French Company Developing Solar Film to Power Future iPhone

[Wiley John Wright]

All portable devices suffer from the same problem, they all run out of juice too soon. This is especially true with Apple's iPhone. But what if you could keep your iPhone running a little longer by simply laying it out in the sun or under a light? Wysips, a French-based company has developed a new type of solar panel that is completely transparent and only 100 microns thick.

Wysips is hoping to work with Gorilla Glass to integrate to their new solar film technology into future glass panels for smartphones including the iPhone. Wysips recently showed off a rough mockup to display the technology. A voltage meter at the top of the device indicates that the unit is receiving power from a nearby light source. To fully charge a cell phone, Wysips estimates that it would take about six hours of direct sunlight. Most of the time, however, the solar film would simply continue to charge the device a little bit at a time, improving overall battery life considerably.



Wysips demonstrated what the film would look like when placed over an iPhone, but it made the screen look very dark. Because the solar film is designed to be integrated onto an LCD screen directly, the final product would not be noticeable to the naked eye.

If all goes well, Wysips hopes to have their solar film integrated into consumer electronic devices within the next year. The iPhone 5 may be too far into production to integrate this technology at this point in time, but that's not to say it might not be included in the iPhone 6. Apple has shown interest in integrating solar technology into future devices as a patent discovered last June shows and iPhone with invisible solar cells. Hopefully, Apple and other companies will be able to integrate this new solar technology into wide array of future devices. In the future, plugging in an iPhone may be something you only do during the winter months.





Source: LaptopMag

[Rob2G]

That's really cool, I'll only use it if it doesn't not effect screen clarity at all.

[MaximusUK2]

Looks and sounds good!


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[iCR4C]

That would be sweet


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[Rob2G]

I wonder how much it will cost.

[mdw400]

It might even be in the new ip5. All we'll need then in England is the sun! Apparently Apple are still working on that one.

[hotrod54chevy]

That's really cool, I'll only use it if it doesn't not effect screen clarity at all.

They say it'll be built into the screen and not noticeable, so I don't think you'd have much choice, doesn't look like an aftermarket add-on but a built in charging option.

[feidhlim1986]

My iPhone is usually in my pocket until it's low on power which almost always happens at NIGHT.
Also I've left my iPhone outside in direct sunlight before for about 30 mins and it get very hot, hardly good for it.
I honestly don't see the practical benefits of this and would rather not have something like this if it increased prices

[son_of_satan666]

It might even be in the new ip5. All we'll need then in England is the sun! Apparently Apple are still working on that one.

lmao!!


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[ThatGuyChris]

Good idea but can't see it working in the UK is there one powered by clouds I development lol!

[coolguy742]

That's cool beyond belief, but I hope it comes on iPod touches too!

[MetallicaFan1991]

Hmm the sun may heat up the iPhone 4 too much though, maybe if it used light from normal use in sunlight to increase the battery wouldbe good.
The battery life on my iPhone 4 is pretty good, I'm on my i4 all day in university lectures and I easily get 8 hours of web browsing and music simultaneously.

[CZroe]

Six hours of direct sunlight for a full charge? I had my iPhone 4 overheat in 3 minutes of direct sunlight last July (right after it launched).

Also, heat is very bad for a Lithium-Ion/Polymer battery.

This would be pretty good for my motorcycle though.

[NessLookAlike]

Well, it'd be great if it could be integrated into the screen but only if it had no effect on clarity. If it would, why not integrate it just into the black bezel side of the iPhone and fully integrate it into the back glass? To charge the iPhone, you simply turn it over and leave it face-down, and then when you use it regularly, it gets a little bit of a battery boost from the smaller front panels.

[Daerid]

Imagine all of the applications that coil be used for.

[feidhlim1986]

Just put Tony Starks battery technology into the iPhone and we'll all be happy

[TheDirtyDiddler]

My iPhone is usually in my pocket until it's low on power which almost always happens at NIGHT.
Also I've left my iPhone outside in direct sunlight before for about 30 mins and it get very hot, hardly good for it.
I honestly don't see the practical benefits of this and would rather not have something like this if it increased prices

I completely agree. I'd rather just see some new battery technology altogether.

[energiesource]

You think they'd be able to make this into a screen protector

[hxclos]

Wow! Gorilla glass?! That's awesome! Goodbye cracked screens!

[Eagleye]

Sounds interesting and I think they're heading in the right direction as far as power solutions... I just don't think solar power is the answer. You'll have too many complaints of over-heated iPhones from people placing them in the direct sun all day. Not only that but another obvious problem is the lack of sunlight in certain areas and times of day as others have pointed out. We need something like kinetic charging, or converting waste heat into electricity so you could charge your iDevice by just keeping it close to your body... such as in your hand or pocket which is where most of those devices rest. (Excluding iPad obviously... unless you wear some huge ghetto pants?)

These type of energy conversions are the future of pure wireless charging. What a day it will be when you can watch a netflix movie or play "Infinity Blade" without having to worry that you wont be able to make a call later with your dead iPhone. For now... *Sigh....*

Wow! Gorilla glass?! That's awesome! Goodbye cracked screens!

Umm yea.... your iPhone 4 and iPad 2 utilize Corning Gorilla Glass... this isn't news. Oh, btw, they still crack. In fact, according to squaretrade.com, they "found the iPhone 4 had 82% more broken screens than the iPhone 3gs reported in the first 4 months."