Company: Richard Solo
Product: Richard Solo 1800
Price: $69.95

iPhone Integration: 3 for direct, 5 for wired
Design: 4.5
Durability: 4
Re-use value: 4.5
Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5

At the moment, there is so much gossip about the 3^rd generation iPhone, which Apple is supposed to be announcing at their annual World Wide Developer Conference.  With all the new goodies that will be in it; video recording, push notification, faster 3G, etc. you can also count on something else; a battery that lasts half of what Apple claims it to be. That’s where Richard Solo comes into play. At $69.95, you can buy their Richard Solo 1800 Backup Battery, which is basically an external battery that gives your iPhone extra battery life.  The device itself has about 1800 mAh of capacity, which is enough to completely charge your iPhone, and have reserve (extra) power left over.  There are a lot of other comparable products (some that are even cheaper), but nothing is as featured packed and well thought out as the 1800.

Like its forerunner, the Solo 1800 is more of a secondary battery for your iPhone.  I use it as an emergency charger when my iPhone dies on important occasions. That means you’ll need to charge it before it can deliver the needed juice to your handset. That may sound inconvenient, but we think that it is a workable arrangement. The Solo 1800 measures 4.41 inches by 2 inches by 0.51 inch and weighs just 2.3 ounces. The device alone is fairly small, but once you connect it to your iPhone, it feels huge; I could barely fit it into my pocket. The casing is plastic, but it feels sturdy in the hand.

The Solo 1800′s connection port sits at its top end.  The battery also comes with two “support braces” (one for the original iPhone and one for the iPhone 3G) that will hold your handset firmly in place when the device is connected. On the bottom of the Solo 1800 are three indicator lights and two buttons for the integrated flashlight and laser pointer. Directly opposite,  you’ll find a power switch for the light and laser peripherals. And at the bottom end, there’s the flashlight, the laser, and the mini-USB port to charge the Richard Solo itself.

The Solo 1800 is compatible not with only iPhones, but any product that has the 30 pin iPod connector.

Richard Solo sells two versions of the 1800 for the iPhone: a direct version, and a wired version.  The direct version plugs directly into the iPhone connector, and the wired one has a wire to connect the 1800 to the iPhone.  The catch with the direct version is that with some iPods, the headset jack won’t be accessible when you’re using the battery.

With any of the versions though, however, the charging process is basically the same.

Of course, the big deal with most of these products is that now you have to deal with charging the external battery as well as the iPhone.  Luckily, Richard Solo figured out a pretty neat setup.  Basically you connect the iPhone to the 1800 and then the charger to the 1800.  Now the iPhone AND Solo 1800 are connected to power.  The iPhone (or iPod for that matter) will charge up first, and then once that it charged up, the Solo 1800 starts getting charged automatically.  This is great because you can charge the iPhone AND Solo 1800 overnight on the same outlet without having to wait for one to finish.

In the Box:

In the box, you get a complimentary 110-240 volt AC Wall charger, a dual-USB car charger, a retractable USB cable, and for a limited time, a free RichardSolo Custom Case for the iPhone 3G .  To make things better, Richard Solo even bumped up the warranty from 90 days to a full year.

It should take about 5 hours to fully charge the Solo 1800 on your initial use, but subsequent chargers may take less time. An indicator light will let you know when it’s ready to go. Once charged, however, the Solo 1800 will hold its charge more or less indefinitely. You then can use it to top off your iPhone for brief periods or give it a full charge when it’s about to die. I was able to fully charge my iPhone (original) in 60 minutes using the Richard Solo 1800, but of course, your results will vary.

Richard Solo doesn’t give any promises on how many hours of talk time the 1800 will deliver, but I was able to get a day of heavy use on our iPhone, which is pretty much standard. Of course, your actual battery life will depend on how you use the phone  or iPod. Also, while Solo promises that the backup battery can last through 300 complete charge/discharge cycles, its lifespan also will depend on how you use it. As with a cell phone, it’s best to use it fully and give it a complete recharge the majority of the time.

Like the Solo 1200, the 1800 offers a small flashlight, but it also adds a small laser pointer.  They both are nice add ons, even though they are pretty irrelevant to the product’s main feature.

Overall, the RichardSolo 1800 was a lifesaver.  The awesome setup, and all the things the package comes with honestly makes it a bargain.  My only advice to you, is to buy the wired version of the product instead of the direct version.

Pros:

The Richard Solo 1800 powers your iPhone when it needs an emergency charge. It has a simple, nice design, and it offers a flashlight and a laser pointer, which adds a nice touch.

Cons:

-The direct version bulges out, and makes it a little bit of a pain to carry around

-$70 is still a little bit on the high end even though you get a lot of bang for your buck.