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Solar panels, this year or next?
- Thread starter ogdogg
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You must remember that Apple has filed for hundreds of patents with only a scant few ever seeing the light of day. Either the others have not panned out in testing or they were simply impractical.
This one certainly seems impractical. My iPhone is in my pocket more than it is in my hand, and no solar panel can charge it faster than it is being used, so it's hardly useful.
As for when we'd see it, it's obviously not on this iPhone, as we already know the physical manifestation of the 4th gen model.
http://www.patentlyapple.com/patent...ll-iphone-supports-prototype-in-the-wild.html
This one certainly seems impractical. My iPhone is in my pocket more than it is in my hand, and no solar panel can charge it faster than it is being used, so it's hardly useful.
As for when we'd see it, it's obviously not on this iPhone, as we already know the physical manifestation of the 4th gen model.
http://www.patentlyapple.com/patent...ll-iphone-supports-prototype-in-the-wild.html
http://i.engadget.com/2010/06/06/apple-patent-application-hints-at-solar-powered-iphone/
Sorry for the iPhone link...
Sorry for the iPhone link...
Lol, I feel like iPhone users rarely use their device out in the sunlight. If it can be charged even by incandescent lights from indoors, that would be cool, esp if it's charged on all the glass surfaces, both on the front and the back of the phone.
If they switch to a 4.3 inch display on the next iPhone that would give it a much greater surface area to charge the phone.
If they include an OLED screen, it would be more energy efficent and we would actually be able to use it outside, even in the sun.
If they switch to a 4.3 inch display on the next iPhone that would give it a much greater surface area to charge the phone.
If they include an OLED screen, it would be more energy efficent and we would actually be able to use it outside, even in the sun.
It has to be this year since next year they will already have the nuclear reactor core developed.
So you think that Apple is going to encourage people to leave their phone outside in the hot sun for extended periods of time? I don't think so.
The way I understand it, it wouldn't be to "charge" the phone, but to absorb light from the display as well as the surrounding light to help the battery last longer. I don't see it being a game changer for the phone, but a marketing wet dream for Apple. Similar to Toyota's solar powered car option. Solar power only runs the A/C unit, but it's a big selling point.
If $2 calculators can have solar panels, I can't imagine it'd be too hard for Apple to include something similar to improve iPhone efficiency.
So for those that do not spend too much time in the sun can not get an iPhone's full functionality? That does not seem fair. Plus, wouldn't that be promoting skin cancer?
You're missing a patent.
http://www.patentlyapple.com/patent...ll-iphone-supports-prototype-in-the-wild.html
Insults are also against the rules. Please reread them.
I dont think solar panels are currently anywhere near as efficient for this to be a viable option in the next 5 years....plus, Im not going to leave an expensive piece of tech out in the hot sun for any extended period of time
plus, Im not going to leave an expensive piece of tech out in the hot sun for any extended period of time
Obviously not. It would just be another way to augment your battery life while you're outside. It's not meant to replace charging your phone.
just because there is a patent doesnt mean something exists or ever will exist. IF, and thats a big IF, solar panels beacome an efficient enough source of energy to power smartphones in the future, we MAYBE will see this. Not before.
Ha, I didn't know that insults were against the rules. Sorry about that, I think its a good rule for internet forums as they can get unruly, but its not a common rule so forgive me.
Anyway, I had heard about that patent, but I also know a little about solar panels. And knowing a little about solar panels is enough to know that such technology is a pipe dream, possibly feasible at some time in the very distant future when carbon nanofiber solarpanels have such great efficiency that could get get a useful amount of energy out of indoor lighting. Real world solar panels are nowhere near that right now. Right now, an iPhone sized solar panel couldn't run an iPhone if you put it face up towards a midsummer sun, at the equator, at noon. Much less be able to get a significant charge during the few times it is out of the user's pocket and is getting glancing light from fluorescent tubes.
