(Last Updated On: September 21, 2017)

Battery cases are a great solution to portable charging and in some ways, they can actually be better than owning a portable charger. That’s because battery cases are portable chargers that are in the shape of the smartphone that they’re made for. That said, there are a few parts of a battery case that you should know before purchasing.

Anker, a charging electronic brand has created a battery case for the iPhone 7 and it’s quite a bit different than just your average battery case for most other smartphones. As most battery cases are actually quite large and bulky and nowhere near the same as just your normal case. Anker has taken a different approach with their iPhone 7 battery case that has a power capacity of 2,200mAh.

Power

Power Capacity:

So the power capacity of this battery case is quite a lot lower than other battery cases from other brands such as Trianium and PowerBear. This is both a bad and actually a good thing. The power capacity of this Anker iPhone 7 battery case is 2,200mAh and the best part about having a battery case with a low power capacity is that it’s going to have a smaller form factor with it being slimmer.

That said, when it comes to actually using the power capacity, you’re of course left with less power to use for charging your iPhone 7.

3.7 x 2,200 = 8,140 / 5 = 1,628

	Anker iPhone 7 PowerCore Battery Case 2,200mAh (Output Power Capacity = 1,628mAh)	iPhone 7 battery capacity Battery Capacity	Anker iPhone 7 PowerCore Battery Case Left Over Power Capacity after 1 Charge Number of Full Charges
iPhone SE	1,628mAh	1,960mAh	You need 332mAh more for a full recharge. But the battery case charges the iPhone 7 up to 80% of its power

You’re going to receive about 1,628mAh of Output power capacity that is going to be used to actually charge your iPhone 7. Th battery capacity of the iPhone 7 is 1,960mAh and therefore, this battery case won’t charge your iPhone 7 to its max power but it will come really close. It’s definitely not a serious flaw as the battery capacity does what it’s supposed to, which is fill up your iPhone 7 with power and it can easily be another full day worth of power from this Anker battery case.

Output Charging:

The Output charging speed of this battery case is nothing special and that’s because it has an Output speed of 5V/1.0A and therefore you’re not able to charge your iPhone 7 at its max charging speed. That’s because the iPhone 7 has a max charging speed of 2 Amps. With that said, even though charging speeds are quite important when it comes to portable chargers, they don’t mean too much when it comes to battery cases.

That’s because you mainly want to power up your smartphone, which a battery case does and the rate at which it does it, is not as important because the portable charger is in the form of a case.

The Output charging method for this battery case is done through a very small Lightning cable that is attached to the battery case, rather than having a built-in Lightning head.

Input Charging:

The input speed for recharging the portable charger is the same as the Output as it’s 5V/1.0A and therefore you’re able to recharge the battery case at its max power with a 1 Amp wall charger or higher. The battery case is recharged through Micro-USB input port, and so Anker did a great job with the battery case as it really is a portable charger that simply goes over your iPhone rather than it being something that becomes a part of it.

As you can charge your iPhone while recharging the battery case at the same time. However, it does not pass through charging, instead, they both can be charged completely separately as none of Anker’s portable chargers or battery cases include Pass through charging as they have that feature disabled with their products.

Design

Size and Weight:

The size and weight of this Anker battery case are quite a lot different than other battery cases. It doesn’t cover the entirety of the iPhone as the battery is a lot more flushed out and the entire case takes a minimalistic approach.

It has a length of 5.6 inches, a width of 2.8 inches and the thickness of the battery case is 0.6 inches. The only noticeable part that you can really feel is its increased thickness, but the length and the width of the case are basically identical to the iPhone 7. The weight of the battery case is 2.2 ounces so it doesn’t add a lot of weight to your phone either.

It’s one of the best designed iPhone 7 battery cases and basically any battery case in general that we’ve seen. It takes bare bones approach with using as little amount of parts as possible and in behind the battery case isn’t bulky at all or at least there’s added weight where it makes the most sense and that would be in the back where the battery is.

Functional Components:

On the functional part side of this Anker battery case, its design is what truly makes it shine.

Main Parts

At the back of the battery case is where there’s a large cutout for the camera and there’s also the power button and 4 White LED power capacity indicators too. At the button of the Anker battery case is where there’s the Lightning charging cable that’s about an inch long and there’s also the Micro-USB input port that’s used to recharge the portable charger.

How to Use It

To begin charging you have to press the power button, and once you start charging the White LED lights at the back of the smartphone light up and then turn off to conserve power for charging. The LED lights can come back on by the press of the power button to check how much power capacity is left to use or a single LED light turns on when the battery case is about to be fully depleted.

To turn off charging you have to hold down the power button for about 3 seconds.

When you’re recharging the battery case, the LED lights turn on and once all 4 of the lights are on at the same time, then that means you have a full recharge.

One of the best functional parts of the battery case is at its bottom and that’s because the battery case doesn’t cover the speakers and neither does it cover the Lightning port. So you’re able to use your iPhone 7 just as you would without a case and you can even use Lightning headphones or earbuds with it too.

Build

Structure and Material:

The build quality of this battery case is what you should expect from Anker and that would be high-quality materials. It has a rubber covering with a matte finish. In terms of protection, even though this battery case is very minimal with its coverage, it’s still a great protective case, as it covers the entire smartphone and the case even has a bezel where the screen is and so even your screen is protected if you were to drop it with the case on it.

Tech:

On the tech side, the battery case shows only light sides of heating up and that’s about it. You can mostly feel the heat because the battery is so flushed out underneath the battery case and therefore you have more contact with it.

Reliability

On the reliability level, this is a highly reliable battery case when it comes to using with the iPhone 7 as it makes using your iPhone 7 as reliable as it would be if it didn’t have a battery case. Not too many other battery cases do this and that’s what makes reliability with this Anker battery case so useful as the Lightning port, and speakers on the iPhone are not covered which allows you to connect your iPhone 7 into other devices or connect headphones into the Lightning port.

The form factor is also reliable for an easy portable experience, and even though it does add some thickness to your iPhone 7, it doesn’t do so very much in length or width.

Summary:

Power:

The power capacity is enough to charge your iPhone 7 to about 80%, it has an Output and Input charging speed of 5V/1.0A.

Design:

Its design is quite a lot different than other battery cases on the market and that is a good thing because it enables you to use all of the functional features of your iPhone 7 without any compromises.

Build:

The build quality is really good as it covers most parts of your iPhone 7 and it even offers screen protection because it has a raised bezel.

Reliability:

It makes your iPhone 7 equally reliable as if it didn’t have a case on.

Specs of the Anker iPhone 7 PowerCore Battery Case 2,200mAh:

• Capacity:            Advertised: 2,200mAh            Real Capacity: 1,628mAh
• Output: 5V/1.0A
• Input: 5V/1.0A Via Micro-USB Input
• LED Power Indicators: 4 LED Power Capacity Indicators
• Size: 5.6 x 2.8 x 0.6 inches
• Weight: 2.2 Ounces

Conclusion:

Anker is truly a brand that has a reason to be the leader in the charging electronic space and that’s because they’re able to provide innovation with products that have already progressed over the years. That includes this iPhone 7 Anker battery case.