A consumer electronics company in Japan, Kyocera Corporation has announced that it is finalizing preparations to unveil a new Smartphone that is exclusively powered by only solar power.
The company made the announcement at this year’s World Mobile Congress, in Barcelona. Last year, Kyocera made the same announcement at the same Congress, saying it has developed a phone which is powered by the energy from sun. The company showed a prototype, but it is said the device was in its very infancy, failing to attract attention.
However, this year, the company went a step further by upgrading it, announcing with confidence that the phone will be on sale in 2017. This new prototype is 12.7-centimeters long.
The phone, which is yet to be named, will allow for a minute of talk time for every three minutes of sunlight. This is a big improvement over the company’s 2015 predecessor, which offered only 15 minutes for every two hours of solar charging.
PBS reports that Kyocera developed the phone in partnership with France-based Sunpartner Technologies, which produces translucent film impregnated with photovoltaic cells.
According to details on how the phone will be powered by the sun, it is said a film has been installed between the LCD display and the touch screen helping the phone charge more easily while in use. The phone has a 5 inch full HD screen, a waterproof design, and Android software, reports liliputing.com.
In the past, efforts to design solar-powered phones meant they had the cells on the back, meaning that the device had to be facedown to get a charge. The cells, being external, made the phones vulnerable as they damaged easily.
The company said as it is preparing to release the phone on the market, many people are worried about the price. Kyocera disclosed that the phone will not expensive to consumers. The company assured consumers that it will deliver a reasonable and efficient phone with a reasonable price that consumers can afford.
Spokesman for Kyocera, John Chier revealed that the new phone is likely to show up in one of its lines of phones geared for industrial or outdoor use. Technology experts have welcomed the innovation by Kyocera. They, however, predict that if the company is able to produce a very efficient device using the energy from the sun, many of its competitors will follow suit.
Back in 2009, Samsung introduced the Blue Earth phone, which featured a solar charger. However, the company pulled the product from the market not long after its release. A spokesperson of the company later told the media that the Blue Earth was a limited production. Some media outlets reported that the phone was never sold in the United States, the country with the highest consumer culture in the world.
In 2012, Nokia also abandoned a project to develop phones with a solar charger built into the back cover. The company said it abandoned the project because it was simply not practical, and that demand of the phones was limited.
In recent years, solar power has seen a significant development. Streetlights, traffic lights, houses and factories are all powered with solar power. Some experts are currently even experimenting using solar power to move cars and aircrafts. Therefore, observers believe that powering a small device like a Smartphone with the energy from the sun is even long overdue. However, solar-powered phones will face a challenge. Users will have to avoid putting them in their pockets or purses. The phones have to be exposed to the sunlight. User will have to change their behavior regarding the way they handle phones in order to make solar-powered phones more practical.
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