[Review] BackPack Galaxy S7 Edge casing: Juicing the pocket rocket

The use case (pun aside) for Samsung’s official BackPack battery casing is fairly obvious. If you drive your phone hard, like we do, without the opportunity to recharge it when out and about, you’ll often have to resort to a snake pit of cables and a plethora of spare power banks jingling about in your backpack. Alas, wandering around with a host of cables sprouting out of our backpacks and pockets like we had a recent accident with a food truck laden with spaghetti isn’t doing much for our street fashion cred. This official BackPack casing for the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge kills two birds with one stone as it acts as a snap-on battery pack and provides a modicum of protection for the phone on top of the obvious benefit of eschewing the need for having to carrying around the aforementioned charging kit.

The Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge differ slightly in size so each phone has a battery casing specifically designed for it and it alone. The Galaxy S7 variant of the casing has a 2,700mAh lithium ion battery integrated into it to juice up the phone’s existing 3,000mAh battery while the S7 Edge variant of the casing integrates a larger 3,100mAh juicer to complement the phone’s existing 3,600mAh battery. On paper, this means that the battery pack casings give you about 70% or so of a full charge.

Externally the casings are made of a grippy matte rubbery material in your choice of either silver or black that makes it rather grippy and easy to hold.  The casings add a good deal of weight and girth to the phone, making it seem almost double its size though the tapered edges still make it relatively easy to grip.

Our BackPack test unit, designed for the Galaxy S7 Edge was easy to snap on and fit into the casing with a gentle click. Rubberised buttons for the S7 Edge’s volume rocker on the left and power button on the right and a neat dip in the sides of the casing for the edges of the phone’s curved display ensure full access to all the buttonry and the edge screens. While it seems otherwise, the buttons on the casing are pleasantly responsive; full phone functionality and tactility is not impeded.

The casing primarily protects the sides and rear of the S7 Edge as well as the edges from impacts though the front is unprotected. In the unlikely event that it lands face down, the phone may incur damage though it is otherwise quite well protected. A notch in the base of the casing allows access to the S7 Edge’s own 3.5mm audio jack and the microUSB port while the top of the BackPack has a set of battery power indicator lights and a microUSB 2.0 port for charging the BackPack case itself.