Forget wireless chargers, the latest way to extend the battery life
of your phone is in the palm of your hand. Mipwr Dynamo cases slide onto an iPhone's battery charging point and either store energy that can be used as a backup - adding two hours of extra charge - or contains a hidden lever that can be squeezed by hand to generate electricity.
Its Illinois-based inventors claim squeezing the lever produces electricity by electromagnetic conduction inside the case, and a minute of squeezing gives an extra 30 seconds of charge.Designers Bob Panos and Karl Lee have now set up a Kickstarter campaign to fund production of their Mipwr cases.They explained: 'After witnessing the aftermath of power outages from recent natural disasters, such as Hurricane Sandy and the cruise ship disasters, we thought about taking an existing technology (electromagnetic induction), and making it small enough to fit in the back of a cell phone case.
'We thought, 'how cool would it be to have an alternative energy source, besides a backup battery, that could power a mobile device, so users could send out a message or phone call when they need to most?'
Mipwr Dynamo is an all-in-one protective case, backup battery, and hybrid charger.
The case contains a 400 mA battery and a concealed push lever that, when pumped, generates electricity, and charges the internal battery. The electricity created by squeezing the lever is produced by electromagnetic conduction.
The top of the case comes off and the iPhone slides into the bottom and connects to the phone's battery charging point. A battery inside the case can be charged by plugging it into the mains. When connected to the mains, the electricity charges the case and phone battery simultaneously. At any point after the phone has been removed from charge, the case can be used as a backup battery by switching a lever on the side.
The phone then swaps from using its own battery's energy, to using the energy stored in the case.
Once all that energy has run out, the lever can be popped out from inside the case and squeezed to generate extra charge. According the Kickstarter campaign: 'In the event you exhaust both the phone battery and Mipwr's backup battery - that will give you two extra hours of talk time - you can pump the push lever to produce 30 seconds of talk or text time for 1 minute of pumping.
'These efforts will create enough battery power to make a distress call or text at a moment's notice.'
The first batch of cases will be available for the iPhone 4, 4S and 5.
The campaign runs until 19 October and Panos and Lee are asking for $78,000 (£48,500) in funding to get the project off the ground. If this is successful, the initial cases will cost $25 (£15.50). There are already cases that double up as backup batteries on the market, including Mophie.
Mophie cases come in a range of colours and cost from around £50. Its maker claims they offer around 80 per cent more battery life. Another hand-powered charger that successfully reached its Kickstarter funding was SOSReady in April. The device plugs into a phone using a charging wire and electricity is created in a base unit by cranking a handle.
The SOSReady devices are on sale now for $29.95 (£18).
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