Review: MyCharge Freedom 2000 iPhone 5 Battery Case

Battery packs are great for the fact that there are a million different sizes and capacities. But their greatest strength is also a big weakness. Even smaller battery packs are still rather large. The best way to use a battery pack on the go, we’ve found, is to put the battery pack in a back pocket, your phone in a front pocket and run a cable between the two, leaving enough slack that you can take the phone out of your pocket and use it at a comfortable distance as usual. Such is the world of battery packs.

Battery cases on the other hand offer far more mobility and ease of use albeit at the expense of mAh size. But depending on your situation and usage patterns, they could be the difference between a good day and a bad one (read: your phone dying prematurely).

Today, we’re checking out MyCharge’s Freedom 2000 iPhone 5 battery case, the company’s first foray into the battery case world.

Design & Construction

MyCharge has garnered quite a following around these parts after several years of pumping out a number of unique and well made battery packs. But as we touched on above, there are times when a battery case is just better. Can MyCharge’s first battery case unseat our all-time favorite, the Incipio offGRID Pro?

One thing you’ll notice with the Freedom 2000 compared to other cases is how it isn’t so case-like. The bottom and left upper side of the iPhone are exposed and left open. On the left it’s presumably for ease of use in reaching the volume up/down buttons and silent/ring switch. The bottom is to make room for the tiny Lightning cable plug that can be pulled out of the base of the Freedom 2000 and then inserted into your iPhone to charge.

We’ll say that while we’re super stoked to see MyCharge enter the battery case market, we’re somewhat disappointed they took the design route they did. Leaving a decent chunk of the iPhone’s corners exposed doesn’t do much for protection. And the Lightning cable setup that eschews an integrated plug for a flapping cable isn’t ideal in application or looks, either. Really, it is kind of a confused case. The integrated battery screams case but the “external” cable reminds us of the battery packs we lug around. As a case it isn’t completely integrated (one of the biggest reasons for getting a battery case over a battery pack) and as a battery pack it is kind of small. (Many battery packs are starting at 3,000-4,000 mAh now.)

One other gripe we have is the that the power button is awful. It has very firm yet rubbery feel meaning you have to hit it almost perfectly center and with quite a bit of force or else it won’t actually press the button on your iPhone inside.

Performance

Build quality and usability are certainly important things to take into consideration for a battery case. But if a battery case doesn’t recharge your phone that well, it’s pretty much useless to carry around. Thankfully the 2,000 mAh of battery built into the Freedom 2000 is plenty capable. From a fully charged Freedom 2000 we were able to take an iPhone crying at the 1% mark up to 75-85% every time and within a brisk ~70-80 minutes. Of course, how much you are actively using your phone while it charges affects overall charge speed and final percentage recharged. In all of our testing with the Freedom 2000, we kept active usage to a minimum, only responding to a couple texts and tweets here and there.

If you’re scratching your head wondering how a 2,000 mAh battery isn’t able to fully recharge a ~1,400 mAh battery easily and every time, it’s a pretty simple answer. The recharge process leaks power as it goes from source to target. There’s nothing you the consumer can do. It’s up to the many battery/electrical engineers of the world to improve and refine the lowly battery we’ve come to know, and to figure out a more efficient method for recharging said batteries. One other thing to take into consideration is that when actively using your phone uses a lot more juice than when you leave it sit inactive. Such things will also affect how far the Freedom 2000′s 2,000mAh of power will recharge your iPhone’s battery.

Simply put, the performance of the Freedom 2000 is plenty adequate. It’s not poor by any means though it isn’t exactly the most efficient battery pack we’ve tested either.

Conclusion

As a 1.0, we hope the company takes any feedback they receive and puts it to use in the next iteration. And for the next generation, we hope they move towards a more complete layout like one of the dozen or so competing options that ultimately look and feel nicer and are easier to use. The company has managed to pump out new and unique battery packs each year that switch up design quite a bit from the year prior. So we’re not too worries about this initial 1.0 product. It will get better. We’re sure of it.

If you’ve ever looked at battery cases before you’ll know that they’re not exactly the cheapest accessories. $60, $75 and ~$100 are all pretty common. MyCharge has priced the Freedom 2000 smack dab in the middle at $79.99. For that price you get a mostly well designed (materials and look), performing battery case. Our only reservation is with the physical design of the sides of the case that leave parts of your iPhone exposed and the “external” cable charging system as well as the super stiff sleep/wake button cover on top. With several other options on the market right now and at comparable pricing, we must admit that the Freedom 2000 wouldn’t be the first or second pick on our list. Still, it’s worth a look if the cable charging layout doesn’t bother you.