Juice your cellphone with SUN POWER!

[bomber_ten]

Cell phone users could soon be turning to the skies to charge their handsets.

Japan's No. 2 wireless carrier, KDDI Corp., said Monday it will start selling a waterproof, sunlight-powered cell phone in June. The yet-to-be-priced handset is made by Sharp Corp.

A 10-minute solar charge will provide enough juice for a one-minute call or power the handset in standby mode for two hours, KDDI said. The sun can recharge up to 80 percent of the phone's battery.



The lower use of standard electricity will help reduce carbon dioxide emissions, the Tokyo-based firm said.

With Monday's announcement, KDDI has intensified the global race to develop and market "eco-friendly" products.

Korean rival Samsung Electronics introduced a new solar-powered mobile phone in February, touting it as the world's first. The company says the phone is made from recycled plastic extracted from water bottles.

But the Suwon, South Korea-based company has not said when the handsets will go on sale or for how much.

-pc world-

[edmcel]

Although this cell phone is innovative and environmental, what can one really say in one minute? And a two hour standby time wouldn't really work when you really need to call someone in an emergency! It's a good step forward, but I think that the technology still needs to be perfected!

[SamBo]

definitely a step in the right direction but as mentioned atm doesn't really fulfill the practical criteria for it to be adopted on a mass scale.

still, only in japan eh :P

[53624]

hmmm.... reminds me of "bokura no taiyou" search it, its a good rpg game on GBA

so maybe months from now people in japan are actually shouting "TAIYOU!"

lolz

i think edmcel is getting the wrong idea for a 10min charge the battery will last 1min of call and 2hrs standby. you seemed to have missed this part "The sun can recharge up to 80 percent of the phone's battery."

[grimface]

i definitely think it's a good idea. it's definitely a step in the right direction (vs america, who developed the hummer even though there was an oil crisis)

but i bet it's going to be expensive....i mean, the new electric car, the tet...tet-nantoka is so expensive, and there's a waiting list!

it'll be popular and expensive?!!

[bomber_ten]

i definitely think it's a good idea. it's definitely a step in the right direction (vs america, who developed the hummer even though there was an oil crisis)

but i bet it's going to be expensive....i mean, the new electric car, the tet...tet-nantoka is so expensive, and there's a waiting list!

it'll be popular and expensive?!!

oh im sure itll be expensive as hell.. but like all things the price will go down later when people start buying it. i do like the solar recharge. its better than forgetting to recharge the phone for like a week and all of a sudden. "oh its dead... dammit".

[Sumire Hayashi]

That type of phone would not work in general. People are glued to their cellphones.And what if you had a business call? Those don't last less than a minute. It is a good idea in theory though.