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Cardiff solar technology firm G24 Innovations has come up with something that's caught our fancy -- a portable, bendy solar panel that charges mobile phones. The thing is about the size of a reporter's notebook when folded up, and unfolds to reveal flexible solar panels and an adaptor for a mobile phone.
The bendy panels won't break, which is pretty amazing. The other cool thing is that the sheets of solar panels are cheaper to manufacture and will therefore be available to more people -- G24i wants people without dependable access to electricity to use these things, which we reckon will happen once they hit the market. On top of that, G24i uses an organic dye technology that mimics photosynthesis and isn't as energy-intensive as manufacturing with silicon, which most solar panels are made from. Take a look at the specific products here.
Our techy friends on ZDNet.co.uk thought this thing was worth playing around with, too -- though they called it (shock, horror!) "hippyish". Check out their recent Dialogue Box video, where they assess it alongside other tech.
Unfortunately, these babies aren't for sale yet, though the company says they should be out soon. G24i claims that the panels work in cloudy conditions (good news for us sun-deprived Britons), that they can charge a phone battery in two to three hours and that they can be configured to charge cameras, MP3 players and radios.
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