FEB 16

A new cell phone, the Samsung Blue Earth, set to be unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in sunny Barcelona next week, will feature solar panels to charge its battery. “We transform the limitations of the mobile phone,” said Wonsik Lee, the vice president of the research and design planning team at Samsung in a statement.

The integrated solar panels on the back of the phone can yield a three minute call after a ten minute charge. The phone itself is made from recycled plastic water bottles and the front user interface can adjust screen brightness depending on whether the user is outside or inside.

The interface also has a useful nag feature that calculates something called “eco-walk” by telling you how much CO2 is saved if you walk instead of drive. The pedometer-based feature also tells you how many trees you are saving with this negative carbon footprint. And, setting it apart from other green phones we've seen, the Blue Earth is well-designed and looks like something even a non-eco-geek wouldn't mind showing off.

While specifics and pricing haven't been released yet, Samsung states its phone needs only 0.03 watts of electricity on standby, which is probably a greener feature than the solar panels, truth be told. The company is expected to announce soon when the phone will be sold and in which countries.

Via: PC Mag

Comments (11)

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Jim
written by Jim, February 16, 2009

The article held my interest until it started going into the whole carbon footprint crap. A phone that would charge itself when I put it in the sunlight has obvious benefits and convenience.
A "eco-walk" calculator plays into the eco-nihilism market filled with dorks that think the earth would be much better off if the humans simply got off. The fact is that walking expels more CO2 than riding in a car, not that there's anything wrong with either.

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...
written by danny, February 17, 2009

Is it the phone that uses 0.03W on standby or the charger when not in use. My impression from other articles is that the charger is better in standby, which is good, but for the people looking at buying this phone I would hope they just unplug the charger when not in use or never use it at all for that matter which would be amazing.

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My Eco Diary
written by Peet, February 17, 2009

Hi there.

Last year a couple of us at work designed this Eco Diary for a client of ours, a cell phone operator called Cell C. It has a solar charger built in to the cover and is stacked full of tips and guides on going green. We're all really proud of it and we'd thought you'd like it too. This is a link to a video we made about it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D22K6gdIcNc and a link to a post I made on my blog that explains it in a little more detail: http://superduper.co.za/dingdong/?p=42

Thanks a lot :)

Peet :p

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"walking expels more CO2 than riding a c
written by camarco, February 17, 2009

to Jim:
"walking expels more CO2 than riding a car"
I would really like to see this how you did this calculation?

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I Want It!
written by Paige, February 18, 2009

Any idea when this will be ready for North America? My contract's up soon!

@Jim: I think you might be on the wrong blog if you think walking expels more CO2 than a car, friend. Though I must thank you for the laugh, it's been a hard week.

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Solar powering the future
written by Rachael, February 18, 2009

I'm with Jim, I want one of these... And I can't wait to see when they'll be available in North America.

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solar panel in your pocket...
written by Pete, February 25, 2009

...in reply to clinch: mine is also in my pocket most of the time, and there are already trickle solar chargers on the market.
What i am wondering is why are there no phone manufacturers looking at utilising the advances in generating power from movement/vibration. Brain is dead at the moment as to what they are called, but they get a lot of coverage on this website. Then leaving your phone in your pocket would do the charging for you.

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great, oh, and kinetic
written by Pau, March 28, 2009

I think this would be great. I like a more versatile phone in general but they environmentalist in me might totally decide this is the best option. As for the previous poster, I think they're called kinetic something =P
But as for kinetic charging (or whatever the correct name is), there is a phone announced with that feature and made by a watch maker in fact. It's called the Chairman. Unfortunately it seems it will have a huge price tag and won't exactly be your John Q. Public.

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written by Priit, April 12, 2009

I like the idea and would buy this phone just for the sake of making my friends more used to the idea of thinking green.

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solar panels on fabric
written by Priit, April 12, 2009

As mobiles do tend to sit most of the idle time in our pockets and bags, I'd rather see solar "panels" being used on bags and clothes.

You can read an article about the latest advancements in developing organic solar cells here: http://www.sciencedaily.com/re...151444.htm

This technology allows to produce flexible solar panels.

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Pocketsurfer : A Mobile Internet Device
written by Dominionsurfer, April 22, 2009

Mobility to go online is in your pocket and that’s true with the pocketsurfer, what amazes me is the speed to load web pages, yet giving the real web which I haven’t experienced with n number of PDAs that I have tried so far. Its uniqueness is portability, speed and it’s very affordable, you don’t have to think of any contracts with service providers as it included with the pocketsurfer.

I found all the info at http://www.pocketsurferweb.com great site!

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