Now On Sale! Solar Chargable Mobile Phones.

• energy
• green IT
• solar

By JoelAug 7th, 2009

Creative Commons, Some Rights Reserved, Photo by dsephotos2008

There are many of us who have suffered the inconvenience of our mobile phone running out of batteries when out and about. Some people get round this problem by carrying around a portable mobile phone charger, but this solution isn’t perfect either as they are often battery-operated and run out of juice.

Au has attempted to resolve this by developing a phone that can be charged by leaving it out in the sun. Made by Sharp, empty batteries can be charged up to 1 minute talk time or 2 hours standby time from just 10 minutes charging. Overseas, similar phones are already on the market from companies like Samsung but this is the first time in Japan, with a waterproof function as an added bonus.
While charging phones with solar energy is a fantastic concept, if we are going to meet the energy needs of our phones with re-useable energy, we may as well have some kind of electricity generating system set up in our homes, with which we could have as stable source or power generation to charge things up.
There are various types of solar phone charger on the market in the form of phone straps and other, but at present no company or manufacturer has created a solar recharging phone product in its own right. If they are serious about generating power for mobile phones through re-usable energy, rather than a concept model wouldn’t it be better to come up with some practical system?
There’s no doubt that Japanese consumers demand a catchy concept model rather than a full-blown practical system. However rather than bowing to the demands of consumers, in order to build a sustainable society we need companies to deliver essential products.
With the buoyancy of DoCoMo, NTT have avoided the economic downturn and recorded the highest operating income of any company in March 2009. If they are so well heeled, rather than pouring money into an image strategy, perhaps it would better if they invested in the development of products with real practical worth. Mobile phones are “daily goods” held by most of the Japanese population. From here, there is so much potential for building a sustainable society and educating consumers. Whether or not the solar mobile phone can become a corner stone on which to build a sustainable future very much depends on developments within the Industry.

This article has been translated from the original Japanese post