Battery-less Phones Coming?4 min read

Can you imagine living and not having to ever charge your cell phone again?

Well that’s the recent exciting implication of new research out of the University of Washington, where researchers have created a mobile phone prototype that doesn’t require a battery to operate.

The efficient model requires just 3.5 microwatts of power, and it employs an innovative approach to avoid the need for a battery cell. Instead, it uses ambient power from radio signals and light — its onboard solar cell is “roughly the size of a grain of rice” — to transmit a signal back to a base station 50 feet away.

The model itself is made of simple materials such as capacitive touch buttons, a circuit board, and other “off the shelf” components. The team of scientists were also able to create a custom base station to transmit the signal with such a small amount of power.

Using this setup, the researchers were able to successfully make and receive calls (via Skype) and place callers on hold. But the scientists say they want to improve the prototype by adding an e-ink display with video-streaming capabilities and encryption tomake the calls more secure. And guess what if every house has a Wi-Fi router in it, you could get battery-free cellphone coverage everywhere.