Solar Cell Phones from Samsung and LG

It’s official; electronics megacoprotations are traveling into the future to steal my ideas and then returning to their own time in order to have said ideas in prototype form by the time I’ve published my thoughts online! Just the other day I was musing in an article here on Gadget Addiction about integrating solar technology directly into a device (I believe I used Apple’s iPhone as an example due to its rather large, unused surface area). Well, lo and behold both Samsung and LG have unveiled their own ‘proprietary’ solar-powered cell phones. It’s time for the retroactive patent.

The Samsung Blue Earth [pictured above] has made the biggest splash in the green circles. The handset is made out of PCM, a reclaimed plastic from water bottles. There’s also the all new ‘Eco’ mode which in addition to reducing screen brightness and backlight duration, it also curbs Bluetooth usage. Heh, and here I thought that was just called the ‘Power Saver’ mode but ‘Eco’ is so much more hip (and merely three letters). The Blue Earth will also come with an ‘Eco Walk’ app that essentially chews up battery power in imitating a pedometer in order tell you how much CO2 you’re saving by walking. So far, nothing’s infringed on my retro-patent. But then comes the bombshell.

The back of the phone is essentially one big solar panel, the likes of which can reportedly power am ongoing phone call so long as the big old sun is lounging brightly up in the sky. I have to admit, that’s pretty impressive stuff, even though it’s stolen intellectual property. And if that isn’t enough, LG has slapped together their own ‘Eco’ cell phone, rushing it out into the light of day before even giving the thing a name! Surely this move was done in light of my impending legal battle.

The Samsung handset is said to nab three minutes of talk time from ten minutes of sunning. No further details were released at its unveiling at MWC.

So far as the Blue Earth is concerned, the environmentalism doesn’t end with the product's design. The packaging is to be comprised of recycled materials and the charger is also said to be ‘energy efficient.’ Assuming everything works as planned and the price is reasonable, this could put pressure on those ‘quasi-green’ consumers to put their money with their mouths are. And strong sales of such an actively environmentally-friendly product would send a powerful message to manufacturers.

The Blue Earth should be hitting store shelves in the UK in the latter half of this year.

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