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The Mophie Juice Pack Air, with a built-in charger, is my favorite iPhone case.

This item is an excerpt from my weekly Vegas Seven column

Secondary power chargers made a strong showing at the recently concluded 2010 CTIA Wireless Show, with several new products joining the market. By now, most of us know how frustrating it is to be stranded with a dead mobile phone battery and no charger in sight.

My personal solution comes in the form of a case that doubles as a charger, the Mophie Juice Pack Air.

It costs $80, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s money well-spent. A hard case protects the iPhone from accidental drops—or, in my case, from a 2-year-old who likes to play with and occasionally drops the phone—while providing additional power at the flick of a switch.

Unfortunately, using the Juice Pack Air essentially doubles the weight of the phone, since the case itself is pretty heavy (it includes a built-in battery, after all).

The Idapt i4 can charge four gadgets at once

Another charging option comes in the form of a clever product line from a Spanish company called Idapt that introduced the Idapt i4 at the CTIA. The charger was welcomed with rave reviews—it won an industry design award—and is expected to go on sale in May for $60.

The i4 can charge four devices at the same time. If you’re like my family, with an iPhone, a BlackBerry, an MP3 player and a Bluetooth earpiece all needing power, having one charging station that can recharge each gadget would be pretty useful.

The AT&T Zero eliminates vampire power

AT&T introduced a secondary charger, too—one that deserves snaps because it solves the problem of “vampire” power—the electricity a plugged-in charger (or other electronic device that’s not being used) draws even when it’s not powering up a gadget. Vampire power is an energy consumption nightmare, since it sucks unnecessary power and adds unnecessary expense to our electricity bills.

The AT&T Zero, expected in May (price not disclosed), plugs into the wall socket and only pulls power when charging a device. It uses a USB port to charge, which means most phones, music players and cameras can use it to power up.

Related Posts, Bendable Gadgets:

• The lost iPhone saga not the only tech leak of note
• Ten iPhone apps for a night on the town
• Universal charger powers four gadgets at once