At one point we’ve all done it – spilt a drink over a laptop, gotten our tablets soaked in the rain, or even dropped our phone in the toilet. Water has always been the bane of electronics, however American company Liquipel just announced that they have developed a way to completely waterproof our devices against the elements. Using a revolutionary process, Liquipel applies a hydrophobic nanocoating to your devices that completely waterproofs it and protects it against accidental exposure to liquids.

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Post tags: cell phone, iPhone, liquipel, liquipel waterproof, mobile phone, mobile phone samsung, nanocoating gadgets, waterproof cell phone, waterproof nanocoat, waterproofing gadgets

The ever-evolving transition from cell phones to smart phones has most of us itching for the latest model. But what to do when we want an upgrade that goes lighter on the earth? Sprint may have the answer with their new smartphone – touted as the first eco-friendly Android device. A combination of recycled materials, solar charging and the Android 2.2 Froyo platform makes the Samsung Replenish is the eco-answer for today’s smart device.

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Post tags: cell phone, eco design, green design, Recycled Materials, smart device, solar battery, solar charger, Sprint Replenish, sustainable design

NTT Docomo‘s new advertisement for the TOUCH WOOD smart phone features a delightful wooden xylophone in the forest and is an uplifting departure from other images coming out of Japan. TOUCH WOOD cell phones, which we’ve written about before,  are made from scrap wood, so it makes sense that this ad should use a tree-filled backdrop. Check out the giant xylophone in action in the video above.


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Post tags: cell phone, cleantech, Docomo, green gadgets, green technology, Japan, Recycled Materials, recycled wood, scrap wood, sustainable design, three-dimension compression technology, xylophone

Even if you don’t consider yourself a full-fledged greenie, solar power is worth looking into when it comes to gadgetry. Solar powered gadgets are super-convenient – allowing you access to a renewable electricity source on the go, and they are battery-saving, time-saving and oftentimes life-saving when you’re in a bind! If you’ve ever experienced the agony and frustration of having your cell-phone or camera battery die right when you need it most, we’ve got some suggestions for you. There are a whole slew of sun-powered chargers and other useful solar gizmos that will kick the dead-battery problem to the curb once and for all. Check out our list of the top 7 solar-powered gadgets here!

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Post tags: "solar energy", cell phone, iPhone, ipod, LED, nokero, samsung guru, solar, solar camera strap, Solar Power, solar surge

If you’re always losing your cell and want a centralized place to tuck it away, or if you hate having to put your phone on the floor while you charge it, why not make a neat little charging station for it out of an old lotion bottle? You’ve probably seen similar cradles selling on the internet for upwards of $10, but fashioning your own is a simple DIY way to reuse something you already have while saving on shipping costs and packaging. Plus you can say you did it with your own two hands!

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Post tags: cell phone, cell phone charging station, cell phone cradle, DIY, do it yourself, eco design, green design, mobile phone, Recycled Materials, recycling, sustainable design

The moment that smartphone geeks have been waiting for is finally here: Apple has just unveiled the fourth generation iPhone at today’s WWDC conference in San Francisco. At a diminutive 9.3 mm thick, the svelte new device is 25% thinner than the 3GS, significantly lighter, and it boasts a long-lasting battery that boosts call time up to 7 hours — but is it green?

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Post tags: apple, cell phone, green design, Greener Gadgets, iPhone, iphone 4, smartphone, sustainable design, sustainable electronics, wwdc

Nokia has released a pedal powered cell phone charger kit slated for developing nations where the power supply is limited, unreliable or expensive. The kit includes a bottle-dynamo, like the ones used to power a bike light, plus a cell phone holder that attaches to the handlebars. Nokia hopes to begin selling the kits by the end of 2010 for around 15 euros in countries that have a large bicycling population. These dynamos are great sources of renewable and human power and make it that much easier for people to want to choose biking as their main mode of transportation.

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Post tags: bike charger, bike-powered cell phone charger, cell phone, dynamo, eco design, Eco Travle, green design, green gadget, Greener Gadgets, human power, Nokia, pedal power, sustainable design

Have you ever wished that your car windshield or cell phone camera could pierce through the night and turn darkness into day? Then get ready: researchers at the University of Florida have figured out a way to create ultra lightweight, thin, and inexpensive night vision devices that use minimal amounts of electricity. The research, described in a recent edition of Advanced Materials, uses the same technology found in flat screen TVs to generate a thin film that turns visible light into infrared light.

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Post tags: "energy efficiency", cell phone, infrared, night vision, night vision goggles, university of florida

We were excited last year when Sprint released the Reclaim, an 80% recyclable bio-plastic based cell phone. The Reclaim was so successful that now Sprint is back with a new, improved green cell phone – the Restore, an 84% recyclable phone with an outer casing that contains 27% post-consumer recycled plastic!

