Solar chargers are big, literally. The type that are made to go with you out into the big wide world aren’t exactly made to slide into your pocket. HeLi-on wants to change that with the first ultra-compact solar charger.
This solar charger is a tube full of solar panel goodness. When you’re ready to charge up your device just pull out the panel so it can catch some rays. When you don’t need it, don’t worry, it slides right back into place and is small enough to fit into your pocket.
The HeLi-on charges a mobile phone in two to three hours. You can either harness the power of the sun directly while you’re out, catching some of that sweet vitamin D or with the internal battery for dark conditions. Either way, still only two to three hours. Unlike other solar chargers, this one is super compact making it a great option for travel or even every day. The HeLi-on is currently being crowdfunded but it has met its goal. If interested, $99 will reserve you a device.
Where most of these kinds of things fail is longevity in the face of deployment/storage cycles. I’d be wary of this until they can demonstrate that it would last at least two years of normal use. If it can, it’s a good idea that helps get flexible solar cells into general use..
The one thing about these sorts of projects is that the people who get the first round are the long term testers, unfortunately. Still, really cool use of the solar technology!