Cheap Solar-Powered Phones, E-books, Tablets, & More Soon?
A French company, Wysips, has developed a way to charge your cell phone, e-book, tablet, or similar device without having to plug it in to anything. Not only that, but it’s technology would only add about $1 to the cost of a smart phone.
Wysips states: “We have created the world’s first transparent photovoltaic film. It’s flexible, free from size constraints and has thousands of potential applications.”
Here are some more details from the folks over at Wired: the “transparent photovoltaic film covers the screen of your device, and provides 250mW of power to trickle-charge the battery. The film is thin — just 100 microns or 0.1mm — and won’t dim the screen when incorporated into the LCD panel.”
The device can actually be charged from various light sources, not only solar. Of course, the bigger the screen, the bigger the “solar panel,” meaning that it should work across many sizes and devices.
With initial versions and some technologies, you may still need to charge up using another method a bit. But with some devices, like e-books, it looks like you will really never have to plug them in to anything to keep them working.
Wysips intends to launch the product in about 12 months.
Wysips won the 2011 prize for “Green Telecom & Smart Energy Solutions, Apps & Hardware” at CTIA’s 2011 Emerging Technology, among other prizes.
More info here: Wysips product page
via Wired
Image via Laptop Mag
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