14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has come up with an innovative technology once again, creating the world's first pants that can wirelessly recharge your smartphone as you walk or sit at the desk.
As my colleague Sebastian Pop told you a few hours ago, this new pair of trousers was created by Microsoft, with help from Nokia and British fashion designer Adrien Sauvage, who has been working on the project for the past six months.
Presented in London, the prototype is expected to get the green light for production anytime soon, with pre-orders to be available via Amazon, Microsoft said.
The whole idea behind the concept is as simple as it could be: the wearer has to put the smartphone in his pocket and wait for the built-in charger to recharge the battery.
Microsoft and Nokia used the Nokia DC-50, a wireless charging device that has its own battery, as the core element of the whole system, and installed it in one of the front pockets. It uses inductive charging to recharge the smartphone once the wearer puts it in the pocket.
The Nokia DC-50 measures only 69mm (2.71 inches) in width and 134mm (5.27 inches) in height, while being only 12mm (0.47 inches) thick. It has a weight of 150 grams (5.29 ounces), so it shouldn't be such a pain in the neck to carry it around.
The inductive charging system is already being used by several companies across the world, including electric car manufacturers that are trying to offer a wireless and effortless method of recharging the vehicle's batteries.
Basically, the inductive charging system is based on an electromagnetic field to transfer power from one device to another, in our case from the Nokia charger to the smartphone. Of course, inductive charging has several setbacks, but it still comes in handy when trying to recharge a smartphone on the go. For example, part of the energy in the device that stores the power is wasted, while the recharging process takes place at a very slow pace.
No details about the price are available right now, but some sources close to the matter said that the pants could go for as high as $340 (€250) when they hit the market later this year.
“We don’t see a mass-market opportunity for wireless-charging trousers. We’re just having a bit of a hack, trying to move the wearable technology concept beyond smartwatches. This is a world first,” Adam Johnson, head of marketing for Nokia Devices, said.
“Continuing this theme, we are excited to work alongside a talented designer such as A. Sauvage. As well as having the vision to co-create these amazing wireless charging trousers, his style complements the cutting-edge design of the new Lumia 930 smartphone perfectly.”