Perhaps (by which I mean almost certainly), I'm being a cynic here, but a cell phone wouldn't be my first choice for a solar powered gadget. Mind you, I'm a big fan of solar power--I approve of slapping panels on pretty much anything, from cars to the ever-popular solar-powered flashlight.

It's just that, well, my phone doesn't come out of my pocket much, save for when I'm talking, at which point my shoulder or hand is most likely obscuring the portion of the phone designed to draw energy from the light around it. Leaving my phone lying about feels a bit like an invitation for someone to take it, or even more likely, me to leave the thing behind, upon being distracted by some shiny object or flashing light.

Still, it's nice to see concepts like this come to fruition--and heck, maybe keeping the thing away from my nether regions as much as possible might be a good thing, given the ever-inconclusive debate revolving around cellular radiation. EcoGeek has a short write up of one of the first such concepts to actually come to market (that is, if your market happens to be located in China). The panels absorbs energy from as little light as a candle, prolonging the phone's battery life by up to 2.5 times what it gets on a standard charge. The phone will cost a whopping $510, especially pricey given its fairly average specs. That's what you get for shopping on a site called Hi-Tech Wealth.