Hi-Tech Wealth, a Chinese telecommunication products supplier, has claimed it has developed a mobile phone that uses solar energy to recharge itself and can provide 40 minutes of talk-time for every hour of sunlight it receives. The company also claims that it’s not just sunlight which can be used – the phone is also capable of recharging from other light sources such as candles.

Hi-Tech Wealth says that it is the most advanced solar powered technology to date and it owns eight patents relating to the product, with many patents pending. Many other companies are also trying to develop solar powered mobile phones however they are still in the experimental stage.

Zhang Zhengyu, chairman of Hi-Tech Wealth, has said the company began it’s research in 2000 and has invested hundreds of millions of yuan. “With more than 400 million mobile phones in the country, China would save a great amount of electricity if all its’ mobile phones were recharged by light,” Zhang explained. He also said that the lifespan of the solar-phone battery lasts 2.5 times longer than traditional batteries.

The company is hoping that six of it’s solar powered mobile phones will be on the market by the end of 2007, with another 30 planned for next year.

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