Pardon the cliche, but it's one of the holiest of Holy Grails of technology: Wireless power. And while early lab experiments have been able to "beam" electricity a few feet to power a light bulb, the day when our laptops and cell phones can charge without having to plug them in to a wall socket still seems decades in the future.

Nokia, however, has taken another baby step in that direction with the invention of a cell phone that recharges itself using a unique system: It harvests ambient radio waves from the air, and turns that energy into usable power. Enough, at least, to keep a cell phone from running out of juice.

While "traditional" (if there is such a thing) wireless power systems are specifically designed with a transmitter and receiver in mind, Nokia's system isn't finicky about where it gets its wireless waves. TV, radio, other mobile phone systems -- all of this stuff just bounces around the air and most of it is wasted, absorbed into the environment or scattered into the ether. Nokia picks up all the bits and pieces of these waves and uses the collected electromagnetic energy to create electrical current, then uses that to recharge the phone's battery. A huge range of frequencies can be utilized by the system (there's no other way, really, as the energy in any given wave is infinitesimal). It's the same idea that Tesla was exploring 100 years ago, just on a tiny scale.

Mind you, harvesting ambient electromagnetic energy is never going to offer enough electricity to power your whole house or office, but it just might be enough to keep a cell phone alive and kicking. Currently Nokia is able to harvest all of 5 milliwatts from the air; the goal is to increase that to 20 milliwatts in the short term and 50 milliwatts down the line. That wouldn't be enough to keep the phone alive during an active call, but would be enough to slowly recharge the cell phone battery while it's in standby mode, theoretically offering infinite power -- provided you're not stuck deep underground where radio waves can't penetrate.

Nokia says it hopes to commercialize the technology in three to five years.

Can your iphone do this?

My iPhone is used way too much for this to prevent me needing to charge it all the time.

I guess it would be good if you didn't use your phone much, especially if the device was only used as a phone?

Link: http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/143945

three to five years

Can your iphone do this?

Can your Nokia?

there's an app for that

nah my iphone can't do that
I'll get interested in it when it is implemented in an iphone though, cos I know it'll be done right instead of however nokia do it

thats a Jim snap right there

I had this argument with infi today

iPhone > Nokia


<-- former nokia fanboy, you dont know how awesome phones can be until you own an iPhone

Yeh I used to be a Nokia slut a while back, then I realised Win Mo was > Symbian by, well, lots.

These days I'm completely seduced by shinies and the sexy iPhone interface these days. Who cares if it doesn't do everything I want, how I want? Its fun to use...

x Phone > y Phone.

Who gives a f***.

This sounds awesome though. I don't make a huge number of calls on my phone, so I reckon this would be really really handy. Can't wait.

f*** iPhone and their s***ty cameras

we have a waterproof phone at work that recharges without any electrical contacts. It's just some cordless thing but yeah, took nokia long enough to catch up.

Yeh I used to be a Nokia slut a while back, then I realised Win Mo was > Symbian by, well, lots.

These days I'm completely seduced by shinies and the sexy iPhone interface these days. Who cares if it doesn't do everything I want, how I want? Its fun to use...

It's sort of sad, really - cuz you're right, WinMo kicks the s*** out of Symbian and (issues of restriction and Apple rape aside) iPhone kicks the s*** out of WinMo in most areas. It's just embarrassing that Apple have come along and almost casually just made something that is so popular merely by the virtue of the fact that it just doesn't such as much as the alternatives.

Nokia are f***ed unless they can untangle the mess of handsets and the s*** that is Symbian. They should cut their losses and switch to Android, except they'd be pissing away their investment in Symbian. WinMo will kick on for a while yet because MS have more money than sense, even though they've clearly already lost this round to Apple.

we have a waterproof phone at work that recharges without any electrical contacts. It's just some cordless thing but yeah, took nokia long enough to catch up.

I think you missed the point.

i use my nokia as a remote control vua bluetooth for my computer whan watching shows lined in to the telly in another room....
are iphones capable of this?
i like my nokia but know that an iphone would probably revolutionise my life.....
alas, they cost heaps......

Haha at everyone who took the iPhone bait, funny stuff.

But look past your petty iPhone vs Nokia vs * argument for a minute and realise how awesome this technology is, some day anything the size of a mobile phone or smaller could possibly never have to be charged or plugged in again. Even bigger things that are only used occasionally and have room for decent rechargeable batteries could, like a toaster or something.

Oh and yeah, whoop what you're talking about is using electromagnetic induction and is completely different.

i use my nokia as a remote control vua bluetooth for my computer whan watching shows lined in to the telly in another room....
are iphones capable of this?

I just vnc or ssh my ubuntu desktop using my iPhone when queuing vids. (when i cbf getting out of bed but want to watch another episode :) )

Can your iphone do this?

