Logitech Protection + Power iPhone5/5S Case Hardware Review

This is going to sound funny, but I have clinically diagnosed OCD. One of the weird quirks for me is that I obsess about having several cases or carrying bags for everything. So the idea of a new, very functional case really excites me. When asked about reviewing a case that provides drop protection and an extended battery, I think I replied to the email less than twenty seconds. Sadly, I was told the only colors were black, blue, grey, and white – I was hoping for purple or pink. I really like cases.

The Protection + Power comes with a charging cable (USB to micro USB) and a headphone extender (the case lengthens the hole to the jack). Attaching it to my phone was really easy - honestly, it’s the easiest of any battery case I've owned. You slide the phone onto the lightning connector, which tilts slightly, then gently push the phone back into the case. Once inside, it seems really secure and safe from most gentle drops. Since it was early in the day, I plugged the charging cable into my desktop computer and watched the lights on the back begin to blink. I went through regular use that day, and took the charging cable to bed. When upstairs, I pulled my lightning cable out of the jack in the wall, and put the USB/microUSB cable in its place. I've done this with numerous other charging cases in the past with no issue. In the morning, my phone was at 55% power and the case's battery was dead. It never charged.

Logitech sent me a replacement case after this and I ran into the same issue. After some troubleshooting with different cords and adapters, I found that it finally charged with my iPad's wall adapter. This created a new problem: when the phone was in the case and I plugged the case in to charge, the phone would go nuts making the sound it does when plugged in to charge, then not charging, then plugging in again, then not charging - over and over. It did this swap about 25 times before I unplugged it. Finally, I decided to take the phone out of the case and charge both separately that night.

The case is said to come close to doubling the power of the phone. The three times I used it, it kept the phone at 100% for less than two hours, then died. That's hardly doubling. Another time, I plugged the phone into the case when the phone was at 30% power and the case was fully charged. Without doing anything, the case charged it back to 62% before it died again.

I hate saying anything negative about something like this, but the Logitech Protection + Power is just too buggy to recommend. It's a great design, but the battery and charging connections are very questionable. The fact that I ran into these issues with three cases (a second replacement would charge okay but still didn’t last any longer than two hours) really seals the deal on this model for me. I wanted these to be awesome because they fit so nicely and came on and off so easily, making them perfect for an OCD case swapper like me. But no such luck, I'm afraid.