Review: iPhone gone solar… Solio battery pack

by Chiyin on Mar 31st, 2009 @ 3:31 pm

While Justin has been using the mophie juice pack and waiting for the upcoming juice pack air, I’ve gone solar. A while ago I came across the Solio Classic battery pack and decided to give it a try. Basically the Solio is a battery equipped with solar panels that can recharge itself harnessing the power of the sun. Unlike the juice pack, the Solio is not exclusively for the iPhone, it comes with different tips that can connect to different electronic devices including USB. Since getting the battery I’ve been testing it with different devices like a Motorola krzr, iPod Photo, iPod Video and of course my iPhone 3G and it works pretty well.

The setup is fairly simple, you plug in the cord, attach a tip and then simply connect the device you wish to recharge, that’s it. There is only one indicator on the battery, an LED that flashes green every 3 sec or so when it’s charging a device, a solid red when the battery is charging, or a combination of both when a device is attached to it while it is under the sun.

Its performance has exceeded my expectations, it charged a fully depleted iPod in about 2 hours using about 60% of the battery charge. It takes a bit more to charge up the iPhone but that’s expected, especially since the iPhone was on while I was charging it.

To charge the pack you simply open up the battery to reveal it’s 3 solar panel and place it in a sunny place. It does take a while to fully charge the battery, specially if the sun is not shining, but being from the Sunshine State that’s not a big problem for me. The average charging time is about 8 – 10 hours under the sun, but you can also charge up using the included USB charge cable. But that kinda defeats the purpose of the pack, don’t you think?

Overall, I’m happy with the Solio, my only problem was using the included USB tip with the iPhone. Turns out there’s a new tip for the iPhone 3G, but once I got the new tip everything was good. So, if you want to go green or you are like me and don’t like anything resembling a protective case enclosing your electronic devices, give the Solio a try. And if you do, let us know how you like it…

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View 1 Comments
iPhone, iPhone Accessories, Reviews

1.
1. solar energy facts

   January 31st, 2010 7:59 pm

   

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