You’re on a camping trip. Your phone is dead, but you need to make a call. If you’ve got an EnerPlex case (and some sunlight), all you need is a little patience.
The company offers a line of solar-powered smartphone cases for the iPhone 5S and Samsung Galaxy S4. Stick your phone in the sun for an hour and you should get enough juice to make a 5-10 minute phone call.
You can also fully charge your phone’s battery… with about 3 days of constant sunlight. I guess it’s better than nothing.
The company’s smartphone cases also have built-in batteries, so while the solar panel might not be all that useful for everday usage, you can charge your case’s battery with a USB cable and just about double your phone’s battery life.
EnergPlex already offers it Surfr case for the Samsung Galaxy S4 (with a 2500mAh battery) for about $90. the iPhone 5S case with a 2000mAH battery is coming soon for about $100.
If you need to charge your devices a little more quickly, the company’s Kickr Series of portable solar charges with more surface area. Under ideal circumstances, you should be able to charge a phone or tablet in about twice the time it would take to do it by plugging straight into a wall jack.
You can also connect an external battery pack, and EnerPlex is introducing a new battery model called the Jumpr Slate which is just 0.26 inches thick and which offers up to 10,000mAh. Prices will start at $59.
News Flash: Putting your smart phone in direct sunlight for several hours will fry your phone.
Can someone calculate how many spare batteries I could buy from eBay for the same price as this case? Wouldn’t they be easier to use and provide many times more energy?
Why is the iPhone case more than the GS4 case that has a larger battery? Is it because iPhone users will buy anything no matter the cost? I am so glad I never bought into the Apple hype. Because that’s all it is…BS Hype! The GS4 is a far superior phone. IMHO.
What, no windmills?
Maaaan
I would like a flip cover with solar panels on the back and on the front. Also, I’d like it to have no battery or maybe a very small one to make the case thinner. That way, I’ll just use the cover trickle charge my phone throughout the day. Maybe even have the panels sensitive enough to provide power with indoor lighting.
Ford has a prototype concept car that can completely charge from solar. The solar cells pack
quite a bit more power than the ones widely available now. (Ford also has a prototype
carport which moves the car to always keep the sun’s rays in focus, maybe something
similar can be done scaled-down for gadget chargers.)
I’d prefer that the solar charger be supplemented with a quality crank-operated dynamo, but alas,
there doesn’t seem to be any reliable crank dynamo charger around (the Eton devices
have poor reviews). The first widely-available crank-operated dynamo device was
a highly regarded mother of a flashlight,
Too bad dynamo devices have gone downhill since the no-name mainland Chinese
manufacturers flooded the market with cheap, unreliable crank-operated dynamo chargers.
I still use a couple of crank flashlights I got from REI. A beam one and a lantern one. Used it a few months ago when there was a power outage.
I use to have an old crank wall phone that I would go “fishing” with in a local pond. It worked great. That was a dynamo…