Wind-up mobile phone

 I'm always torn between analog and digital. The techie in me loves digital, the realist in me knows this stuff won't last. But this is cool, and quasi-analog.


Friggin' Sweet. Telegraph UK:

The phone, which has the working title Ventus, is in the prototype stage at the moment, but the first model is scheduled for launch in the first half of next year. Its creators expect it to sell well in developing countries.

Tony Davies, the director of TCL, the company behind the phone, says that India and Africa in particular would be good markets, as they have very good mobile coverage but very poor power infrastructure.

TCL, which also produces wind-up radios and torches under the Trevor Baylis Brand, created by the British inventor of the wind-up radio Trevor Baylis, says one minute of cranking will allow for four minutes' talk time. A specially developed ultra-thin dynamo creates the power.
Better still, it can be left on standby forever if its rear-mounted solar panels are in sunlight, before being wound up if a call needs to be made.

Hand-cranked mobile phone chargers are already on the market, but TCL says that because the new device charges the battery directly, rather than having to go through a phone’s mains plug, it is much more efficient.

Mr Davies TCL told the BBC: “With our system the generator accesses the battery directly, and that really increases the efficiency of the system."