The SH002 Solar Powered Phone is a cell phone with a built-in solar panel for recharging. On the whole it sounds like a really nifty idea and the people over at Tech On! Japan took it for a spin to see how realistic solar cellphone charging can be.

The phone has the usual features, 5 Mpixel camera, Bluetooth, GPS but the piece-de-resistance is the solar recharging, which Sharp recommends using only after the battery has been flattened.

During solar recharging a small e-paper display provides feedback on whether the sunlight is sufficient and lets you know when you’ve got talk time. The reality is about 40 minutes of sun provides 1 minute of chat, up to about 85 minutes giving you an extra 5 minutes. Not quite what it says on the box, but still not bad, especially if you’re lost somewhere. Might be worth a look if they leave Japan.

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