Finally! American researchers have invented the first mobile phone that does not need a battery. "We believe this can revolutionize everyday life in the future," says Professor Joshua Smith.
Imagine a life completely without mobile chargers and sudden battery death. Soon, this sci-fi dream can be a reality.
Researchers at the University of Washington have invented a cell phone completely without battery. Instead, the phone fetches the little energy it needs from its surroundings in the form of radio signals or light. The brand new technology was featured in the magazine "Proceedings of the Association for Computing Machinery on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies" on July 1.
"We've built what we think is the first-working mobile phone that almost does not need any energy at all," said Shyam Gollakota, one of the researchers behind the study, at UW News.
To prove that the new technology works, researchers have called Skype calls with their new phone. The phone was able to call both other recipients, receive calls, but also make calls on hold.
"Is there a gadget you would like to use without battery, it's the cell phone because we're so dependent on it today," said Joshua Smith, professor and study writer, to UW News.
He is absolutely sure that the discovery could revolutionize people's everyday lives.
The research team is now working to improve the phone's operating system and also encrypt conversations for increased security as well as streaming video.
The study has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the Google Faculty Research Awards.