Samsung's Blue Earth solar phone is ultra-green
(Credit:
Samsung/Inhabitat)
I have a few friends (who shall remain nameless) who are often unreachable because they don't charge their phones when they should. These same friends should look into the new Samsung Blue Earth, which is to be unveiled in a couple days at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
The phone is green, despite its blue color, and it's not just the integrated solar panels that make it so. The Blue Earth is made of recycled plastic, features a pedometer, and even software that reaffirms just how much you're helping the planet by using it. If Al Gore had one of these mobile devices in hand, it would likely explode.
Besides being handy and eco-friendly, the phone appears to be gorgeous. The solar panels reside on the back, and the front is a full touch screen. Despite the new technologies, it should fit nicely in your pocket. We should know more about pricing and availability next week.
Another group that might find this phone attractive would be those crazy outdoorsy types: campers, hunters, fish enthusiasts, and other sportsmen could extend their trips into the wilderness while remaining in contact with the outside world in case of emergencies. We'd like to see other phones with practical solar panels just for this.
With more than 15 years experience testing hardware (and being obsessed with it), Crave freelance writer Matt Hickey can tell the good gadgets from the great. He also has a keen eye for future technology trends. Matt has blogged for publications including TechCrunch, CrunchGear, and most recently, Gizmodo. E-mail Matt. 
In addition to the outdoorsy types (campers, hunters, etc.), I can see it being useful for:
1. people in developing countries that may not always have easy access to an electric outlet.
2. travelers who forgot their chargers.
why would it explode in Al Gores pocket? He is one of the biggest hypocrites among the environmental dogma priesthood.
Even if global warming were not a problem, do you think it is still OK to keep polluting the air, not recycling trash, etc....forever? I don't want to deal with your pollution & trash any more than I expect you to deal with my pollution & trash.
"Green" products help to raise people's awareness about their environment and the effect they have on it. That can only be a good thing.
The reason businesses haven't pursued solar power further is expense and the fact that products last a million years (no turnover), just like my old (new-like) calculator.
I agree that it needs an ultra low power consumption screen.
When will they put in some useful features - Like remote control for TV - garage door opener - heart rate monitor and such. My mobile has dozens of gimmicks I don't use. What about a pedometer ? A personal tracker that could be programmed between two phones.
Even an egg timer would be more use than some of the stuff on my Nokia !
My schedule is so hectic in the last few months I am always forgetting to bring my charger or even if I have it I forget to plug it in. This would be very handy. It would charge while I am talking on it or forget it on the counter.
- by kcotham February 17, 2009 12:07 PM PST
- What someone needs to do is to make an ultra low power, simple, maybe with a greyscale screen, phone that uses today's best battery chemistry along with ultra high output solar cells. If done right, you could have the thing NEVER need to be plugged in. And since phone companies are standardising (finally!) on micro USB as a charging/data interface, you don't even need to include a charger. Just include a cable. Heck you probably don't even need to do that. Just about everyone I know has a USB/microUSB cable somewhere. Talking about green. You'd have a phone that is ultra efficient with power, needing to be recharged only by light. And on the occasion it does need to be plugged in, the infrastructure is already out there with cables and chargers.
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- by morpheus591 June 16, 2009 6:26 PM PDT
- hello!! it does not matter if this is marketing propaganda. if samsung wants to be green. then it has to get smart first. computers sit on desks all day long, use DC and are almost always close to a window, why not start there. 2nd if you want to go green then make all cellphones green! how?. make a solar charger that sits on your car's dashboard, anyway your car sits under the sun 8/7/ almost 365 days a year, you can use that electricity at night to recharge your phone. even with a solar phone your battery will die after 1 hour of use, and duh, no one is gonna say, hey call me in 5 hours so my phone charges and we can keep talking for another lousy hour (if conditions allow it, otherwise good luck!). oh and laptops sit by the window very often. dont they have 15" to 19" of area that can be used for solar cells? hmm 2 hours of charge and 2 hours of use, sounds pretty good until your electrical components start MELTING UNDER THE SUN. electronic devices cant have solar cells on their own. we need solar cells that charge batteries that later charge devices!.
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- by mikedrud June 17, 2009 9:02 PM PDT
- Again, you don't need to put a relatively small solar item in the sun for it to charge. Ambient light (indoors, yes) works for most items. You could let you phone sit in a well-lit room and it would charge (not as fast as in direct sunlight, sure, but probably good enough). My Texas Instruments calculator is 22 years old, is solar, and "activates" when there is enough light in the room to make it run. This is not as new as people think. Companies are just seeing the profit potential here, and I'm glad they do.
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(28 Comments)If someone doesn't do this, I AM!
AND YES I NEED SOME SLEEP!
hope someone at samsung reads this, cuz their gadgets are pretty good but they need solutions that anyone would use, not just the greenish guys, cuz solar cells don't come cheap, much less on a cell phone.