Do you want to charge your phone? Put in into direct sunlight and you won’t depend on plugs and cords anymore. At least this is what we are promised by this new cell phone.
The waterproof solar cell phone will be sold starting with June by Japan’s No.2 wireless provider, KDDI Corp. The gadget has been developed by Sharp Corp.
The phone’s solar cell is able to provide by a ten minute charge the energy needed for a 1 minute call or two hours energy in standby mode.
The solar cell can recharge up to 80% of the phone’s battery. With only 20 % needs from conventional energy, the cell phone is clearly an “eco-friendly” product. KDDI has been very interested in carbon dioxide emissions reduction.
KDDI did not disclose yet the price of the cell phone and everybody will wait for that first prior to acknowledge the gadget as a success.
But interesting as it may sound this is not the first solar cell ever produced. Samsung Electronics and LG joined power and launched in February their solar cell phone made from recycled plastic extracted from water bottles. But there was no market release up to know of their product.
This new technology will be for sure adopted by other manufacturers interested in going green.
10 minutes charging for a 1 minute call? I wonder how large of a charge the battery can hold. While its totally cool that things are moving in this direction, maybe it’ll be awhile before we see more appealing solar phones.