Kensington Powerguard Battery Case

Today I'm going to be taking a look at the Kensington Powerguard Battery Case With Card Stand.  I've taken a high interest in battery style cases and the winner by far (so far) is the Mophie Juicepack.  Will this one match or beat it?  Make sure to read on for the full review.

The Powerguard is different than most battery cases as it is a 2 piece case where you install your phone into the back and then snap on the bumper. 

The first thing I noticed when I installed this case was that this was not created to be compatible with both the iPhone 4 and 4S.  You can see my silent switch does not align in the cutout.  The bottom of the case features the port to charge it along with a space to pry the bumper off of the back part of the case to remove it.  The volume buttons are covered with a smaller cutout for the vibrate switch which would definitely be larger to accommodate all versions of the iPhone.  The top of the case features a covered sleep/awake button and a slim cutout for the headphone jack.  The back of the case features a soft touch material with a slot to insert the included card to prop the phone up for viewing.  You will also find the on/off switch for the case on the back. 

There is a rigid card included (similar to a credit card) which you can place into the slot to prop it up as I mentioned in both portrait and landscape modes.

The PowerGuard is only 1200mAh which is the lowest output battery case that i've tested.  In my test, this charged my phone about 40% and that was with it powered on, wifi connected and the screen turned off.  Kensington claims the case will add 4 hours talk time and 5 hours of video viewing.  

 

Overall, the case is neat but it's not up to par with the higher end battery cases like the Mophie and PhoneSuit.  This case feels cheap and very plastic like in your hand and doesn't have smooth edges and visual appeal like a Mophie case.  It's retail price of $59.99 is the lowest of the ones i've reviewed and is a decent deal.  It's available in black, white and silver.