CES 2009: Visiting the Motorola Renew Mobile Phone
by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California 
on 01.10.09
In the spirit of second chances, I stopped by Motorola's booth to check out the Renew mobile phone and see if it might be worth a few kinder words than I gave it before.
But, turns out it's a greenwashed phone that, I'm guessing, won't sell well. While light and compact, the screen alone looks like something from five years ago. Consumers now want sleek displays with loads of great features, keyboards, touch screens...This had none of it. Instead, it is a very basic phone that would work well for the general users, but not someone looking for a great green phone.
The worst part, they only had information about the carbon off-setting and the pre-paid enevelope for recycling your old phone on the display unit's stand. Nothing about the (only) other green aspect of recycled materials used for the casing - something that might spark the curiosity of visitors about other possibilities for greener gadgets.
And who knew that "Carbonfree" was trademarked...
Verdict: 100% greenwashed. No progress made.
More on CES 2009:
CES 2009: Nokia Working to Walk the Green Talk
CES 2009: Schwinn's Tailwind Bike Uses Exclusive Toshiba Battery Tech (Video)
CES 2009: Motorola Launches The First Carbon Neutral Cell Phone
Are Green Gadgets Really Greener This Year At CES?
CES 2009: Christopher Knight Helps Kick off Green Plug's First Product
CES 2009: The Greener Gadgets Wild Goose Chase
CES 2009: Fuji Rolls Out Greenwashed EnviroMAX Batteries
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
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- Top 5 Recycling Faux Pas and How to Avoid Them
- How Radioactive is Your Cell Phone?
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