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First Wind-up Phone Charger Review

Posted by Hemos on from the wind-me-up-baby dept.

Jonathan Bennett writes "Here's the first actual review (as opposed to speculation) of Motorola's FreeCharge hand-operated mobile phone charger. Only works with Motorola phones for now, but other devices on the way. "

12 of 221 comments (clear)

  1. Not too bad... by DJayC · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "Motorola claims that 45 seconds' winding will produce 4-6 minutes of talk time and 'several hours' of standby time."

    That's actually not bad at all. The only problem is that if you wind it to get standby back, if someone calls you are likely to only have a minute or so of talking. This seems like an excellent idea for emergencies though.

    1. Re:Not too bad... by Zen+Mastuh · · Score: 3, Insightful
      You are waiting for an important call at the beach (don't ask =] ).

      You've got it all backwards--buy your weed before you go to the beach. It's much more fun that way!

      --
      "What is the sound of one belly slapping?"
  2. Another box to lug around by Animats · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Unfortunately, it's not integrated into the phone. There are uses for an "emergency phone" with a built-in crank generator. But this is an external unit you carry around.

    A "squeeze the handle a few times and you can make a call" unit might be more useful.

  3. Inerita Chargers by SanLouBlues · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why don't they just do it like watches do?
    Or: http://howthingswork.virginia.edu/clocks.html

    1. Re:Inerita Chargers by colmore · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Watches are at a pretty high torque point, on your wrist, and will get a lot more energy than something clipped to your belt.

      Also watches require much less power to operate.

      --
      In Capitalist America, bank robs you!
  4. Re:Why bother by Anonvmous+Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The point isn't to charge it to capacity, the point is to get your phone running long enough to place a call if your battery goes low.

    I don't get many calls on my cell phone, so I get lazy about charging it. If I could wind it up a few times and get 10-15 minutes of talk time (which sounds reasonable based on the article), then it saves my booty if I get stranded or something.

    You're operating on impractical assumptions there. Heh.

  5. Doh. by glh · · Score: 1, Insightful

    It's bad enough when Susie in her corvette is driving in front of me with her ear glued to the cell phone. Just imagine when her phone starts going out and she's in the middle of a lane change getting ready to wind... (shudder)

  6. Oh, no. by Dthoma · · Score: 2, Insightful
    I know exactly how this is going to be used.

    Picture a crowded intercity train. With an inconsiderate commuter phoning home.

    Then:
    "HELLO? HELLO? I SAID I'M GOING TO BE LATE! HELLO? @#$% battery!"

    Now:
    "HELLO? HELLO? I SAID I'M GOING TO BE LATE, DARLING! Damn."
    (insert loud cranking sound)
    "AAH, THAT'S BETTER! NOW, ANYWAY, I SAID I'M GOING TO BE LATE BACK! HOW LONG? UH, ABOUT HALF AN HOUR TO AN HOUR LATE! YES? CAN YOU PUT MY DINNER IN THE OVEN? WHAT? HANG ON!"
    (insert loud cranking sound)
    "YES, DINNER! IN OVEN! OH, CAN YOU GET THE WASHING MACHINE READY FOR WHEN I COME IN? OK? WAIT, GOING THROUGH A TUNNEL! HANG ON! PUT THE WASHING MACHINE ON! WHAT DO YOU MEAN? MY SUIT! HELLO? HANG ON!"
    (insert loud cranking sound)

    To be repeated ad fucking nauseam.

    --

    Note to M1-ers: a curt but otherwise insightful message is not "Flamebait" or "Troll".

  7. foot pedal by bob_jenkins · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What they need is a foot pedal. That way you could talk while charging it.

  8. Re:The product page is moderately more interesting by mberman · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If you read the article, it tells you that for a full charge, you need 35 minutes of charging. 45 seconds will get you the minumum "useful" amount of charge (enough for a short call). However, the best use of this seems to be to start with it fully charged (you can plug it in to charge it up), and then whenever you make a call, or if it's been idle for a day or two, you wind it to top off the battery. That way, when you need to make your 30 minute call, you can do it immediately and pay for it later, rather than having to wind it for 20 minutes before being able to perform that emergency heart surgery...

    --

    This is a self-referential sig

  9. Third World Use by Smurphy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    One use they don't bring up that they should is being able to use cell phones where there isn't any electricity to charge them. In a lot of the poorer countries they are going straight to cell phones and skipping laying copper. The lack of electricity to charge the phones has been one of the stumbling blocks for getting phone service to some really remote areas.

  10. emergency by doggo · · Score: 2, Insightful
    I bought one of those Sony emergency radios, it's bright orange,AM/FM, has little light for the dial, water resistant,an audio beacon (sounds like a smoke detector), and it's crank/battery/ac adapter powered. It's pretty basic, but it sounds okay.

    I bought it to be my work radio, just to listen to talk radio while I'm working in my office. But I started using it in the kitchen while I'm cooking because it's small and durable.

    Anyway, I figured I'd never have to buy batteries for it. If you crank the thing for one minute, you get about 30 minutes of power. But the thing is, it's a pretty stiff crank (heh), and you have to crank it pretty fast. After about 3 minutes, you're pretty much sick of doing it. But that does give you a good hour or so of listening. It'd be good if you were stranded in the woods and you wanted to hear the ball game, or use the smoke detector noise scare away predators. Otherwise, it's just easier to use batteries, which seem to last forever.

    These crank-up electronic devices are really only useful in emergency situations, or by really committed environmentalists.