Samsung Releases New Solar-Powered Phone

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. recently unveiled its new, innovative solar powered full-touch screen phone, the “Blue Earth.” The Blue Earth phone is also part of “The Blue Earth Dream: Eco-living with SAMSUNG mobile,” an environmental initiative by the company to reduce its CO₂ emissions, eliminate its use of hazardous substances and encourage cell phone recycling. 

Symbolizing a flat, shiny pebble, Blue Earth can charge with the solar panel located on the back of the phone, generating enough power to complete a call.

How many trees could you save if you walked instead of drove? Blue Earth has a function to tell you just that. Photo: Samsung.com

The phone is made from a recycled plastic prodct called PCM, which is made from water bottles. The packaging for Blue Earth is designed to be small and light, is made from recycled paper and comes with a 5-star energy efficient charger that uses standby power lower than 0.03W. The phone and charger are also free from harmful substances such as brominated flame retardants, beryllium and phthalates.

Additionally, Blue Earth comes with a user interface designed to create eco-awareness for its users. It has a number of “eco settings,” which enable the user to easily set screen brightness, backlight duration and a Bluetooth to an energy-efficient mode. It also has an “eco walk” function that counts steps with a built-in pedometer. This mode calculates how much CO₂ emissions have been reduced by walking, as opposed to driving, and reports the number of trees saved.

“Samsung’s ‘The Blue Earth Dream’ demonstrates our small but meaningful commitments for the future and our environment,” said J.K. Shin, executive vice president and head of mobile communication division of Samsung Electronics. “We are committed to achieving the highest eco-status with our customers and business partners by providing the best eco-products and promoting eco-activities.”

This release also comes on the heels of announcements that the mobile phone producers may be moving to produce universal chargers to reduce energy consumption and waste. With over 1.1 billion phones sold annually worldwide, energy usage and cell phone recycling have been hot topics throughout the industry.