A Cell Phone Solar Charger for the iPhone

  The iPhone has so many accessories designed for every possible niche, that occasionally, all the attention almost seems a little too much. Sometimes, it seems like a new device will sell, just because it is the iPhone it is designed for. But finally here is an iPhone gadget that should fill most iPhone users' hearts with joy - a cell phone solar charger for the iPhone. It is produced by a company called Novothink, and it is called the Solar Surge. This neat little device looks like an iPhone/iPod Touch holster. The part where you slip the iPhone into is on one side, the other side is taken up by an photovoltaic surface.

This cell phone solar charger has an internal battery and you´re supposed to just place the Solar Surge out in the sun by itself, with no iPhone attached. It can charge itself - two hours of charging will give you 20 minutes of talk time - and when you need it, you just put your iPhone into the holder, and the Solar Surge charges the iPhone's battery. The only limitation is that it won't work with the first-generation iPhone.

Sure enough there have been cell phone solar charger devices before - even ones for the iPhone. So what makes the Solar Surge special? It's the only one on the market that Apple actually endorses. Will people mind that the Solar Surge is a bit bulky and the cost? Generally, for environmentally conscious people the conscientiousness of what they're doing, will compensate for any small issues like this.

But what if there is no sunlight? What are the alternatives to cell phone solar chargers? How about the Easy Energy YoGen? A impressive mechanical cell phone charger. This credit card-sized device has a little dynamo inside and you move the dynamo by pulling on a little rip-cord. You generate electricity with your muscle power, which charges the connected phone. But you only generate a small amount of electricity. Five minutes of pulling is just the equivalent of five minutes of charging on a power outlet. So, unlike a solar power cell phone charger, the YoGen is not for regular use. Five minutes of cord-pulling for ten minutes of talk time - this one is strictly for emergencies.