Quite a few ecogeeks were excited when Samsung revealed its solar-powered cell phone, the Samsung Blue Earth. However, many bemoaned the fact that the green technology was only coming packaged in a pricey smart phone. Well, for budget-minded environmentalists a solar-charged cell phone may be in store for you as well!
Chinese handset maker ZTE has unveiled the Coral-200, an economy handset featuring high-tech Dutch solar cells that provide 15 minutes of talk time for every hour of sunlight. The detail that makes this solar-powered phone really stand out is the wallet-friendly price of $40 USD.
The new solar phone may help to bring cell phone technology to areas off the power grid, like parts of Africa. Over 2 billion people around the world are off the power grid. ZTE has partnered with Digicel, a network provider which targets emerging markets, to help bring the phone to these people. Digicel already offers other solar powered designs.
And for consumers in the U.S. just looking to do their part to save power, the phone launches internationally in June. No U.S. carriers have picked up the phone yet, but if you get your hands on one, it should work with most phone networks.
via Inhabitat
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written by jesseme, March 03, 2009
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written by skeptic, March 06, 2009
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