Another Cell Phone Goes Solar
Image via Akihabara News
Another cell phone is getting a solar panel slapped on its surface, showing that going solar is juuuust starting to become all the rage among mobile phone makers. At least in a limited way. AU (KDDI) and Sharp are presenting a new phone in the Japanese market that has a solar panel embedded in its lid. Users can leave it in the sun for up to 10 minutes in order to generate enough energy for 1 minute of communication or 2 hours on standby. Clearly, this isn't much of a solution for more than emergency charging, so we aren't that impressed with the phone's solar capability itself.
But the fact that the panel is built into the phone, that it's set to be released in June, and follows up Samsung's Blue Earth phone buzz makes us excited that cell phones with embedded renewable energy charging options will be more common in the near future. That'll be a lot easier than carting around an extra solar charger or HyMini with you in order to have off-grid energy.
Via Akihabara NewsMore on Charging Cell Phones with Renewable Energy100+ Solar-Powered Ericsson Cell Phone Base Stations Coming to AfricaMotorola's Solar and Wind-Powered Cell Phone Base Stations in AfricaUsing Sound Waves to Charge Cell Phones
