Mophie Juicepack for Pixel XL: A beast of battery burden

Google's Pixel XL is a lot of things. It's the phone to have if you're into tinkering. It gets updates before any other phone. It's got a camera that's considered one of the best available today.

But battery life? That's not always been its strongest asset, even considering its 3,450mAh capacity.

For years, the Mophie Juicepack has been the go-to battery case. Mostly for the iPhone, but more recently for Samsung's Galaxy S line. And now, it's available for the Pixel XL.

What you need to know: This case will make the phone thicker. Longer. Heavier. It'll make the fingerprint sensor harder to get to.

And it'll increase battery capacity by more than 75%.

Notice I don't say "battery life." Actual usage time is one of those things that very much will vary from person to person, even with the extra 2,950mAh. But with that sort of increase, you know that you'll be running much longer than you would have otherwise. (And reminder that you gain wireless charging with this thing.)

The soft-touch coating on the case is exactly what we've come to expect over the years — just about perfect, if still prone to the oil from your fingers. The seam where the top half of the case meets the bottom is well out of the way and nicely matched in any event. And the case itself should do its usual protection job.

Oh, this doesn't feel like a Pixel XL anymore. There's nothing svelte about this phone when it's wearing a Juicepack. I'm now showing 9.75 ounces on the scale (up from the naked phone's 5.83 ounces). The flat back is demolished by what I want to describe as something more whale-like.

We've all seen these cases before. They're beasts.

See at Amazon

Phil Nickinson