Though you don’t usually associate Sharp with mobile phones—at least in the U.S.—it turns out that Sharp is the largest mobile phone manufacturer for the Japanese market.
At CEATEC, Sharp demonstrated a hybrid mobile phone that uses solar cells to extend the life of the lithium-ion rechargeable battery. For every 10 minutes you expose the phone to sunlight, you gain an extra 1 minute of talk time.
That may not seem like a lot, but it could be handy if you need just a few more minutes at the end of a charge cycle. And it could be very useful if the power is out, and you need to make an emergency call—assuming it’s still daylight, and the sky isn’t overcast.
One interesting thing about attending CEATEC is discovering just how many innovative Japanese products never make it to American shores. In addition to this phone, manufacturers were showing televisions with built-in Blu-ray recorders.