Samsung’s Blue Earth cellphone, announced but not detailed back at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this year, has been launched. The handset is made from old water bottles, and the packaging is paper printed with soy ink (something I never knew existed). The Earth-friendliness even extends to the charger which sips a mere 0.03 Watts when in standby. And standby is likely where it will spend much of its time, due to the most obvious feature of the phone: a big solar-panel on the back.
Otherwise, the Blue Earth is less hippy than you might think, and instead of being wholemeal and puritan, it has all the mod-cons you’d expect of a cellphone today: a 3.2 MP camera, touch screen, music and video players, FM radio, Bluetooth, 3G and a microSDHC slot.
Actually, there are a few tree-hugging features that made it in. The pedometer, for one:
Pretty smug, right? I imagine we’ll be seeing these in the hands of Prius owners as they distractedly drive while talking and mow down eco-friendly cyclists. And Samsung certainly wants to look green on this one: Search the press release for the word “eco” and you get 23 hits. The phone will launch in Sweden this month and across Europa and Asia thereafter. Rumors of a gas-powered model for the US market are unconfirmed.
Press release [Samsung]
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