With a 50$ case that includes a solar panel, yes yes it can

the day when our laptops and cell phones can charge without having to plug them in to a wall socket still seems decades in the future.

give it 5 years

Oh great, just after thinking they'd all standardized on microUSB for charging, we have yet *another* type of charger to break any standardization.

Oh great, just after thinking they'd all standardized on microUSB for charging, we have yet *another* type of charger to break any standardization.

thats what i was thinking! f'ing capitalists

Symbian sucks ... We got software for symbian only to find about a quarter of our mobiles actually support it even tho they are all symbian

Can your iphone do this?

Um, sorry, but YOUR NOKIA CAN'T TOO /facepalm

f*** iPhone and their s***ty cameras

Not anymore I guess.

Haha at everyone who took the iPhone bait, funny stuff.

Yeh cos this thread wasn't going to turn into a phone comparison anyway. EPIC BAIT MAENS.

WinMo will kick on for a while yet because MS have more money than sense, even though they've clearly already lost this round to Apple.

After Win Mo 6.5, they need to do a major rewrite like they did with Windows vista -> Windows 7. At least make the OS capable of capacitive touch screen device because resistive + not using stylus sucks, and really rebuild it for touch screen from the ground up like iPhone OS. Again like most older gen mobile OS, they were built back in the early 90's so it's got all sorts of old school hardware limitaions built in which really no longer apply any more in newer handsets.

Again Apple being Apple and having a luxury of controlling both hardward and software + come into the game with clear head and none of the old way of doing things in the mobile world just completely kick the s*** out of the old boys club. So much so that now it's became a benchmark for how a good mobile OS should be - so well done to them.

Though, I'm not ready to give up on MS, Palm and Google just yet, but I have no hope for Nokia until I see some major revamp of the Symbian OS. I mean let it go even Palm realised their mistake and did it.

like they did with Windows vista -> Windows 7

Not sure if this was a typo or something? Vista was the fundamental change (which is why lots of drivers and s*** broke) 7 is performance tweaking and bells + whistles.

They need to discard the Win Mo kernel altogether (or significantly) and start fresh imo.

Not sure if this was a typo or something? Vista was the fundamental change (which is why lots of drivers and s*** broke) 7 is performance tweaking and bells + whistles.

Yeah I meant XP -> Windows 7. I skipped Vista because whilst it really was a great OS in terms of technologies, it wasn't polished enough like Windows 7. MS can't really afford another f*** up that it was Vista, the new Win mo really has to be the equivalent of Vista in terms of change but Windows 7 in terms of polish and finished product.

Also there's a couple of reviews of iPhone 3GS up:

http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2009/06/iphone-3gs-review/

http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/17/iphone-3g-s-review/



last edited by Opec at 09:02:34 18/Jun/09

Um, sorry, but YOUR NOKIA CAN'T TOO /facepalm

Rad grammar.

Oh great, just after thinking they'd all standardized on microUSB for charging, we have yet *another* type of charger to break any standardization.

I don't see why standardisation is an issue here. It gets energy from radio waves in the air. You don't need a plug for that.

There is no way MS won't produce something to compete with Apple. They aren't the kind of company to allow a market like this get away from them. It's probably a while off though so until then iPhone has the run of the park.

nah my iphone can't do that
I'll get interested in it when it is implemented in an iphone though, cos I know it'll be done right instead of however nokia do it

If Apple had this technology you'd have to buy charging time through iTunes and it'd start at 10mW and through "software updates" it'd slowly step up to 20mW for $10 an update.

Didn't they try against the iPod with the Zune?

Apparently samsung are launching a phone with solar panels in the near future.

LOL.

Just got my N97 and it is highly erotic.

Apparently samsung are launching a phone with solar panels in the near future.

Provided it doesn't take two weeks to charge, that's not a bad idea.

I hate charging my phone. If all I've gotta do is leave it on the desk at work (or something similar) it's all win.

They could look a bit gay though :/ (not that there's anything wrong with that)

Apparently samsung are launching a phone with solar panels in the near future.

LOL.

What's so lol about that? They've had them on calculators for years, and i'm not gonna complain if my mobile battery lasts longer

they're still a fairly thick phone tho yeh infi?

What's so lol about that? They've had them on calculators for years, and i'm not gonna complain if my mobile battery lasts longer

this has to be a troll

it is slightly larger than n96 but fits nicely in the hand. no complaints about size.

:)

http://jmn.fadainc.com/funnypics/derailment.jpg

This thread is severely disappointing, I vote all phone comments but stricken from the record and the company's name censored to promote appropriate discussion of the actual point of the thread.
All those in favour say I, all those opposed go f#$k yourselves. Motion carried.

i derailed your mother last night

to promote appropriate discussion of the actual point of the thread

OP said 'can your iPhone do this'. Thread is not derailed.

DOYYYY the iPhone comment was obviously troll bait. Anyway perhaps you should go back and actually read most of the posts in the thread, they're not even about the iPhone anymore, let alone what the thread title refers to.