Kuner/Kuke battery case for iPhone 7 and 7 Plus

[Ledgem]

Greetings!

In the past I've always gone with Mophie battery cases for my iPhones; my last case was the Space Pack, which combined flash storage with the battery case. The Mophie cases are expensive, though, and I've always had issues with the battery in the case seemingly fizzling out within a year (although to their credit, Mophie help up their end of the warranty bargain). More worrisome is the fact that with the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, we don't have a headphone jack. Lightning pass-through is possible, but Mophie's iPhone 7/7 Plus cases continue to use MicroUSB as their connector.

While scouring the internet for alternatives, I came across an interesting design made by Kuner, the Kukecase. The model I linked to is a lot cheaper than Mophie's offering, and impressively, it allows you to insert an SD card for case-based storage (which differs from Mophie's approach with the Space Pack, where the storage capacity is built into the case). It also seems to have Lightning pass-through. The only downside, as far as I can tell, is that they're a Chinese company and not very well-known. My concern would be that the case may not function as intended, or would have poor support if something goes wrong.

The only thing I could find on this forum was a thread detailing this case for iPhone 6 and 6S. The few posters there seemed pleased with the case.

So, the question: is anyone using this case? Has anyone heard anything about this case? I'm interested in hearing about it.

 

[blaine07]

Had one, well two because one quit, for my 6S+. I got my $25 or whatever out of it but first one I had died prematurely. I liked its form factor and that was able to charge with lightning cable. Mine had the extra 16gb of storage or whatever is was(I'd have to go look). It never would charge phone right though. Even replacement I got wasn't right. Storage it added was nice and I appreciated that bottom of case didn't have horrendous lip. I mean I feel I got my monies worth. Didn't know they were making for 7/7+. Will have to take a look sey

 

[Ccuento]

I just recently purchased the case for my iPhone 7 plus. Not sure when it's going to arrive seeing it's coming from China. I'll update you guys once it arrives.

 

[Ledgem]

I just recently purchased the case for my iPhone 7 plus. Not sure when it's going to arrive seeing it's coming from China. I'll update you guys once it arrives.

Thanks, I'm looking forward to your thoughts on it!

 

[Ledgem]

Any updates on this case? Thoughts on how well it works, associated app, and build quality?

 

[Ledgem]

I ended up buying this case to try it out. My verdict is that you should pass on it.

The build quality is a mixed bag. I have the white version, and the outer rubber feels really, really nice in the hand. The phone slides in pretty easily but the top part of the case doesn't hug the phone very tightly. It's not so loose that the phone has come out of the case on its own but it definitely feels like it peels back a bit more easily than it should.

The functionality is where the problems lie. The case uses a Lightning connector and indicates that it has pass-through capabilities. This isn't fully true. Plugging the phone and case to my computer doesn't allow the computer to see the phone; I need to take it out of the case for that. The instruction manual indications that in order to use Lightning headphones, you'd need to connect the headphones to the case, then unseat and reseat the phone. I haven't bothered trying. This is a feature that I had really been hoping to have, and the lack of it makes the case design even worse. At least Mophie's cases tend to have a bottom part that snaps on and off, making it easy to access the Lightning port fairly easily if you need it. Needing to slide the phone entirely into and out of the case is worse, by comparison.

As far as the battery, it has also been disappointing. The iPhone 7 Plus has a 2,900 mAh battery, while the Kukecase advertises a 2,400 mAh battery. There's some energy loss while charging, but I can only get the case to give me about an additional 30% of charge, which is less than expected. Worse yet, control of the battery is a bit finicky. You activate and deactivate the case by holding a button on the back of the case. In my experience, the battery activates properly, but I haven't been able to reliably turn it off. I've also had a scenario or two where I'd disconnect my charger and the battery would be active, and I'd just have to let it run itself down. Some people may like to use it that way, but it's less efficient than charging only when your phone's battery is low.

The software seems fairly polished, and I admit that I was pleasantly surprised with it. It has the general feel of Mophie's "Space" app. My only complaint is that the installation of the software was surprisingly sketchy. Search the App Store for Kuke and you get a handful of applications from Chinese developers that all seem to be for the case. I downloaded the most official-looking one, which then has you go to a website that installs a trust module, which then takes you back to the app store to download a different app... which is apparently the correct one to use. You can delete the trust module afterward (and I'm not even sure that you really need it at all, if you just select the right app in the first place), but the entire process seemed really odd. I admit that after the process I'm slightly paranoid that I've somehow installed malware onto my iPhone.

