Quote:
Originally Posted by eschwartz
I too don't see what people have against a solar charger.
I do think it is strange, though, that the Kindle of all things should seemingly be the first device to ship with a solar charger.
However useful it is for a Kindle, it would be far more useful for a smartphone or tablet... and yet, no one seems to be trying to convince people they need to get a smartphone/tablet with a solar charger.
Even the third-party solar chargers that are available don't seem to get much press, and the Kindle will come with one by default?  |
For right now, a practical sized solar charger wouldn't make a dent in the power needs of a smartphone or tablet, but could actually operate an eink reader, with it's unusually high surface-area-to-power-requirement ratio, so I guess it's a matter of using it where it works, so that development will continue and make it work more of where it's needed.
And, remember, this isn't the FIRST device....watches, calculators, have had solar for years.
This would be an interesting next step.
As low energy mesh networking devices spread wide on the IoT, I think we may see more devices using alternate, self-contained power sources.