Prototype Phone: Powered by the Sun for Patchouli-frangranced Vegan Commies

Attention, hippies: if you could put down your bong for one second, we have something here you might like. T3, the British magazine about gadgets and babes, has come back from Tokyo with these photos and stats on a prototype phone powered by solar energy. Cool, right? Sure, if you live outdoors on a cloud-free mountaintop. But then how would you get service?

We don’t like the idea. Maybe a solar-powered charger, sure. But phones spend most of their time in dark places: our pockets, between cushions, or bonadge bars. The light of day rarely penetrates to these regions, so unless you’re a very outdoorsy type (or worse, a “morning person”), I don’t see the point.

As a proof of concept, sure, it’s maybe cool. But we live in Seattle. The last thing we need is something to remind us that behind that canopy of gray is a life-giving, free power source. Damn hippies.

Also: it looks too much like a travel alarm clock.

Solar-powered super phone! Egads! A mobile phone charged by the power of the sun! We’ve seen the future – and now we need sunglasses. [T3]