Your solar-powered cell phone is coming

A new cell phone, the Samsung Blue Earth, set to be unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in sunny Barcelona next week, will feature solar panels to charge its battery. "We transform the limitations of the mobile phone," said Wonsik Lee, the vice president of the research and design planning team at Samsung in a statement.

The integrated solar panels on the back of the phone can yield a three minute call after a ten minute charge. The phone itself is made from recycled plastic water bottles and the front user interface can adjust screen brightness depending on whether the user is outside or inside.

The interface also has a useful nag feature that calculates something called "eco-walk" by telling you how much CO2 is saved if you walk instead of drive. The pedometer-based feature also tells you how many trees you are saving with this negative carbon footprint. And, setting it apart from other green phones we've seen, the Blue Earth is well-designed and looks like something even a non-eco-geek wouldn't mind showing off.

While specifics and pricing haven't been released yet, Samsung states its phone needs only 0.03 watts of electricity on standby, which is probably a greener feature than the solar panels, truth be told. The company is expected to announce soon when the phone will be sold and in which countries.

Via: PC Mag