Thursday, September 18th, 2008
These days we’re all trying to reduce our carbon footprint. Turning things off when they’re not needed, getting more efficient cars, recycling waste, but what can you do to reduce the footprint of your mobile phone?
The one source of power that is all around us, completely free and has no damaging effects on the environment is the sun, and thanks to a new range of accessories, you can now harness the power of the sun to help reduce the power your mobile phone uses.
Solar Powered Bluetooth Car Kits
LG and Iqua have both released a Solar powered Bluetooth Car Kit.


The LG HFB-500 sits on the inside of your car windscreen and charges itself using energy from the sun. While its in sunlight it will charge constantly, and can provide upto 16 hours of talktime, and 1100 hours stand by time from a full charge! LG also provide a car charger, just in case the battery does run out, but as you’ll no doubt be leaving this in your windscreen all day, everyday you’ll probably never need it! If you have an LG handset, you can use the HFB-500 as an emergency charger and charge your phone from it.
The Iqua Vizor Sun is a slightly different concept and is designed to be mounted on your sunvisor. You’ll need to have your sunvisor down in order for it to charge, but its clear keypad makes answering calls easy. Talk time is even more impressive than the LG Handsfree, and it has unlimited standby times when in sunlight.

Solar Powered Bluetooth headset
Iqua are certainly leading the field with environmentally friendly mobile accessories – In addition to their Solar Powered Bluetooth Car Kit, they also offer the worlds first Solar Powered Bluetooth Headset – the Iqua Sun BH-603. Despite having a solar panel built in, the headset weighs just 14g and provides upto 9 hours of talktime in darkness, even more in daylight. As the Iqua Sun draws its energy directly from the sun, it gives you complete freedom from wires.

Solar Chargers:
These are a must have accessory for anyone with an MP3 player, Mobile Phone, Handheld games console, or any other gadget that can be charged using a USB Charging Cable. The Solar Chargers have an inbuilt battery that draws its power from the sun. A range of charging tips are included for most devices. Solar Chargers are ideal for trips away, days out or down on the beach!
Using the Sun to charge your mobile phone and accessories may not be the biggest change you can make, but its certainly a step in the right direction. To help you save more energy, read our post on How to extend your Mobile Phone’s battery life.

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Tags: accessories, battery, Bluetooth, case, cases, charger, charging, headset, phone, power, release, solar,
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Friday, August 15th, 2008
Please note that this product has now been discontinued. However, we’ve got a great range of cases for the iPhone, iPhone 3G and iPhone 3G S:

April 2009 UPDATE:
In preparation for the launch of a new iPhone in June/July this year, the solar charging cases for the iPhone 3G have now been discontinued.
I’m sure most iPhone 3G users will agree that the battery life on the iPhone 3G is pretty poor at best. I can just about manage a whole days usage if I turn off 3G, which defeats the whole purpose of having the phone.
To combat this power problem, we have just released a range of Solar Powered cases for the new iPhone 3G. As well as protecting your iPhone 3G from everyday knocks and scrapes these energy saving cases can charge your iPhone. Each case has its own in built 1500 mAh battery, can provide one full charge for your iPhone and will recharge itself through the solar panel mounted to the front of the case, or via Mini USB if you’re in a badly lit area.
The iPhone 3G Solar Cases are available in Black and White and are due into stock mid August 2008.

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Tuesday, June 17th, 2008
Everybody knows that a Nokia Charger is a general household item and can be found lying around in most homes. Great if you’re often out and about visiting friends or family and running out of power, but as the phones have become more advanced, Nokia have changed and improved their charging connections.
Classic Nokia Charger
This is the
original Nokia Charger connector, the one that everyone will have lying around at home. No longer used on any of their current handsets, this is a
3.5mm connection used on handsets from the original
Nokia 5110, right through to the
Nokia 6230i.
2mm Nokia Charger
This is the
current Nokia Charger, used on most of their handsets. With phones getting smaller in size, Nokia reduced the size of the charging pin down to 2mm. If you have the classic Nokia mains or car charger, you can use the
Nokia CA-44 Charging Adapter to
reduce the size of the charging tip from 3.5mm to 2mm.
Micro USB Nokia Charger
Starting to appear on the higher end Nokia phones, the
Micro USB Charger uses the same port as some
handsfree kits and
data cables (not at the same time!) These ports provide a
faster transfer rate, which is why they can normally be found on the latest
Multimedia handsets.
Charge Anywhere
Historically you could only ever get chargers to use at home or in the car. Now you can charge your phone just about anywhere. You can now use a
USB Charging Cable connected to a spare port on your
PC or Laptop, an
Emergency Charger that uses a standard
AA Battery, a
wind-up charger or even
Solar power.

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Tags: battery, car, charger, charging, Classic, Nokia, phone, power, solar, USB,
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