Nokia: the Sun Can't Charge Your Phone

itwbennett writes "Nokia's research into solar-powered cell phones ended with a (barely audible) thud. Under the best of conditions researchers were able 'to harvest enough energy to keep the phone on standby mode but with a very restricted amount of talk time,' Nokia wrote in a blog post on Tuesday. Not surprisingly, the prototype phone, which had a solar panel on the back cover, performed better in Kenya than in other testing locations, like southern Sweden and the Arctic Circle."

Comments

it should have been

[bugs2squash]

a tablet then

Re:it should have been

[davester666]

or switch to Intel chips. I keep reading how Intel is just about to ship a really low-power chipset for cell phones in just a few months.

Of course, I've been reading this for about 5 years now.

Re:it should have been

[Anonymous Coward]

Wait just a second here. My Sun Blade 2500 workstation charges my phone just fine, thank you very much. All I have to do is plug the cable into the USB port and It Just Works. What a stupid, misleading article title.

Re:it should have been

[unixisc]

That's what I thought. While solar energy won't do a good job in charging a phone, an unixstation will. So Sun Microsystems was greater than the sun when it comes to charging electronic devices. Even Oracle realized it, which is why they acquired Sun Microsystems, but didn't acquire the original sun - won't know what to do w/ it.

So basically

[Deathnerd]

They spent god knows how much money and time to send this team of researchers around the world to exotic locations to talk on a cellphone with a solar panel duck taped to the back of it? Where the hell was THAT career option on career day?

Nokia's Been Researching Solar Power?

[guttentag]

This explains why they kept getting closer and closer to windows. Maybe now that they've realized this isn't the way to go they can get back on track.

rimshot

Maybe if they took the phone outside they'd get better results. All the imperfections in the windows are probably cutting into the amount of actual power the device gets.

rimshot

Thank you, I'll be here all week. Try the veal.

Look closer to home

[not_surt]

Like many in the developed world I carry a considerable surplus fuel stockpile on my abdomen which it would be nice (and perhaps healthy) to take advantage of.
Maybe a combination if an in-body blood sugar energy harvesting rig and inductive charging coils on each hip? If your fuel stockpile is running low then make it a solar charging rig with a symbiotic algae/cyanobacteria in the skin to produce sugars from sunlight.

On to the next idea

[Megahard]

A nuclear powered phone.

Re:On to the next idea

[Anonymous Coward]

solar powered flashlight

Re:Why did they think this would work?

[ewieling]

My Motorola V3M has the battery life of a smart phone and the features of a dumb phone. Worst Phone Ever.

The real reason ...

[jginspace]

This research was killed by several three-letter agencies who shiver at the prospect of people not actually carrying their phones ON THEIR PERSON. Those hellfire missiles aren't cheap and they want them to hit those nasty mujahadis when they're least expecting it - having the missile crash through the roof - not blowing the poor bugger's Nokia up while it's sitting on the porch and he's sitting in the outhouse.

Re:Why did they think this would work?

[Anonymous Coward]

WINDMILLS DO NOT WORK THAT WAY. GOOD NIGHT.

Morbo feels sorry for the idiots who implemented the Slashdot filter.

Thinking cap on...

[fyngyrz]

Hmmm..... deep vee cleavage tops for chicks.... glittery solar cell appliques for their breastesess... motorized bras that cause nipples to auto-track the sun when the sun is in front of said chick... woven golden wires leading to cellphone pocket like a necklace...

PROFIT!

Wait, did I say that out loud?