Kevin Tofel over at jkOnTheRun has a really interesting experiment. He’s inviting anyone who is interested to join him in taking their phones “off the grid” meaning sans AC adapter. His primary means of doing this will be a Solio Classic hybrid solar charger. This 1,650 mAh charger set him back $99 and included a number of adapters to power handheld phones including USB, Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, LG and mini-USB devices. His goal is to make it 30 days without powering his iPhone by anything except the Solio. I for one am curious to see not only how it turns out but to read his periodic progress reports detailing his experience.

jkOnTheRun

With all the news lately about the price of oil, and our oil addiction, it is nice to be able to do a review that not only involves a very cool piece of technology, but is also environmentally conscious.  I actually got the idea for a review like this one a few months back when I was having trouble with my laptop battery.  Wouldn’t it be great, I thought, if I could just slap a solar cell on my laptop and continually charge my battery with the power of the sun.  Of course, it was not that easy, but the Brunton Solaris came pretty close.  And, in this new age of renewable resources and alternate forms of energy, this could be just what the doctor ordered to keep your energy hungry gadgets running day and night.

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