Motorola patents combination mobile phone LCD and solar cell
Since most mobile phone power draw happens when the phone is open, it’s logical to want to have it somehow magically be recharging while you talk, perhaps through the rays flung off by a majestic, benevolent, floating sphere that also makes the crops grow. But seriously, with monochrome LCDs it’s semi-feasible to make screens where 75% of sunlight passes through, where it would end up in a solar cell. The thin-film involved is still on the expensive side, but with power consumption skyrocketing as mobiles get increasingly complicated, solar power is a seductive solution. Plus, the iPhone has demonstrated people are (theoretically at least) willing to pay gobs for a phone if they think it’s All That, so all it really takes is Al Gore appearing on Richard and Judy wearing nothing but a thong and a Motorola solar-charge phone for demand to take off. [GT]
Display and solar cell device [via Treehugger]
