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Review: MOTA’s new Battery Case for iPhone 6 Plus shows what 4000mAh can – and can’t – do for Apple’s big iPhone

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I have to give MOTA a pat on the back for what it has achieved with the Battery Case for iPhone 6 Plus, the first such accessory we’ve tested for Apple’s largest iPhone. Despite its generic name, the Battery Case is handsome, well-built, and at $90, a steal relative to the lower-capacity $100 and up versions we’ve seen for the iPhone 5 and 5s. Critically, despite a 4000mAh rechargeable cell inside, it’s also surprisingly easy to hold and pocket, even though it adds thickness to the already-too-large iPhone 6 Plus.

But there are a couple of caveats, too. The case isn’t Apple-licensed, so there’s always the risk that it might have some iOS compatibility issues down the line — this would be a bigger issue if there weren’t also problems with cases Apple formally approved. And you’ll probably need the headphone port adapter MOTA includes in the package. More on that, below.

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MOTA’s Battery Case for iPhone 6 Plus ships with five pieces — a mostly soft touch plastic rear and bottom frame, two hard plastic bumpers that cover the iPhone’s top, bottom, and sides, a headphone port adapter, and a micro-USB to USB charging cable. You can choose from four different colors, including black, blue, green, and pink. We picked black, which nicely matches the black and gray iPhone, though the soft touch material does show fingerprints. MOTA includes one clear bumper and one smoke gray bumper with the black case, each of which might be a better match for a given iPhone color.

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Fully assembled, the Battery Case looks really nice and even provides full, tactile button protection, not a given for such accessories. While the side ringer switch hole is on the small side, this choice enables the bumper to be resiliently thick. There’s a small lip on the front edge to absorb glass impact in the event of an accidental drop, and front pass-through holes for the microphone and speaker. The rear camera and flash hole is deliberately long, seemingly for aesthetic reasons, but looks nice and is deeply recessed enough to resist camera damage.

Apple-licensed or not, MOTA’s design is actually more thoughtful than many authorized cases we’ve tested. Cellular and wireless signal strength appeared to be unimpacted by the design, with both speakerphone and regular phone calling working well through the speaker and mic vents. Only the headphone port — recessed below the bumper, requiring the included adapter to work with anything — creates a potential usability challenge. It’s also worth noting that the rear power button, recessed to avoid accidental presses, won’t trigger the four white LEDs to indicate remaining power unless the unit’s turned on — a very tiny issue.

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Battery performance was on par with our expectations. The 4000mAh cell was able to take a powered-on (but inactive) iPhone 6 Plus from dead to 86% charged in a little under three hours, which is obviously short of a complete recharge, but not meaningfully so. It would be easy to knock MOTA’s cell for not hitting the 100% mark, but the iPhone 6 Plus already has superb battery life, and 86% translates to over 20 additional hours of calling time. If bringing that number to 100% would have required a thicker, heavier case, making the 6 Plus more uncomfortable to carry, MOTA made the right call here.

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If you’re looking for an iPhone 6 Plus battery case right now, we’re very comfortable recommending MOTA’s Battery Case as a good option. It feels nice, works properly, delivers more than enough extra power to keep any iPhone 6 Plus running, and sells at a very reasonable price. The big question is whether any of Apple’s licensed battery case makers will be able to come close to MOTA’s balance of price and performance. With CES just around the corner, we’ll know the answer soon enough.

MOTA’s Battery Case for iPhone 6 Plus has a $90 MSRP and is available now for $85.

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Comments

  1. khakimzhan - 9 years ago

    It is a shame that they didn’t use the switch like mophie( I used to have a case with the button powering it on – whenever I was getting my phone from the pocket, I would hit the button (6 out of 10 times)

    • Jeremy Horwitz - 9 years ago

      Agreed, though I suspect when Mophie announces its iPhone 6 Plus battery — assuming that it will — you’ll give up either $50 or 1/4 the battery capacity (maybe both) for that switch.

  2. A few weeks ago, they were offering preorders for this MOTA iPhone 6 Plus Extended Battery case, and it sported this particular image (https://twitter.com/BeyondtheTech/status/542586441646481408) that shows a Lightning cable plugged into the bottom of the case.

    That was the deciding factor for me to get it, only to find out that the picture was completely deceptive or misinformative, as the case requires a micro-USB cable to charge it, like many typical battery cases before it. I posted that image back to MOTA, who not only did NOT respond to my tweet, but simply and quietly removed that deceptive image from their site, as well as Amazon and Groupon.

    To add insult to injury, the quality of the case was typical of cheap Chinese manufacturers that sold their goods on DealExtreme, with the plastic bumper very uneven with the little molding tabs still on it. If you go back to Groupon, you’ll actually see that there are a number of IDENTICAL cases by different manufacturers: MOTA, PRESS PLAY, and URGE BASICS (see proof here: https://twitter.com/BeyondtheTech/status/541374957276901376), however, MOTA sells their case for twice the price on Amazon.

    Lastly, I let my case charge overnight and it never went past 50%. That was the final straw. While it had a little slip in the box that says something of the lines of, “DON’T RETURN IT, CALL US INSTEAD,” I was not having it and sent it back for a full refund.

    • Jeremy Horwitz - 9 years ago

      @BTT – The unit we tested is rock solid – well beyond the quality of “cheap Chinese” battery cases we’ve seen (and frankly hated) in the past. Zero problems with charging, completely compatible with the 6 Plus, and completely firm bumpers. As much as I’d personally pillory typical Chinese OEM gear, this particular case doesn’t have the standard tell-tale junk signs. Perhaps the initial batch wasn’t up to snuff.

