Two years ago we were promised a solar powered version of the Motorola lazr. It never arrived, And it is a little known secret that several mobile phones including the lazr can be charged using a usb connection. Is there a tiny consiracy abuzz to keep us all buying 20 GBP chargers? Not really, most smart phones can charge while downloading information and music. Still socket power remains the system of choice to charge up our mobile devices.
Don’t look for any purely recharged by the sun mobile phones to appear. The best one can expect are more hybrid systems such as that offered by Solio. These allow for power to be stored from either the wall or the sun into an intermediate battery that will in turn transfer juice to our Blackberry. The Solio system uses a rather large and antiquated solar panel to build the charge within it’s battery.
The system provides 14 minutes of talk time for each hour it sunbathes. But that is not on a modern brightly lit LCD so, in truth, you might need to charge your Solio for half a day to operate your iPhone for half an hour. This device is the one you want if your name is Gilligan and you plan on taking a three hour tour. Barring that, plug your Blackberry into the wall every night. The stock Blackberry powerstation will fully charge the phone in 45 minutes. The USB connection only takes two hours.