The Box and Goodies -
The box is nothing special really. It looks like most of the other battery cases that are out there on the market. A quick look at any big package store will find about half a dozen boxes of this style in varying colors. Flipping over the front flap gives you a look at the case inside and perhaps a little more information on the product.

The back is a little more descriptive and if you get as far as pulling this off the peg and looking at it you might find some extra reasons to pick the PowerSkin over the competition.  Inside the box is a plastic tray with everything you need to get working. You get the PowerSkin EVO 4G battery case, a small user’s manual, and, of course, a USB cable for charging.

The PowerSkin for HTC EVO 4G -
As you saw on the case the PowerSkin for the EVO 4G is a silicone case with a 1000mA battery stuffed inside. The silicone is intended to protect the phone inside and is quite thick. Looking down inside the case you can see even the upper lip is thicker than most. Interestingly the battery is highlighted in the case design where most others would try their best to conceal it. This is very visible on the back when we flip it over.  Notice that button in the middle at the bottom? That is to check the charge on the battery.

Looking at the right side of the case we find the charging port. This is on the right as the connector for the phone is (obviously) going to be blocking the one at the bottom and there is not enough room for it to route back to the same location without making the case far too long. PowerSkin did leave an opening for the micro HDMI port and the mic though.  One item that you cannot really see is that the power connector from the battery to the phone is actually a small cable. This is both good and bad. It is good in that you can pull it out to connect it to the phone properly and bad because cables this thin often wear out.

Once we get the EVO 4G inside the case we have something of a monster on our hands. This thing is just plain huge. As my kids put it “you have a brick now” PowerSkin has given you fairly good access to the back speaker, camera and LEDs (for the flash and flashlight. The texture of the case is not slick so you have a good grip on it even if it is a little wet. Of course no case protects the screen fully, but there is also no lip around the edge to help with a face down fall. I would have liked to see that on this product.

Performance -
Performance of a battery case is more than just “how long does it let me use my phone” it is also about incidentals and of course aesthetics. Incidentals are items like grip, weight, heat buildup and ease of use. Aesthetics are important because if you buy a $400 phone you do not want a case that makes it look like garbage.  So let’s talk about each of these in turn and see what we get.

Battery Life -
The battery life on the PowerSkin for EVO 4G is pretty good. It allows for an almost 90% increase in longevity on the phone. The built in battery on the EVO gives roughly 6-8 hours of life if you are in an area with good signal and you do not have much running. If you hit low signal or actually want to use your phone, then things get worse. On average in a low signal area with two e-mail accounts running I have seen the EVO get less than four hours.  When I put on the PowerSkin in that same low signal area I can get almost through the whole day (around 7 hours of life).  On a Good day the PowerSkin can net me between 14 and 16 hours of usage.  This is not bad at all really, but there were some side effects; which brings us to heat buildup.

Heat Buildup -
The bane of all electronics is heat. Heat breaks down silicon, slows electrons, and reduces battery life. Here is the kicker; the PowerSkin is silicone, silicone is an excellent insulator. Anyone that has owned an EVO knows that these things can get hot, very hot.  When you warp them in silicone they retain that heat and it affects much more than battery life. While using the PowerSkin with the GPS function on the EVO the phone got so hot that I was unable to use the touch screen until I cooled it down.  To test this again I tried a few other things to see what the heat buildup would be like. I kicked on the Bluetooth and then the WiF; I then made an hour long phone call and found that this built up moderate heat but not enough to kill the phone.

Next I wanted to see how much this would hold ambient heat. I place it on the dashboard during a normal Florida summer day (about 85F). After about ten to fifteen minutes the case became warm and seemed to maintain that heat for quite a while.  This one thing can be a huge issue if you plan on using this case with the EVO.  The final issue with heat was when charging. The EVO gets warm under normal charging but when you are charging the EVO and the PowerSkin at the same time things get even warmer.  There are things that you can do to help with this though. These are common sense things like keep the EVO and PowerSkin combination out of direct sunlight (which honestly you should do with most smart phones these days).  If you drain the PowerSkin you should recharge it separate from the phone as it will help reduce the heat buildup or charge it in a cool place. Like I said, simple things.

Aesthetics -
The PowerSkin for the EVO 4G is a nice looking product. It has a clean and classic look to it. Unfortunately it makes your phone very large. To some this will be a deal killer. I know for my Wife it was. She did not want a phone that was that cumbersome or heavy. Personally I did not mind except for the fact that it would not fit into any of the holsters that I own. Which brings us to an interesting point; All of males that I asked about the PowerSkin thought it looked ok. They were more concerned with the battery life than the looks. If it worked, that was what was important.

On the other hand the females that I talked to were not happy with the look. It was too big, they did not like the color, and it was heavy.  These were primary concerns; it was not until I explained that it could extend the life of the EVO that interest grew. Still after working with this for about a month my wife decided to discontinue using it.

Value -
Value is another very subjective topic. What is expensive to some might be a deal to others. You can look at this topic in multiple ways. One is raw price and the other is what you get for the money. Each is accurate and both are correct ways to look at price/value. We tend to look at features, performance and real-property when we discuss value. However, we also take into account the raw cash cost of the item.

The PowerSkin is available on Amazon.com, but nowhere else at the time of this writing. PowerSkin did have their own online store but as you can see, it is offline right now.  Once you can locate the PowerSkin for EVO 4G it will set you back around $60. This is par for the course with these case/battery combinations. After all you are getting a $30+ case and an extended batter (which is about another $30) so it is not that bad of a deal in terms of what you are getting.  

Performance wise you are getting what you pay for. For $60 you are getting almost double the life off the stock battery. There are some factors that take away from the value, there is the issue of heat that still worries me and that means you will have to change the way you use your EVO.  Because of this I have to say that I do not think the PowerSkin for the EVO is worth the full $60 at this time.  I cannot speak for other products (for other phones) though as they have different thermal profiles and operating ranges.

Conclusion -
The PowerSkin is a product that enters a market that is filled with others all vying for the same fickle market. The one thing they have going for them is that they are not sticking with single product lines but are working to expand  to other phones and are not sticking with Apple only like many others in this game. We have taken a look at a single aspect of this company; the EVO 4G case. We came away with mixed feelings though. The PowerSkin for EVO 4G does give you excellent battery life. This comes at a cost in weight, bulk and heat.  These are three things that most people would not want in their smart phone.  After all we have been trying to get smaller, lighter and cooler why go back the other way.  To put things bluntly, the PowerSkin Silicone Battery case for the THC EVO 4G is a product that had great promise but certain things about it prevent us from recommending it to any EVO 4G Owner.