      • Maybe our standards are a little bit different, but based on your own photo above (closeup of the bottom of the case), the plastic bumper’s edging was sharp and unrefined, especially around the hole for the headphone adapter. It looks like it’s been tooled with a cheap dremel.

        Since the first iPhone seven generations ago, I’ve purchased my share of under 10USD items from eBay sellers in China and sites like DX and GearBest, from BookBook lookalikes to cheap TPU cases that shopping mall booths notoriously charge upwards of 10X unsuspecting customers, so I know that MOTA case is nothing more than a rebranding of the same battery case that Urge Basics and Press Play are also passing off as their own.

        Even the soft-touch paint on the battery portion of the case was already rubbing off within the first few days, and picks up fingerprint smudges like a magnet, as shown in your photos. None of the three sellers even bother to set higher standards from what the OEM gives them, just package and ship it out.

      • Jeremy Horwitz - 9 years ago

        @BTT – I too have owned every iPhone since the original, and tested almost every major manufacturer’s battery case since Mophie’s first-gen version years ago (which incidentally was a lot worse in every way than this case).

        Generally I neither buy nor recommend cheap crap or knockoffs – I don’t do my shopping at OEM resellers. But this particular battery case is nicely made and works as it’s supposed to. Your unit wasn’t working properly from day one, according to your own posts, displaying messages that it was incompatible before showing that the battery wasn’t charging correctly.

        Yet a lot of other people are having good experiences. Around 84 people have reviewed the case on Amazon and it has a 4.5-star rating overall. Additionally, I’ve tested it and really liked its performance.

        Maybe our standards are different. Or maybe you just got a bum unit off a bad Groupon deal. It happens.

  3. djngoma - 9 years ago

    Those smudges though…

    • SRSLY. If you’re going to be posting pics, it might help to wash your hands & wipe down the case next time.

      • Jeremy Horwitz - 9 years ago

        Review pictures are intended to show what the product actually looks like – if a company wants to use materials that show smudges and dust, that’s their choice. If you want an artificial, unblemished shot of the product, look at the manufacturer’s web site.

  4. lsratdownload - 9 years ago

    “The case isn’t Apple-licensed, so there’s always the risk that it might have some iOS compatibility issues down the line — this would be a bigger issue if there weren’t also problems with cases Apple formally approved.”

    Could you expand on the problems with some of these MFi battery cases, Jeremy? Thanks.

    • On the MOTA case I received through Groupon. The first two times I inserted my iPhone 6 Plus into the case, my iPhone immediately prompted, “This accessory may not be supported.”

    • Jeremy Horwitz - 9 years ago

      The “accessory may not be supported” dialog box and in some cases rejection of the accessory are supposed to be potential consequences of connecting non-MFi accessories to an iPhone. But we’ve seen some MFi battery cases bring up the same issues (see http://www.mophie.com/frequent-questions, “I’m getting a weird error message, ‘this accessory is not compatible with the iPhone.’ What should I do?” for just one example). No message of that sort with the MOTA case we tested.

  5. nsxrebel - 9 years ago

    I have to agree with BTT here, the build quality of this, just by looking at your photos, looks very subpar. Looks very cheap and plasticky, your typical Chinese knockoff build. Nothing refined like what Mophie offers. I attend a lot of music festivals and I’m always taking lots of pics and video, so I like battery cases. I’m gonna wait for a MFi battery case that uses a lightning port pass-thru connector though. Until then, I’ll keep using my portable USB battery.

  6. Air Burt - 9 years ago

    I had a MOTA battery case back on my iPhone 5. Like BTT, mine was plastic and felt cheap. After a couple of months, it wouldn’t even fit on my phone fully. I had to constantly make sure that it was keeping a grip on it. It also had the “accessory may not be supported” dialogue show up. After having it for about 6 months, it just plain stopped working. I could charge the battery, but it would no longer charge any iPhone. I just gave up on it because it was given to me as a present. I wouldn’t touch anything else MOTA with a 39.5 foot pole.

  7. Journet Camargo - 9 years ago

    I purchased the Mota iPhone 6+ case, and it does feel cheap, but the worse part is that the phone doesn’t ring when I am receiving an incoming call. The alerts I have setup don’t work once the phone is attached to that case either. Mota replaced the first case, but having the same issue with the replacement. When I take it out of their battery case, the phone works fine. I contacted them about the replacement having the same issues, but they are giving me the run around instead of taking it back. I guess I will have no choice but to sell it on eBay to get rid of it and get another Mophie battery case.

  8. aalex2015 - 9 years ago

    Well I’ve had this case since I got my 6+ (12/17/14) and have not had any charging/performance issues with it. I do feel that it is cheaply made and I got the black back and also have no fingerprint issues. I do get the not supported message when connect it to charge thru the mini USB, But it charges just fine, so far anyway……in the beginning I had powering on issue but it seems to rectified itself or I have trained to handle it differently, not really sure which but it’s not an issue anymore. I bought it thru Groupon for only $40 and thus far am very pleased with it. I need to find out if I can charge the case alone without my iphone in it. Does anyone know if that can be done safely? So I charge using it 2 ways…….one is to let my phone drain to 15 to 20% and it brings me to 100% and two is having both phone and case at 100% and leave the case on so it basically is just a constant charge keeping phone at 100% and then I can charge the case only (but phone still in it) when it gets down to 1 light. Any feed back on which is best or doesn’t matter. So Jeremy I stand with you on this case. Hope this helps.