On the bright side, they advertise the case as barely adding any bulk on to the phone, and I have to agree. I use a holster that claims it can only accept the iPhone 7 Plus and has issues if a case is added, yet I can still use that same holster even with the Kuke equipped.

My memory expansion card is still being shipped to me, so I can't really remark on the memory expansion feature. However, I'm already decided that I'm not going to be using this case regularly. I haven't had the most luck with Mophie's offerings (the batteries always seem to die on me after about a year - on the bright side, they're very good about their warranties), and they're still pricey as ever, but for now I think they're the the way to go if you want a battery case. Their Space Pack cases work pretty well, and while there isn't one currently available for the 7 Plus, I assume they're working on it.

 

[jlo1981]

I ended up buying this case to try it out. My verdict is that you should pass on it.

The build quality is a mixed bag. I have the white version, and the outer rubber feels really, really nice in the hand. The phone slides in pretty easily but the top part of the case doesn't hug the phone very tightly. It's not so loose that the phone has come out of the case on its own but it definitely feels like it peels back a bit more easily than it should.

The functionality is where the problems lie. The case uses a Lightning connector and indicates that it has pass-through capabilities. This isn't fully true. Plugging the phone and case to my computer doesn't allow the computer to see the phone; I need to take it out of the case for that. The instruction manual indications that in order to use Lightning headphones, you'd need to connect the headphones to the case, then unseat and reseat the phone. I haven't bothered trying. This is a feature that I had really been hoping to have, and the lack of it makes the case design even worse. At least Mophie's cases tend to have a bottom part that snaps on and off, making it easy to access the Lightning port fairly easily if you need it. Needing to slide the phone entirely into and out of the case is worse, by comparison.

As far as the battery, it has also been disappointing. The iPhone 7 Plus has a 2,900 mAh battery, while the Kukecase advertises a 2,400 mAh battery. There's some energy loss while charging, but I can only get the case to give me about an additional 30% of charge, which is less than expected. Worse yet, control of the battery is a bit finicky. You activate and deactivate the case by holding a button on the back of the case. In my experience, the battery activates properly, but I haven't been able to reliably turn it off. I've also had a scenario or two where I'd disconnect my charger and the battery would be active, and I'd just have to let it run itself down. Some people may like to use it that way, but it's less efficient than charging only when your phone's battery is low.

The software seems fairly polished, and I admit that I was pleasantly surprised with it. It has the general feel of Mophie's "Space" app. My only complaint is that the installation of the software was surprisingly sketchy. Search the App Store for Kuke and you get a handful of applications from Chinese developers that all seem to be for the case. I downloaded the most official-looking one, which then has you go to a website that installs a trust module, which then takes you back to the app store to download a different app... which is apparently the correct one to use. You can delete the trust module afterward (and I'm not even sure that you really need it at all, if you just select the right app in the first place), but the entire process seemed really odd. I admit that after the process I'm slightly paranoid that I've somehow installed malware onto my iPhone.

On the bright side, they advertise the case as barely adding any bulk on to the phone, and I have to agree. I use a holster that claims it can only accept the iPhone 7 Plus and has issues if a case is added, yet I can still use that same holster even with the Kuke equipped.

My memory expansion card is still being shipped to me, so I can't really remark on the memory expansion feature. However, I'm already decided that I'm not going to be using this case regularly. I haven't had the most luck with Mophie's offerings (the batteries always seem to die on me after about a year - on the bright side, they're very good about their warranties), and they're still pricey as ever, but for now I think they're the the way to go if you want a battery case. Their Space Pack cases work pretty well, and while there isn't one currently available for the 7 Plus, I assume they're working on it.

[doublepost=1509239276][/doublepost]I was unable to make Apple CarPlay Work when I had the iPhone 7 case on, have you had any trouble with this as well?

 

[Ledgem]

I don't use CarPlay, but I'm not surprised. Despite having a Lightning port, it seems that the port is purely for charging, and can't handle data transfers. I'm assuming CarPlay uses the cable to communicate with the phone, so a port that only allows charging would interfere with that.

I'd note that I am no longer using this case. It was a disappointment.