California Cool Cars regs put the kibosh on radio, cellphone, and GPS reception
by Joseph L. Flatley 
posted Oct 13th 2009 @ 3:42AM
[Via AutoBlog]
environment posts
[Via AutoBlog]
Website rates best and worst cellphones by radiation output levels -- how does yours stack up?
by Laura June posted Sep 27th 2009 @ 8:27AM
You're surely aware that your cellphone bleeds radiation into your face the whole time you're on the phone with your mom, best friend or lover, right? Yes, it's a fact we try not to think about most of the time, but now there's a tool out there on the internets for the more reality-facing folks among us. The Environmental Working Group's launched a website dedicated to rating cellphones on their radiation output alone. Ranking highly (meaning they put out the lowest levels of radiation) are the Motorola RAZR V8, and AT&T's Samsung Impression. In fact, it seems that Samsung is cranking out the healthiest phones these days! Phones with poor showings includes T-Mobile's myTouch 3G and the Blackberry Curve 8830. So hit the read link and tell us, how does your phone rate?
[Via bookofjoe]
[Via bookofjoe]
Samsung S7550 Blue Earth reviewed, Monkey Wrench Gang unavailable for comment
by Joseph L. Flatley posted Sep 17th 2009 @ 11:04AM
We're not sure if the recent trend for greener gadgets comes from a wish to save the planet, assuage consumer's guilt, cash in on a trend, or some combination of the three, but we'll tell you one thing: it's not going anywhere. Of course, with a product named "Blue Earth" you know that you're not just getting a handset, but some vaguely eco-friendly ID, including: an outer shell (mostly) fashioned from recycled water bottles, a solar panel, and a pedometer (you know, to encourage walking / discourage driving). Of course, these are all things we can abide, but the question remains: how does this handset hold up, you know, as a handset? Well, GSM Arena recently put one through its paces and was kind enough to let us in on its findings. As feature phones go, says the author, this one stacks up quite nicely with something like Nokia's 5530 XpressMusic -- and even does it one better by throwing in a GPS. On the other hand, this isn't the thinnest phone in the world, the lack of HSDPA will be a deal breaker for some folks, and the 3 megapixel fixed focus camera leaves something to be desired. And how about the solar panel? According to Samsung, one hour of solar charging is good for 2 hours of standby and a little over 15 minutes of call time in 2G (or 10 minutes of talk time in UMTS). Also, it seems that they make the phone bulkier and harder to handle -- although we imagine it can't be as bad as whatever users of after-market solar panel attachments are experiencing. Other features include a 3-inch capacitive touchscreen (quite responsive, apparently) and WiFi. But that ain't all -- you really need to wade into this review yourself if you want all the juicy details. Luckily, it's but one click away: hit the read link to see for yourself.
Sprint ramps up green effort with dedicated online, in-store presence for new accessories
by Chris Ziegler posted Sep 9th 2009 @ 3:13AM
Sony Ericsson C901 and Naite GreenHeart phones can make a hippy smile
by Thomas Ricker posted Jun 4th 2009 @ 4:52AM
Sony Ericsson announcing eco-friendly phones on Thursday
by Chris Ziegler posted Jun 1st 2009 @ 11:36PM
[Via Cellpassion, image via Mobile Cowboys]
Samsung unveils Blue Earth, a solar-powered mobile phone
by Ross Miller posted Feb 12th 2009 @ 4:01PM
Samsung's Blue Earth handset might just be taking the green thing to a whole new extreme. Made from PCM, a recycled plastic from water bottles, the phone boast an "eco" mode for efficiently adjusting screen brightness, backlight duration and Bluetooth usage, and an "eco walk" app / built-in pedometer to tell you how much CO2 emission you've saved by walking instead of driving. The best part? It's got a giant solar panel on the back that'll apparently charge it enough to make a phone call anytime the sun's peaking out. Of the form factor, Sammy says it "symbolizes a flat and well rounded shiny pebble" -- which we hope means it can skip puddles with the best of 'em. It'll come in recycled packaging with an energy efficient charger. What we don't know, unfortunately, is what makes this phone tick, neither OS nor hardware specs. Not a word on price yet, but UK environmentalists can look forward to this one second half of this year.