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Post tags: cell phone, eco design, green design, recycling, samsung restore, sprint, Sustainability

Telecom giant Nokia recently filed a patent for a cell phone powered by kinetic energy (one of our favorite kinds of energy here at Inhabitat!). The conceived phone would charge via built-in piezoelectric generators that will convert the user’s motions into power. Now, we’ve seen a ton of kinetic gadget concepts, but the fact that Nokia is taking interest and has gone so far as to file a patent is significant evidence that we may soon be seeing these types of electronics hit the market.

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Post tags: cell phone, eco cell phone, green cellular, green design, Greener Gadgets, kinetic energy, kinetically powered cell phone, Nokia, sustainable design

As a general rule, cell phone batteries are costly, resource-intensive, and difficult to dispose of properly. So why not ditch them and run our cell phones on soda? That’s the thinking behind designer Daizi Zheng’s concept phone for Nokia. Instead of running on traditional batteries, the concept phone uses a bio battery that generates electricity from carbohydrates.

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Post tags: batteries, cell phone, Coca Cola, Coke, green design, Nokia, sustainable design

We’ve covered wooden gadgets before, but NTT Docomo‘s TOUCH WOOD concept phone is possibly the first wood-encased smart phone ever. The phone, developed in conjunction with Sharp, Olympus, and a reforestation project called “more trees,” contains surplus wood from forest-thinning operations in the Kochi prefecture of Japan.

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Post tags: cell phone, Japan, ntt docomo, touch wood, wooden phone

The hot hand-held gadget of choice may not be the iPhone for much longer – if this wearable and solar powered wrist phone comes to market, everyone on the streets may soon be sporting it. Inspired by photosynthesis, the Leaf is a wearable phone concept created by Seungkyn Woo and Junyi Heo. The flexible device incorporates solar cells into the front and is capable of rolling up into the form of a wristwatch so that users can wear it and keep it charged while they’re on the move.

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Post tags: bracelet, bracelet phone, cell phone, flexible cell phone, Solar Power, solar powered cell phone, solar-powered

There were whispers all week that Sony Ericsson would be releasing a line of eco-friendly cellphones today – and it turns out that the rumors were true. The telecom giant debuted 2 new green handsets, the Naite and the C901 cybershot phone in a live webcast that took place at 1PM GMT in London today. The sleek new phones are tangible manifestations of the GreenHeart concept phone, which Sony Ericsson came up with way back in 2008 as its way of letting consumers know that it, too, was on the green bandwagon. Those who doubted that the GreenHeart concept would ever come to fruition need not wonder any longer as Sony Ericsson is just about ready to bring their new eco-friendly phones to the market.

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Post tags: c901, cell phone, eco-phone, green cell phone, greenheart, naite, sony ericsson

Most of our modern-day gadgets are swathed in plastic or other high-tech materials, and why wouldn’t they be? Plastic is both cheap and easy to produce. But English Russia‘s display of wooden gadgets shows that sometimes the most elegant items are the simplest.

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Post tags: antique, cell phone, cell phones, clocks, gadgets, Greener Gadgets, russian english, Wood, wood-covered gadgets

Nokia has caught our green design attention once again with the recent unveiling of ‘Remade’, a concept phone made almost entirely of recycled materials. The prototype was introduced at Mobile World Congress conference in Barcelona last week revealing Nokia’s vision for recycled material use in mobile phones of the future. From the looks of ‘Remade’, Nokia’s products of tomorrow will consume less natural resources, reduce landfill waste and be more energy efficient.


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Post tags: "energy efficiency", backlit displays, Barcelona, cell phone, concept, Greener Gadgets, handy, landfill waste, mobile phone, Mobile World Congress, Nokia, printed electronics, Recycled Materials, Remade, resource conservation

From cars to prefabs and some slightly greener gadgets, CES gave us plenty of things to marvel at this year. One of the most impressive in terms of future-forward innovation was the Motoslvr cell phone outfitted with Angstrom Power’s hydrogen fuel cell. With Angstrom’s new fuel cell technology, you are able to get the same sleek package as a regular cellphone, but the charge last more than twice as long on a charge time as short as ten minutes! Hydrogen mobile phones? That’s something to get excited about!


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Post tags: Angstrom power, cell phone, fuel cell for mobile phones, handset, Hydrogen cellphone, hydrogen fuel cell, Hydrogen powered cell-phone, mobile, motorola fuel cells, motoslvr, telephone

Hi-Tech Wealth, Inc., a telecommunications supplier in China has unveiled the world’s first commercial solar-powered cellular phone. The S116 retails in China around $510 and is packed with features including a microSD memory card slot, MP3 player and a 1.3 megapixel camera. The phone’s battery lasts 2.5 times longer than a traditional battery and can be recharged outdoors, indoors, even by candle light! Just one hour of direct sunlight will provide enough juice to power 40 minutes of talk-time.

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Post tags: cell phone, green gadget, Hi-Tech Wealth Inc. Solar-Powered Cell Phone, S116, solar cell phone, Solar Power, solar-powered