Jumping on the “green” bandwagon, LG have announced a solar-powered cell phone that features an array of solar panels built into the cover. The phone is on show at Mobile World Congress 2009 and promises to squeeze a 3 minute call out of just 10 minutes of sun exposure.

The photovoltaic addition will power the phone all by itself whilst in standby mode, giving unlimited standby minutes without you ever having to reach for a charger. Making calls or playing games etc. will require more power however, so we’ve not quite reached a charger-less solution just yet. What’s surprising about this handset is that despite the solar cells, LG managed to make it rather attractive, without resorting to hiding the cells behind the display and lessening their performance.

The solar cells are built into the back cover of the cell phone, which makes retrofitting the panels to older model handsets a very real possibility. The packaging is apparently more environmentally friendly too – despite its resemblance to a take-out container (below) – and will be introduced for all of LG’s 2009 handsets.

While this souped-up solar phone is certainly headed for market, we’ll unfortunately have to wait until the end of the year for its European release.

Sources:
LG (Press Release) via MobileBurn