We have previously commented on a number of innovative solar powered schemes to provide energy for mobile items. For instance, some rucksacks are equipped with a solar panel and even the army in the USA are considering having solar cells woven into their front-line soldiers’ uniforms to provide power for some of their electronics equipment.
Powering a smartphone has apparently been tried before using solar energy but without any great success although there are a number of phone chargers that incorporate solar cells to help re-charge the battery.
With regard to smartphones, as a general rule, the buying public prefer them to be as sleek and lightweight as possible. Therefore, having a solar panel attached in some way to the back of a mobile phone may not be all that appealing.
Well, the French company Alcatel that make mobile phones are hopeful of bringing to market in the not too distant future a smartphone that incorporates the solar panel within the touchscreen. Although the product has recently been demonstrated it is not yet ready to be made available to the public as some fine-tuning is required.
It has a transparent solar panel but the company need to do some more work on the transparency to try to get it to a standard that they are comfortable with. They also need to make sure that the efficiency level of the solar panel is acceptable. It is hoped that the smartphone may be available to market at some point in 2015.
Of course, as smartphones have developed, they have required more power to maintain the almost endless array of widgets and apps. In this respect, any help that solar energy can provide to the smartphone industry is to be welcomed. Let us hope that when this new product is launched it is priced to make it affordable to the majority of smartphone users.
