NTT DoCoMo has developed a solar-powered, waterproof mobile phone that will go on sale from September. The solar hybrid can be recharged with sunlight as well as electricity. Even if the battery has completely lost its charge, just 10 minutes of solar recharging via a panel on the phone's body provides approximately one minute of talk time.
The handset comes with an 8-megapixel CCD camera that takes excellent photographs even dim lighting or when objects are moving. The waterproof body, resistant to water sprays from all directions and submergible to depths up to one meter, enables safe, carefree enjoyment of mobile communication and entertainment in the bath, kitchen, beach, rain or other environments where water is present.
© JCN
8 Comments
Login to comment
Beelzebub
Great. Now airheads can have their vacuous "ima-doko?" conversations without fear of salt-water corrosion.
majimeaussie
Has DoCoMo really developed it? Isn't it more likely that Sharp (or one of the other manufacturers) has developed the phone and is marketing / selling it through DoCoMo?
Sebaschan
hmm even if youre such a sunnyboy that the sun shines out of your ***, it wont reach the solarcell of your cellphone in the pocket ;D Nice idea but probably useless for the normal person.
LFRAgain
Not entirely useless. I can think of one situation that would be ideal for charging the phone via its solar cells: While driving.
Not supposed to be driving and gabbing anyway, so place the phone on the dash during that to-work, go-home commute, and you're good to go.
Still, AU came out with this feature first months ago, something that must thoroughly chap the hides of the higher-ups at DoCoMo. Day late, a yen short, as they say.
PleasureGelf
Au and Softbank have something similar if not exactly the same.
Foxie
Great idea. I can finally take it sailing with me and no more need to switch it off. Electricity is scare on a sailing yacht and I am always running low on batteries and it is good that it is also waterproof.
Raja Kumar
Ideal phones for those who do not like plug in recharging of batteries .
Handphone batteries running low on power woes , may be coming to an end in future, for users of solar handset.