Review: Just Mobile Gum Plus

December 14, 2009 by Bill Palmer

Earlier this year we reviewed the Gum Pro, a standalone brick of battery whose only trick was offering a metric ton of extra battery for your iPhone or iPod in a fairly small package, and that one trick alone was enough for me to really like it. Not enough for me to abandon the form-fitting battery cases and cradles that allow far greater flexibility in terms of active usage, but enough that the Gum Pro did rate out quite highly, the only brick-style battery to ever rate out at more than four stars.

Now here comes the followup in the form of the Gum Plus, which is largely the same product in terms of specs, but the black plastic styling has been completely replaced with an aluminum body wrapped with a black stripe which not-so-subtly resembles my MacBook Pro laptop. As a user of Apple products this makes me happy. And with so many PC laptops now borrowing similar styling, it’ll probably fit in well on that side of the fence as well. Of course the catch is that the Gum Plus is a battery for your iPhone or iPod, not your laptop, and while it does match the various silver-colored iPod models, it doesn’t match the iPhone or iPod touch stylistically at all.

Of course looks are secondary to what you might actually use it for, and this is more of a product for keeping your iPhone or iPod charged overnight next to your bed, and a power outlet isn’t handy; trying to actually walk around throughout your day with a brick like this plugged into your iPhone isn’t going to fly. But the Gum Pro / Gum Plus does represent the best value I’ve seen yet, by far, when it comes to this kind of battery, and quadrupling your iPhone’s battery life is nothing to sneeze at.

So is the Gum Plus worth ten dollars more than the $59 Gum Pro? That depends on you. More attractive styling can be worth paying for. But perhaps just as importantly, while the Pro failed to include a cable for connecting it your iPhone/iPod, (you had to use your own), the Plus comes with a short-stem connector cable, which can cost up to $10 when purchased from a third party. Pick one; either is a great value.