Cleverkit.com, a new online store selling the latest mobile phones and accessories recently sent The nextWomen a Case-Mate FUEL - a combined carrying case and holster that includes a battery pack which recharges the battery on BlackBerry® Bold™ and iPhones on the move. Designed to put an end to the ‘I’m running out of battery’ problem that often frustrates smartphone users, it claims to provide iPhone users with up to 9 hours additional talk time, 7 hours of internet usage, 8 hours of video playback, 24 hours of audio playback and 250 additional standby hours.

Designed for users who are not always near to a charging point or worse still bad at remembering their charger when travelling, it combines a lithium polymer battery with a standard case you can clip onto your belt. I’m not normally enamoured by such items, but if I was to one day want one, it is likely this would be the one. It is slim, matt black and even has a notch in the back for the iPhone camera, but I'm not sure it is something the chic businesswoman would be after.
My only qualm is the lack of any detailed instructions (although you can watch a video demo on the site). Clearly the USB cable it comes complete with is for charging the pack via a computer, but this isn’t mentioned. Likewise there are no details on the time taken to charge the pack or whether using your computer at the same time will increase this time. Having plugged the pack in four hours perviously, the charging light was still on red, which the instructions told me means the pack is still charging.  When I finally got fed up of waiting and popped my phone into the case (red light still showing) however, it was fully charged. Not knowing how long it would take to charge the pack I began to wonder if it was worthwhile considering my iPhone charger takes under an hour to charge my phone to full any way.

That said, the pack lives up to its promise and after a day of use my battery is still going strong. You can even turn it on and off to charge as you please, but frustratingly there is no information on how long the pack will store its charge. Whilst the case has a great look, I would suggest that if you are the type of person who forgets their charger on business trips, you are also likely to be the type of person who forgets to charge this pack in time for it.

The case-mate fuel comes with a built-in, lithium polymer high capacity rechargeable battery that increases the iPhone’s standard battery life by 2.5 times the normal amount. Exclusively available in the UK on CleverKit.com for £59.99, it has the following specification:
• Battery capacity: up to 2300mA
• Battery charging current: up to 450mA
• Battery max discharging current: 2A
• Power consumption: 5v/2.5w