14 DAY TRIAL // Handset manufacturer HTW Electronics has come up with a new solar-powered mobile phone that it aims to release in China in the near future.
Dubbed S116, the handset is somewhat similar as design to the Motorola KRZR, measures 47.6?84x0.8 mm and comes with a surfaced covered with solar cells that will help charge its Li-Ion battery. For an hour of charging with the help of sunbeams, the phone will provide around half an hour of talk time.
There is one major problem the user of such a mobile phone would encounter. Most people carry their mobile phones in their pockets, bags, backpacks, briefcases but never hold them in their hand pointed to the sun, therefore directly exposing them to sunlight, and I suspect that they aren't going to begin carrying them like that now.
Nevertheless, it should work as an additional power source, meaning that if you see your phone's battery is running low on power and you know that you're going to need your phone, you can take it out of the pocket enough for a quick charge. Aside from its sun-friendliness, the HTW S116 comes with a 1.3 megapixel camera, a card slot for memory expansion and a color screen with a 320 x 240 (QVGA) resolution.
The handset was sort of presented at the CeBIT show in Hanover, Germany. 'Sort of' means that it was only a presentation on paper without an actual product showcased. This is why there was no way to actually tell how well the mobile phone works. The manufacturer, HTW Electronics has also announced that it will start selling the S116 mobile phone next month in China.