Samsung's Blue Earth solar phone is ultra-green

I have a few friends (who shall remain nameless) who are often unreachable because they don't charge their phones when they should. These same friends should look into the new Samsung Blue Earth, which is to be unveiled in a couple days at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.The phone is green, despite its blue color, and it's not just the integrated solar panels that make it so. The Blue Earth is made of recycled plastic, features a pedometer, and even software that reaffirms just how much you're helping the planet by using it. If Al Gore had one of these mobile devices in hand, it would likely explode. (Hickey, 2009)

I wonder whether the solar panels are really functional solar panels or if they are just a marketing gimmick. I don?t see that little solar panel powering a color touch screen phone for any useable amount of time or charging a lithium polymer battery without baking the phone in the sun for 2 weeks.

Hickey, Matt (2009,2,13). Samsung's Blue Earth solar phone is ultra-green. Retrieved February 14, 2009, from wired.com Web site: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10164232-1.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0