O2 launches green charger, first from UK carrier
by Chris Ziegler posted Dec 2nd 2008 @ 3:53AM
Earth-friendly initiatives are picking up steam in the mobile world just as they are with virtually every other industry, and the redesign of the wall warts we all use to recharge our phones seems to be one of the lowest-hanging fruits. The problem stems from the fact that the chargers continue to draw prodigious power even after the phones to which they're attached are fully charged, leading to millions of wasted watt-hours year in and year out. The problem's so fricking big that the top five handset manufacturers put aside their differences long enough to agree on a standard for rating how "green" chargers are, and O2's British outpost wasted no time in jumping on the bandwagon with a universal charger said to be some 70 percent more efficient than your average brick. We imagine most other carriers are going to follow suit on this -- at least, they should -- and at £14.99 (about $22), it looks like there ain't much of a premium for saving the planet. Cheers to that, we say.Sony Ericsson trying to not destroy Earth with "GreenHeart" concept
by Chris Ziegler posted Sep 25th 2008 @ 3:10AM
[Via Unwired View]
Samsung double boils corn, makes SCH-W510 and SGH-F268
by Sean Cooper posted Jun 18th 2008 @ 12:04AM
We've seen providers getting all green, and now it seems at least one of the big handset makers has seen fit to try a more earth-friendly approach. Samsung's W510 (pictured on left) and F268 sets, announced today at the World IT Show in Seoul, both feature a couple little dashes of greenery -- and are a decent first effort we'd wager. The W510 is made from a "bio-plastic" created with natural materials extracted from corn and its manufacturing process skips the use of lead, mercury, and other miserable ingredients. The F268 and its accessories don't contain any brominated flame retardants or PVC, and the handset features an alarm to let you know when it's charged and can be unplugged from the wall -- we like this one best, because while definitely green you could still brag a bit about it. The W510 packs a 2.1-inch screen, 2 megapixel camera, FM radio, Bluetooth, extra storage headroom via microSD, and should be landing in Korea this month. The F268 is a triple-band slider with a 2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, 2.1-inch VGA display, and also makes it debut this month in China. So there you have it friends, proof positive that green and cellular can be friends -- or have at least started flirting a bit.
Apple responds to Greenpeace: what part of "end of 2008" didn't you understand?
by Thomas Ricker posted Oct 16th 2007 @ 4:05AM
Greenpeace dismantles iPhone, discovers "hazardous chemicals"
by Darren Murph posted Oct 15th 2007 @ 3:49PM
Update: Greenpeace does not claim that Apple is in violation of RoHS.
[Via Switched, thanks Laura]
Alcatel goes green, reduces packaging
by Sean Cooper posted Jun 30th 2007 @ 11:50AM
[Via textually.org]
UCSD's Squirrel puts pollution monitoring on your mobile
by Darren Murph posted May 7th 2007 @ 5:05PM
Giving an animal a phone to tote around and monitor pollution is one thing, but hooking up a critter to your cellphone sans wires sounds like a much more viable solution to keeping track of filthy surroundings. UC San Diego's Squirrel -- which sounds an awful lot like a project UC Berkeley was working on -- is a Bluetooth-enabled, palm-sized sensor that currently measures carbon monoxide and ozone, but eventually will be able to "sample nitrogen oxide and sulphur dioxide in the air, as well as temperature, barometric pressure, and humidity." After sampling, the device then utilizes a software application dubbed Acorn to allow the user to "see the current pollution alerts through a screensaver on the cellphone's display." Furthermore, the program can periodically upload the captured data to a public database operated by the "California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2), which is funding Squirrel's development." Of course, cleaning up the mess that these monitors will inevitably find is an entirely different matter.[Via MedGadget]
Unplug your charged phone, save the world
by Chris Ziegler posted Oct 11th 2006 @ 2:07PM
Who knew that leaving a fully-charged phone plugged in to the wall was such a problem? Nokia's formed a new group -- including rival Motorola, among others -- with the aim of educating folks on ways to use their phones in environmentally conscious ways, a move that seems appropriate for the company recently named greenest among cellphone manufacturers.. Among other initiatives, the group will be pushing to add reminders to phones' displays to unplug them once they've been topped off, a change that Nokia says would power about 60,000 homes a year if just 10 percent of the populace complied. The obvious question is, don't the phones begin discharging once they've been unplugged, thereby requiring deeper and longer charging the next time they're jacked in?
