The weak point on most phones and devices these days is the battery, which is hardly capable of keeping up with the advanced features a lot of devices offer.  Heck, take the Palm Pre and its limited (2 hour??) battery life.

On top of that, keeping your battery charged involves handcuffing you to your desk while it is connected to the outlet your computer, more or less defeating the purpose of a mobile device.  Not to mention the mess of cables and chargers this can create.

Well, Nokia and their Nokia Research Center in Cambridge, England, thinks it may have a solution to these and other battery related problems.  Apparently, researchers at Nokia have been experimenting with harnessing energy from ambient radio waves (such as those emitted by the TV).

Now, I have been saying for some time that devices should incorporate solar panels into the design,which could charge the battery while you use it, but this research from Nokia is something completely different.

The real question is whether ambient radio waves can produce enough energy to keep a device (or multiple devices) charged while in use.  So far, the answer is a resounding not really.  While the 5 milliwatts researches have been able to generate may extend the life of your battery a bit, it would generally take about 10 times that (50 milliwatts) in order to maintain a charge while the phone is in use.  Better start watching more TV.

While this concept may not be quite ready for prime time, I am thrilled to see actual time being spent on issues like this.  Who knows, in five years, you might charge your phone by setting it on top of the TV while watching.  By then, I am sure we will scoff at the concept of having to drop everything and plug the phone into the wall.  And then we will all give the robot maids the night off and head out in our flying cars.  Ah…the future.

[via Geek.com]

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