It’s a wireless charging back and case in one!

It’s a dilemma that iPhone users have faced in one time or another – their device running out of juice in the most inconvenient of times, usually without a charger or a plug in sight. Most circumvent it using big, ungainly power banks, others try cases that double as extra batteries. While the concept of battery cases aren’t new, accessory maker uNu has come up with a way to make the added bulk of the case worth it by adding wireless charging functionality with the Aero Wireless Charging Case.

The idea is simple – the uNu Aero Wireless charging case gives your iPhone 5 or 5s an extra 2000mAh of battery, which essentially increases the battery capacity of the phones to over 125%, while at the same time giving it wireless charging capabilities AND protecting your phone in the process.

You’d think you’d be increasing the dimensions of your iPhone to get the benefits that uNu promises with its Aero Wireless charging case. You’d be wrong – with the case in place, your iPhone is only around 20% thicker and taller, which isn’t such a bad deal, considering the benefits you get. The case is made out of matte black plastic which makes the iPhone considerably easier to hold. The matte black finish also pretty handsome, unlike other cases in the market which are pretty tacky.

Slipping on the case is pretty easy – you just separate the two halves of the case, stick your iPhone in the battery pack and put the case back together. We liked that we didn’t have trouble manipulating the physical buttons on our iPhone with the case on (which isn’t always the case with some other products) although you may find it difficult to plug in an audio jack because of the depth created by the case. uNu has thoughtfully included an 3.5mm adaptor just for that purpose. You’ll still be able to use the lightning port on the iPhone 5, as the case has another one on the bottom, although it’s been offset to the right side. This may cause fit issues with some of your iPhone accessories though, so be warned.

The wireless charging mat that’s included in the package is simple yet elegant, and only requires a microUSB cable to be plugged in to work. Once it’s plugged in, you only need to place your iPhone on top (with the case on, of course) and your phone charges automagically.

To use the extra 2000mAh battery, you only need to press the power button near the lower back of the case for more than a second. LED lights flank the button which tells you how much juice is left in the case.

We found that the wireless charging function of the Aero Wireless Charging case was just a smidge slower than if we had our iPhone plugged in the socket. It will also charge a lot slower if you managed to drain the extra battery on the case as well. That being said, we’d gladly sacrifice a tiny hit in charging speed for the convenience of just placing our device on a charging mat rather than fumbling around with a USB cable.

As far as battery life is concerned, the uNu Aero Wireless charging case more than doubled our battery life, and we found that we didn’t have to micromanage our iPhone as much as before to conserve battery life. It used to be when we took it off the charger in the morning (around 9 AM) it would be struggling once it hit 6 or 7 PM. With the case, we still had plenty of battery once the workday was over. Finally, we could turn our LTE on and keep it on!

All in all, the uNu Aero Wireless charging case is a great accessory for anyone who owns an iPhone.

We’re not entirely sure how much this will retail for, but to give you an idea, uNu sells this for around $100, which means it’s going to retail for a little over 5K. We’ll update once we get the final price.