Mobile Phones go Solar - why cannot we?
Samsung Solar Guru
Samsung promised to set the trend in green gadgetry some time ago. They have kept the promise. The first ever solar phone is out. It is a bit different from the initial action plan of Samsung but it is still something.
Late last year (2008) the Korean company announced it would start producing the Blue Earth qwerty phone. In the end the code name was scrapped and we got a Solar Guru (it will be called Crest Solar when it hits European market). During the development they have had to simplify the project to move it from the high-end specification into the mass market.
Do you follow the thought? It is actually very good. I am prepared to sacrifice a couple of funky features for the gadget to be widely available to almost anyone. So far the main plague of eco-friendly developments has been the high price (think Tango, think Twike). Solar Guru is different. It costs only $59 in India. And although it will cost more in Europe it can still be considered a mid-market phone, which will greatly contribute to its popularity.
Solar Guru is a classical Samsung E1100 with added solar battery, FM radio and an emergency flash-light.
Put it in the sun for an hour and it will give you up to 10 minutes of talk time and a couple of hours in standby. The solar battery can hardly replace the charger but if people use the solar energy fairly, they can save up to 50pc of the usual grid charging.
Solar batteries is nothing ground-breaking. I’ve had my first sun-powered calculator some 15 years ago. In opposition of what they say, it is neither expensive nor difficult to produce solar batteries. It just took some courage to be the first to offer a solar cell phone. It is not just for fun. This cell phone is a useful device that can make a difference for the environment and for your budget… in the long run.
What does this have to do with electric cars, you might ask? It can be an encouragement and a reminder that eco-friendly solutions are easy to make, easy to market and cheap to produce. Great news! What do you think? Would you like to own such a phone?
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