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Mophie
Mophie doesn’t want you to think of it just as hardware company anymore. Not that it isn’t making new hardware — more on that in a minute — but with the release of Space 2.0, its free app for iOS and Android, it’s shifting the focus to software to help distinguish its hardware.
Last year, the company added a storage component to its line of popular iPhone battery cases, calling the new product the Space Pack because it not only provided extra battery life but gave users more space to store images and videos, which tend to eat up a lot of room. The only downside to the product was its fairly lofty price ($150 for the 16GB option).
Mophie Spacestation (pictures)
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The Space Pack’s companion app, Space, has now been redesigned to function with or without Mophie hardware and will also be available to Android users for the first time.
Space is essentially a file and media management app. But probably the most useful component of the 2.0 version is the ability to wirelessly share photos, videos, documents and music between your mobile device and a Mac or PC via the secure Wi-Fi Space Portal. In other words, you can use the app to transfer media to or from your computer over your home network (you cannot access your computer remotely due to security concerns).
I’ve been playing around with a near-final version of the app and my initial impressions are that it’s fairly intuitive to use and works well, though it isn’t completely bug-free (I only used the iOS version).
Mophie
While Mophie is encouraging anyone to try out the app for free it also wouldn’t mind if you bought one its new Space Packs for iPhone 6 (3,300mAh battery), 6 Plus (2,600mAh battery), iPad Mini (7,000mAh internal battery) or its new Spacestation, an external battery charger (6,000mAh) with onboard storage capacities up to 128GB. That way, you can use the app to sync and store your photos to the accessory’s flash memory, instead of your iPhone”s or iPad’s internal memory (if you wish).
Once again prices for the new Space Packs and Spacestations are high — and perhaps too high. For instance, entry-level iPhone 6/6 Plus models with 32GB of built-in storage cost $150 and jump to $300 for the 128GB versions. The iPad Mini Space Pack stars at $200 (32GB) and tops out at $400 for the 128GB version. 64GB is also an option.
The Spacestation is shipping now while the new Space Packs are available for preorder and will ship in the coming weeks.
Alas, it seems a little crazy to spend almost as much on an accessory as what the device itself cost, but it’s a price some power users may be willing to pay to get around their device’s storage limitations. Blame Apple or blame yourself for not shelling out the extra dough to get a higher-capacity iPhone or iPad in the first place. Either way, it hurts.
