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The Samsung Solar Guru

Our Bureau

New Delhi, June 10 Samsung India has come out with a solar-powered phone, the Samsung Solar Guru (Guru E1107). But to charge the battery fully via the solar panel, the phone needs to be kept in the sun for 40 hours!

At the launch of the phone, Dr Farooq Abdullah, Minister for New and Renewable Energy, said: “The world should be proud of this phone.”

ZTE, a Chinese company, also has a solar-powered phone ‘Coral-200-Solar’ for $40. It claims that the phone requires a one-hour charge in the sun for a 15-minute talk time. Japanese electronics giant Sharp is set to release its solar-powered phone ‘SH002’ for the Japanese market.

‘SH002’ can give one minute of talk time and two hours of standby with a 10-minute charge in the sun.

The first few lots of the Samsung phone will be imported but the company will soon manufacture them at its factory in Noida near Delhi. The phone has a solar panel on the back.

According to Mr Sunil Dutt, Country Head, Samsung Mobile Division, by charging the phone through the solar panel for one hour, users can get 4-5 minutes of talk time. “The solar panel charging is meant as a supplementary charging device.” According to Samsung, the phone’s battery can give up to 12 hours of talk time.

Costing Rs 2,799, the phone will be in shops by the middle of the month. Apart from features such as FM radio and MP3 ringtones, ‘Samsung Solar Guru’ also has a special application, Mobile Prayers, which has prayers and religious wallpapers from different religions.

Mr Dutt added that Samsung’s high-end phone, Blue Earth, which can also run on solar power, would be out in India in the fourth quarter.

Blue Earth, unveiled earlier this year at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, requires 10-14 hours of solar charge for a four-hour talk time.

More Stories on : Telecommunications | New Products & Services | Non-conventional Energy

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