Nokia: the Sun Can't Charge Your Phone 290
itwbennett writes "Nokia's research into solar-powered cell phones ended with a (barely audible) thud. Under the best of conditions researchers were able 'to harvest enough energy to keep the phone on standby mode but with a very restricted amount of talk time,' Nokia wrote in a blog post on Tuesday. Not surprisingly, the prototype phone, which had a solar panel on the back cover, performed better in Kenya than in other testing locations, like southern Sweden and the Arctic Circle."
Re:So basically (Score:4, Interesting)
I think they released this information to show that other offerings were bogus.
I've been interested in a solar cell that could run my phone in even very cloudy weather. I also wanted it to charge/run a radio, a flashlight and recharge some batteries though not all at once. It would cost between $200-$300US for one that can run and charge my phone or do any of the other individual tasks and be rugged enough for my needs.
Re:Why did they think this would work? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Why did they think this would work? (Score:4, Interesting)
Would it not make sense for them to still use this idea to some extent, though? Put some solar panels on the phone just to give that extra little bit of battery life.
It's probably cheaper and more effective to just give it a bigger battery.
Re:Why did they think this would work? (Score:5, Interesting)
Mechanical energy -motion and/or sound waves- seems a more likely source of power for a phone.
They don't have the power density of a solar cell and the mechanical energy approach would add considerable mass.
Looks to me like they'll just have to figure out how to make a much lower power cellphone. That process will be limited by the need of the phone to produce sound that one can hear.
Re:Why did they think this would work? (Score:5, Interesting)
...or, you know, sell a separate battery and a stationary solar powered battery charger. That would avoid the size constraints on the solar panel and the exposure problem.
The only problem with that obvious approach is that such a charger couldn't be used to sell expensive phones under the pretext of Nokia being environmentally-friendly and all the associated fraudulent propaganda. ...and so the project is scrapped.
Re:Why did they think this would work? (Score:4, Interesting)
Not really related, but I recall John Carmack recently posted on Twitter [twitter.com] saying that a cell phone will use less than $1 of grid electricity over their lifespan (based on this calculation [twitter.com]).
Interesting insight into how little power a cell phone uses compared to other devices!
Re:Why did they think this would work? (Score:4, Interesting)
1) Your watt meter probably isn't that accurate at low levels like that.
2) It probably registers everything at some threshold under a watt (assuming it's even that accurate) as "0". But 0.5W 24/7 for a year is still 4383 watt-hours. Sure, it's probably only between $0.44 and $0.66, but it's still enough to dry a load of clothes in a dryer, maybe two. And that's still a good fraction of that supposed $1 lifespan total, for only one year of usage.
Re:Why did they think this would work? (Score:4, Interesting)
You know you can buy solar panels with buffer cells and ~1000mA USB output for about $200, right?
I'm looking at getting this next time I have a little too much cash laying around: http://www.amazon.de/Aurora-Solarladeger%C3%A4te-Handys-iPhone-MP3-Player/dp/B0049U3GQC/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1319908425&sr=8-6 [amazon.de]
Add a ~5000mAh battery pack (good for about two or three charges of my smartphone) and I'm set for camping, festivals and the like... panel + battery pack are placed in the car during the day, and the phone gets charged off of the (hopefully full) battery pack at night.