfect either. Heading out to one of the biggest celebrations of geek culture, the infamous San Diego Comic-Con, for the first time, I realized how much these issues will come to light when you're out and about with thousands of your closest fellow geeks, nerds, otaku, et cetera. I came back with 4 important things to remember the next time I or any other iPhone owner heads out to a big trip with their iPhone in tow.

1. Phones will die. Prepare accordingly.

The iPhone is not a paragon of extensive battery life. Thankfully, the various extended life battery packs that are available can be a lifesaver for the iPhone owner. If you're heading out to Comic-Con, picking up a couple is a very good idea, as otherwise your phone will die. Some columnists would make it a point to say "you're hanging out with real people, enjoy their presence," but we all know sometimes you need to check your tweets, or text someone to figure out what's going on. Having an actual working phone is better than not having one, and a backup battery will go a long way towards preventing that from happening.

Now, you'll want to make sure that your backup battery actually works. I had 2 batteries to help charge my iPhone, a 1900 mAh battery, and an 800 mAh battery that was small enough to carry around as a key fob. I hadn't charged my larger capacity backup battery in months, and a few days before I left, I decided to charge it up, only to discover that I hadn't used it in so long that it wouldn't hold a charge. Well, no matter, I still had my 800 mAh backup battery, which charges via mini USB, and I had a mini USB wall charger that I brought along with my camera. But the fool in me failed to make sure said wall charger would work with my backup battery. I sure regretted this when I discovered it wouldn't charge, and I had no mini USB cable with me as well, somehow. I was at the mercy of my 2 year old iPhone 3G's stock battery. It suffered at times, to say the least.

Of course, even if you can keep your phone alive, other people's phones won't be so lucky. Set up times and places to meet so that if you do lose contact with them, you won't be lost and wandering a strange city looking for people out amongst thousands and thousands of geeks.