Michael Fowlkes - AOL Shopping
For most of us, cell phones have become a way of life. More and more people are dropping their home lines altogether and going purely with cell phones, but the massive amounts of cell phones floating around raises some serious environmental problems. Samsung is looking to change things up a bit with its newest cell phone concept, the solar powered "Blue Earth".
Samsung started displaying its touch screen Blue Earth phone earlier this week at a trade show in Barcelona, Spain, and it is capturing the attention of cell phone lovers and environmentalists alike. According to the company, the phone will be able to generate enough power on its own to make a call anytime, so you will never have to worry about running frantically around looking for a place to get a quick charge.
While Samsung's Blue Earth is the first solar powered cell phone to hit the market, the eco-friendly attributes do not stop there.
For many environmentalists, two of the worst words in our vocabulary are "water bottles". It is amazing the damage that discarded water bottles are having on our environment and our landfills, and this environmental concern has not gone unnoticed by Samsung. Blue Earth phones will be manufactured using recycled water bottles to make the phone's outer casing. In addition to using recycled water bottles, the phones will also be shipped to you in recycled packages.
While many of us can't get enough of our cell phones, we spend little time thinking about all the harmful substances that companies are using to manufacture these phones. With the Blue Earth, Samsung is looking to change that, and these phones will be manufactured without Brominated Flame Retardant, Beryllium and Phthalate.
The Blue Earth also offers users an "Eco Mode," allowing a more energy-efficient way to control display brightness, backlight duration, and bluetooth options.
Also built into this new phone will be "Eco Walk" which will use a pedometer to count how many steps you take when you talk, and show you how many trees you have saved by walking instead of driving to your destination.
While the Blue Earth phone has solar panels covering the back of the case, it still needs 14 hours of sunlight to get a full charge, so practically speaking, you will probably still need to plug this phone into a charger now and then. Realizing this, Samsung has even made this a more eco-friendly experience than typical, by giving the Blue Earth phone a 5 star energy efficient charger that operates on less than 0.03 watts.
All in all, this phone offers a lot, and other major cell phone manufacturers are sure to follow the lead that has been set by Samsung. Blue Earth phones are not currently available on the market but you can expect to see some hitting stores later this year.
You can visit Samsung's website to see a video they have posted discussing the Blue Earth and its eco-impact. In addition, Chinese mobile manufacturer ZTE plans to sell its Coral-200, a solar powered phone for $40.