Solar Phone To Aid Communications In Remote Areas
A solar mobile phone will bring open up new worlds to people living in remote areas of the world. These solar phones will first be sold in Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Vanuatu in June. Digicel Group, who will distribute the solar phone predicts a market of 700,000 customers across Central America, the Caribbean and the South Pacific. An urgent need People in developing countries without access to electricity often pay brokers to charge their phones. "It's a lifestyle necessity for many. But many of these brokers are expensive and you don't get a full charge either," according to Tom Bryant, of Digicel Group. The new solar phone must be left in full sunlight for an hour to power a 15-minute conversation and is fully charged in around eight hours. The Chinese manufacturers of the solar phone - ZTE - say there is much interest in the solar phone, particularly in Africa. But creating a small, cheap, solar phone that can charge in a short amount of time is an engineering challenge, say ZTE. This new phone needs only a single solar cell, which is combined with electronics that boost the voltage available to the battery. To return to our page on solar power news. To return to our page on home page.
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