Could future iPhones charge with the power of the sun?

My friend mentioned that an iPhone is usually in your pocket, not getting sunlight. So there's a problem there.

Also, with the fractions of a watt that cell phones use, especially on standby, sitting in an area lit by fluorescent bulbs, could, if not slowly charge the phone, at the very least extend the battery power.

If you're actively using the phone under fluorescent light (which puts out a small but usable amount of power in the spectrum a PV cell uses) the screen is going to be facing the light.

will the phone overheat? is my question. i never leave my devices in direct sunlight.

If you want to be technical, your iPhone is already powered by the sun- it just may be using energy that's been recently liberated from a drop of oil or a block of coal, or from temperature imbalances in the atmosphere.

Unless, of course, your grid includes a nuclear power plant, in which case, your iPhone is being powered by some other star that exploded a few billion years ago.

Here's the problem: photovoltaic panels make electricity by absorbing light. If you make such a panel completely transparent in order to overlay it on a display, then of course it won't absorb any light (that's what transparent means, after all), so it won't generate any power. On the other hand, if you make it completely opaque so that it'll generate lots of power, you won't be able to see the display through it.

So any solar panel overlaid on a display has to be a worst-of-both-worlds compromise: it'll be a very inefficient power source, and it will darken the display, which users won't like.

Meanwhile, the back of the phone is unused. *That's* the place to put a solar panel, if you're going to incorporate one. But of course that raises another issue: how many people are going to leave their phone sitting on a windowsill in the sun for several hours a day? Because that's what it'll take to achieve a meaningful charge, even with today's best photovoltaic materials. (With the cheap amorphous cells that are likely to be used, it'll take even longer.)

Let's face it: a cell phone lives in your pocket or purse. Putting solar cells on it will accomplish very little in the way of charging.

This idea is a useless sales gimmick. A few people who don't know any better may be suckered into buying a "solar-powered cell phone," but they'll quickly find out how little practical benefit it offers.

I live in Manchester we haven't seen the sun in years so thats a deal breaker for me!!

Sounds like cool stuff! I'd settle for the BACK of the phone being a solar panel as a handy start!

To heck with phones, how about a sheet of this stuff big enough to cover say... the windshield of an electric car? Or maybe the windows in a house or office building?

Of course, it would also be awesome on the iPhone. Those who jokingly refer to it as the Jesus Phone because of us fanboys and our love of the device would be right, since a dead phone could resurrect itself after a while.

Woooah. Words cannot describe the awesome.

Someone else in my office was recently saying that they hated the advent of the smartphone, since it basically did mean a MASSIVE increase in power consumption all around.

This would be an excellent step towards a much more sustainable future. ^_^

I'm thinking less for charging a dying or dead battery, but for maintaing your charge while watching videos, surfing the web or playing games. Pretty much whenever you're doing something that does not require the phone be up against your face, or in your pocket. This is brilliant!