Review: myCharge Freedom 2000 iPhone 5/5s Case/Battery

There are many things we expect from our iPhones these days. We expect them to guide us to our destination with their built in GPS and navigation. We expect them to remind us when to send birthday wishes. We expect them to wake us up in the morning so we’re not late for work. We expect so much from our iPhones that often times we drain their batteries down until they’re barely hanging on to a one percent charge. Often times we carry that extra charging cable with us, sometimes the power brick, too. But myCharge has a way to leave your charging cable at home and protect your phone as well.

The myCharge Freedom 2000 is a combination extended battery and case that brings new life to your iPhone when it is on its last legs. The Freedom 2000 comes in black and grey and the newly introduced colors line. I received my Freedom 2000 fully charged and ready to go. It was very simple to slip the iPhone 5 into the holder. Following instructions to properly place it in I was ready to go in a matter of seconds. The case itself is sturdy and well built. It looks like it can take a good beating and protect the sides and back of the iPhone with ease. I did manage to drop my iPhone while the case was on and it landed on its corner. Both case and iPhone came through unscathed.

While the Freedom 2000 does offer great protection around the sides and the back of the iPhone 5, it is lacking protection for the front of the device. The case sits flush with the screen so laying it flat on a surface you will not have a bump to elevate the screen off the surface. I think if dropped face down, the screen is likely to get damaged. Access to the headphone jack is good, there is no obstruction whatsoever. The volume rocker and silent buttons are also easily accessible and easy to use. I did find the power button a bit hard to manipulate. The case covers the top area with a rubber material and pushing in is sometimes difficult to trigger the power button. The case does add quite a bit of thickness to the iPhone, nearly double, so it’s no slim chicken.

I spent several days with the Freedom 2000 attached to my iPhone 5, and I intentionally drained the battery down the first day to 30%. The Freedom 2000 incorporates an interesting way of charging your phone. It leaves the lightning port open so you can leave your phone in it to charge both the iPhone and Freedom 2000 overnight. In order to charge your iPhone there is a lightning connector tucked into the bottom of the case, simply pull it out, insert into the iPhone, press the button on the back for 3 seconds and it starts the charging process.

The first day I used this I took my iPhone down to 30% and plugged the Freedom 2000 into it. The iPhone charged back to 100% in about an hour and a half. The next day I drained the iPhone down to 20% battery and the results were about the same, just over an hour and a half to go from 20% to a full 100%. I took the iPhone down all the way to 10% and the Freedom 2000 had no problem charging it full in about 2 hours. The results were impressive. I was able to get more than a full days use out of my phone by using the Freedom 2000. This of course left me more time to do what we all love to do on smartphones, play games!

Dislikes

Little protection for the front of the device
Rubber material over power button makes it difficult to operate

Likes

Great protection around back and sides
Headphone and Lightning Port easy to access
Easy operation of side keys
Gave all day battery to the phone, even under heavy use
The rapid charging times 10% to 100% in under 2 hours

Conclusion

Using the Freedom 2000 was a great experience. There are often times I don’t use my phone when or the way I want for fear that I will run out of battery. With the Freedom 2000 I never had that issue. I was comfortable using my phone to its fullest knowing I had battery power all day. I give the Freedom 2000 four out of five stars. There are some minor flaws but for all day battery life, I’ll take it! Hit the link below to visit myCharge’s website and purchase your own Freedom 2000.