External battery cases have an insurmountable problem; the iPhone is already a fairly large although sexy device, and a case that makes it even more bulky taking away all it's sultry curves. It's like when Anna Nicole fell off the wagon. - Dave Senior

Also lots of other options now. I recently ordered one of the many competing products myself in prep for roaming CES. Found a 3400 mAh USB charger that will fit in my back pocket ( http://bit.ly/charge ). I'd rather have a charging cable running from my back pocket to the phone as needed than to have the phone be twice as thick or have a clunky battery fastened to the bottom of the phone. - maczter

Agreed on there being other options. I got a USB battery pack from APC that's perfect for flying. I wrote quick writeup on my blog http://robert.accettura.com/blog... - Robert Accettura

Still recommend the Richard Solos. Robert - not sure how long the USB battery packs take to charge an iPhone but my Richard Solo 1800 does it in about 35 minutes - Chad

Not to forget the Mophie for iPhone 3G has only just been released ! - Michael Quinn