Solar Power?

The concept is awesome. I would love to have something like that.

Dammit, now I want to hold out for a solar powered 3G iPhone.

AngryGreek said:

The concept is awesome. I would love to have something like that.

Dammit, now I want to hold out for a solar powered 3G iPhone.

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But it wouldn't be in the immediate future, and besides I don't see the point of a solar powered phone, there in your pocket, so no sun light, now watches I understand, but phones..
but still a neat area

I read something similar, I believe on Engadget, but they speculated more towards laptops. Very cool idea for sure.

Waterpolo820 said:

But it wouldn't be in the immediate future, and besides I don't see the point of a solar powered phone, there in your pocket, so no sun light, now watches I understand, but phones..
but still a neat area

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Not if apple also added with the phone a little belt clip so the phone would be out of your pocket and getting sunlight all of the time. But then you'd be a magnet for cutpurses, pickpockets, miggers and the like. Cause it's a pretty expensive piece of machinery to have lying around even if on the outside of your person.

Maybe you could just open your window in your room or something, (with fly screens on it) and leave the phone there for a while to charge up. That's if the phone doesn't take too long to charge this way.

But my question is really what benefits does this have over the current iphone. You'll have to get apple to replace the battery after a certian number of recharges no matter if you had a wall or solar powered battery. And if you can afford an iphone contract then you can most certainly afford the two cents of electricity to charge the phone. And most people who own iphones aren't that long away from a powerpoint either.

Well maybe in the use less nonrenewable sources of energy scheme of things the solar iphone is good. But otherwise I think it's a good idea only if it's the same as the current phone in terms of cost, battery life, recharge time and looks.

Waterpolo820 said:

But it wouldn't be in the immediate future, and besides I don't see the point of a solar powered phone, there in your pocket, so no sun light, now watches I understand, but phones..
but still a neat area

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Well, I mean I could set it in my windowsill at work to charge or something.

I am thinking of it as more of a "Doh! I forgot to charge my phone and I am stuck downtown and my charger is at home. Oh! I will just set it in the sun for a bit." sort of thing rather than a dedicated charging method.

Yeah, the implementation time is too long for me to wait. I really need a smartphone for work rather than this brick of a Nokia I have right now. I am apparently the "Apple Guru" in my office, so I may as well roll with it.

I think this technology makes more sense in notebooks, for they have larger screens. The larger the area to receive the solar energy, the better. Ive looked into panels to power a few devices in the home and their size is substantial relative to how much power they output. It will be a great backup technology, to perhaps prolong the battery life while in use.

Greenredfield said:

...to perhaps prolong the battery life while in use.

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I believe that is the purpose.

I don't think it would be worth the additional cost. Maybe some people are always near windows and don't mind pulling their phone out of their pocket/bag/whatever to let it get sun, but it would just be an inconvenience to me. Plugging my iphone in at night keeps it plenty charged without worrying all day whether or not it's getting enough light.

Plus, I just think the additional power will be very slight and barely noticeable when you consider the energy consumption of the device. I was looking at buying a new Citizen watch which is powered by light, and any light instead of just sunlight. But I changed my mind when a friend said his Citizen often slows down and he needs to reset it due to lack of power. So, if a simple, very low energy consumption device like a watch, which is always exposed to light, can't even get enough juice from light to keep it running, then the iPhone will get almost nothing in comparison to it's consumption.

The screen is a lot larger on the iPhone than the face of the watch. A watch doesn't need a lot of power to operate so there is no need to pump it full of solar cells.
I have heard of this Citizen watch. Maybe your friends is broken. I doubt Citizen would be very popular if their watches can't keep time.