Sharp's latest cell phone recharges with a solar panel

It’s a cellphone that might rarely need plugging in the wall. This handset from Sharp has just gone on sale in Japan and features a solar panel to recharge the battery. 30 minutes of sunlight will provide 2 to 3 minutes of talk time or over 2 hours of standby time while 60 minutes will take this up to 6 minutes of talk and 6 hours of standby. While it’s being recharged, sun icons on the front display indicate the battery level. Left in the sunlight ling enough, the battery will recharge about 80 percent of capacity but it will only reach a full charge with the conventional paradigm to us due to safety concerns. The CDMI phone has GPS and mobile TV unless of the other functions that are now standard on handsets in Japan. It’s also waterproof. Customers on Japan’s AU carrier network can already get the phone and it will be appearing from other carriers in the coming months. Sharp is both a leading manufacturer of cellphones in Japan and one of the world’s biggest solar panel makers. So the paring of the two in handset is a complete surprise. It’s not the first cellphone to be shown with solar panels. Earlier this year, at the Mobile World Congress Show, both Samsung and LG showed off prototypes however both are yet to go on sale. In Tokyo, this is Martin Williams, IDG News Service.

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