Freecharge Windup Mobile Phone Power Source

Harry Morgan writes: "The UK's Guardian newspaper has an interesting article in it's Online Supplement concerning Freeplay's handheld, windup mobile phone power supply the Freecharge. Although larger and heavier than several spare batteries, it has two distinct advantages over the former, you don't have to turn the phone off to connect it and it will never go flat a long as your arms work!"

Comments

Re:Eh.

[matthew.thompson]

Trevor Bayliss, the inventor of the original Windup Radio, sprung (pun intended) upon the human power idea whilst listening to or watching a programme about how the developing world was trying to spread information regarding HIV and AIDS by radio but that batteries were prohibitively expensive.

Freeplay was set up to provide these radios to the developing countries at a cost they could afford - partially subsidised by the sale of the devices in the developed world.

It is more likely that instead of this device being designed directly for the likes of you and me it has been designed for the places where mobile telephony is about the only form of telephone available and where electricity is likely to be in short supply or intermittently available.

That we can buy the devices is probably a way to subsidise the sale of them in much the same way as the radios.