My iPhone is now approaching three years old, and as much as I love it and could never go back to life without the internet at my fingertips at all times, it is less than ideal in some respects. One of the biggest problems for me is the iPhone's battery life. I have an iPhone 3G and I spend a lot of time using it. It does seem to me that the iPhone can last forever when it's just on standby, but as soon as it's being actively used in an app or call, the battery levels drop quickly. Thoroughly disappointing!

After a little while of dealing with either a phone that dies towards the end of the day or carting my charger to work and back, I happened upon the Kensington Mini Battery charger while looking for solutions. I had seen other battery packs and was put off by their size (what's the point in having a spare battery charger the same size as the phone itself? Hardly convenient!), however I found this product to be far more satisfactory in that sense. I was also really pleased that this spare battery could be used on-the-go - there's no need to be near a wall socket or a PC to recharge my iPhone, so it gives a lot of freedom over just having a spare charger.

I purchased the spare battery for about £17 at the time, and I have to say that for a while I was really pleased with my buy. The spare battery worked great. There were some areas in which it could have been improved - for example, it's slower to charge than the iPhone (my iPhone can take a full charge in half an hour - the spare battery takes up to two hours), and it doesn't hold the equivalent of a full charge. It's only ever enough to 'top up' your iPhone power levels, it doesn't refill it completely. Despite this however, it served my purposes well as all I wanted was a way to improve the length of time my iPhone battery lasted during the day.

Despite my general satisfaction with the product, I must admit to thorough disappointment in the end. The spare battery stopped receiving a charge after a few months. It can be plugged in all night and still only show one bar of power. For £17 I would hope for better quality than this.