14 DAY TRIAL // We have seen a lot of interesting mobile phone concepts wandering in the wild lately, including a wide range of handsets that use solar energy as power source, not to mention devices that come with a variety of music capabilities, or an idea of a phone made from a lot of small pieces that would be able to also work as a small notebook when necessary.
One new concept that has been recently spotted comes from Kyocera in the form of a kinetic energy-powered phone that has the ability to fold up just like a wallet. The designer of the handset is Susan McKinney, while the EOS phone comes with a soft, semi-rigid polymer skin that surrounds a flexible low-energy OLED display. The device has been developed so as to blend in with the surface during downtime, while its keys pop up when in use.
When unfolded, the handset will unveil a wide screen, but it can also be used in its folded-up shape to make phone calls. However, the most interesting feature of the Kyocera EOS is that it drives its energy from the interaction with the human body. An array of tiny piezoelectric generators included in the device are meant to turn kinetic energy into an electric charge, meaning that the more you use it the more energy it will have.
Kyocera teams in San Diego and Bangalore expect to be able to include concepts from the device into a series of mobile phones in the future, but the EOS is currently in an early stage of development. For what it's worth, the device seems to be a great alternative to traditional handsets that require an electricity source to recharge their battery, the way recently unveiled phones coming from Samsung or LG use solar power to recharge.
