A couple of weeks ago, I attended a peering-into-the-future, what-should-the-BBC-be-doing-on-mobile brainstorming session. It was all right as such things go: interesting, but not particularly useful. I felt it focused too much on the web and ignored any future-gazing that wasn't directly connected to the internet.
I find this happens a lot in new media circles. We’re a spoiled lot, really. And tend to ignore issues like global warming or the economy or plagues of frogs. Instead there was a lot of talk about displays becoming bigger and better, the devices becoming more powerful, and software becoming much more connected. These will, no doubt, affect how people use their mobiles and what place the BBC has in this space, but I think other pressures will also exert their influence (e.g. the need for people to inexpensively monitor flocks of frogs blocking the suns rays).
I’m at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona now and I’m pleased to report that others do appear to be thinking about the economy and global warming and plagues of frogs (or at least heathcare).
Yesterday I saw Samsung’s new Blue Earth phone which is due to launch later this year. It is has a solar panel on the back of the phone and is made out of recycled plastic bottles. The Samsung rep stressed that they tried to think about every aspect of the product from an environmental perspective. The packaging for instance, is not only made from recycled materials, but is also as lightweight as it can be. The heavier a package is, the more energy required to transport it and the more materials needed in the first place.
It also uses a more energy efficient charger than normal and has a cool built-in pedometer that displays the amount of CO2 you would have generated if you’d driven the same distance you just walked.
Samsung also had on display a couple of concept chargers – one a hand-cranked mobile phone charger and one a dynamo designed to fit on to a bicycle.
I’m quite keen to see this last one in the stores. Motorola announced one at CES in 2007, but a quick google reveals no trace of it since the announcement. I did find one called the PedalPower+ made by a small company in Australia. They don’t appear to have a stand at MWC, though.
I also saw a number of solar powered phones designed for the emerging markets on display. These were very basic models expected to retail for about $30 to $40 USD.
And in the about-bloody-time category the GSM association announced an initiative to create a universal phone charger that will consume 50% less energy on stand-by than today’s chargers. More importantly, by 2012, they hope the majority of new handsets will all use this one charger. The GSMA estimate this may eliminate the need for up to 51,000 tonnes of extra chargers.
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