Stacked Wireless Charging Case REVIEW

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As much as I love Apple technology, I have to admit that sometimes I’m a bit jealous of accessories that Android users get to take advantage of. I find myself feeling a bit like the Joker asking, “How do they get all those wonderful toys?” One feature I’ve been particularly jealous of is the Qi Wireless charging. I’ve actually had the opportunity to use it a couple of times with other products that sort of mimic the wireless charging for an iPhone, but it’s really not the same. When I first heard about the Staked Speed Case for iPhone, I was thrilled. Finally, a case that allows me to charge my iPhone wirelessly without a hassle! Unfortunately, my experience didn’t quite match the expectations I had set for the product.

The concept behind the Staked case is that it gives iPhone users an option for wireless charging. The way it works is that your iPhone slides into a case that connects to its Lighting port for power transfer. Then, the case can conduct a charge from an attached battery. The battery actually attaches and stays connected with a magnet. There are no wires between the battery pack and the case so you can enjoy wireless freedom. The concept is a really nice alternative for charging iPhones and the specs of the Stacked Speed Case are actually quite impressive.

The case itself is called the 360 Speed Case. It’s aptly named because you should be able to charge your phone no matter how it is connected to the battery pack. The 360 Speed Case is actually the thinnest, lightest, most efficient charging case on the market. It is only 10.7mm thick. Having used the case as just a case, I have to say that it is a very durable, capable case. It’s a semi-rigid case that really keeps the iPhone in place. The buttons on the phone are completely covered and they actually make it a little difficult for the user to make contact with the buttons below.

The battery pack is a 2000 mAh battery, which is enough for one full emergency charge of the iPhone 7. The product page of the website refers to removing the battery pack once your phone is ‘topped off’. This leads me to believe that it’s best not to expect that the Stacked battery will be able to bring a dead phone back to life very easily. The third piece of the Stacked bundle is the wall plug. It’s designed to recharge the battery, the phone in the Speed Case, or both. The wall plug has the same contacts on it that the battery does for connecting to the case. Both the battery and the wall plug have a standard USB port included so that you can charge another device if needed. The battery also has a Micro USB port for wired charging if necessary.

The three pieces of the Stacked Speed Case Bundle stay together remarkably well. The magnets within each of the parts are very strong and unless they are removed from each other by force, I don’t see the pieces of the bundle coming apart. I have to admit that I was leery of the wall plug being able to hold the phone in its case, but my concerns were quickly assuaged when I tested out the bundle on a wall outlet. One other really cool feature of the wall outlet is that it can charge up to five of the Stacked batteries at one time.

Now, as I mentioned above, my user experience didn’t fit my expectations of this charging system. Here are some details from my testing adventure.

• 360 Speed Case — I admire the design of this case. It’s very durable and looks really nice when it’s on the iPhone 7. I have two issues with it. First, it’s not very easy to remove your phone if you need to. You have to be very careful not to bend the phone forward in the case or the Lightning plug will break off. And, because the case is semi-rigid, it’s not very easy to try and just slide out the top. Second, there are no input ports on the bottom of the case. This means that if for some reason you need to charge the phone directly from a Lightning cable, or if you need to sync it to your computer, you will have to remove it from the case, which runs into the first issue I have with the case.
• Charging with the Stacked System — I had some major issues with charging my phone with the Stacked system — in fact, my phone would not charge at all. Here’s what would happen. I would stick the battery on the back of the case where it should be and the phone would buzz notifying me that a contact point with a power source. I would let the battery and the phone sit on the coffee table in my living room for a few minutes and would then notice that my phone was no longer charging. I checked the status of the battery — it still had a charge left and my phone was not a 100%. I tried this several times and kept having the same problem. I would chalk this up to a defective case, but I actually had to contact Stacked for a second bundle because the first one was defective. I tried moving the battery around to different angles on the case, but I kept getting the same result. I did contact the company about this issue when it happened with the second case, but I received no response.

While I really love the concept of the Stacked Speed Case and the creative way it charges an iPhone wirelessly, I had some monumental failures that prevented me from really enjoying my experience. I’m hoping that my cases were simply defective and that others have better luck with it.
BUY FROM AMAZON

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Originally published at macsources.com on April 28, 2017.