Q&A: Samsung product planner talks about Blue EarthSamsung's Blue Earth was one of the solar-powered handsets that was a talking point at the recently concluded Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Now that the dust has settled on the annual mobile tech tradeshow, we caught up with Namkook Kim, product planner of Blue Earth, to find out more about the handset and how it fits into the grand scheme of a company going the eco-friendly route.
(Credit: Samsung) How did Blue Earth come about? What was the inspiration behind the name? Kim: Samsung Mobile recently took on a new eco-friendly business approach, "The Blue Earth Dream: Eco-living with Samsung Mobile". To keep our beautiful planet clean and blue--as it is seen like a "blue marble" from outer space--Samsung Mobile has reinforced its commitment to protect the environment through all the business aspects, from designing and planning a new mobile phone to manufacturing and packaging, and finally to recycling. What were some of the technical considerations when designing Blue Earth? When designing Blue Earth, we thought about what the most effective and aesthetically pleasing way to include a solar panel on the back of the handset was. The current solar panel is rectangular and it was not easy to embed the panel in the handset harmoniously. While keeping an aesthetic design, Blue Earth should maximize the benefit of a solar panel. In addition to that, Blue Earth consists of a recycled plastic called PCM which is extracted from water bottles and is free from substances like brominated flame retardants, polyvinyl chlorides, beryllium and phthalate. What breakthrough in technology or manufacturing process did Samsung achieve that enabled the company to produce a solar-powered handset like Blue Earth now and not earlier? The reason Samsung can develop a solar-powered handset like Blue Earth now is that the efficiency of a solar panel is secured only at this time. Samsung has tried to find and seize on an innovative opportunity by adopting a solar panel in a commercial project, but the technology of the solar panel didn't meet our requirements before Blue Earth came about. Were there difficulties that the engineering team encountered? We are still facing many challenges to launch Blue Earth commercially. One of the biggest difficulties is the solar panel. There are many types of solar panels in the market and it is so hard to find the right panel that has optimal sensitivity to sunlight without additional armature and is capable of charging the battery via solar power. Can you give us more details about the software that Blue Earth is running on, and other technical specifications of the handset? In summary, Blue Earth comes with a unique user interface which is designed to draw attention to preserving our fragile environment. This includes making it simple to set screen brightness, backlight duration and switching the Bluetooth connection to an energy-efficient mode. The new user interface allows the user to be energy-efficient with just one click of the "Eco mode". Through the "Eco Walk" function, the user can count their steps with a built-in pedometer and calculate how much CO2 emissions have been reduced by walking as opposed to motor transportations. This unique function lets the user measure the value of this footprint through the number of trees that are saved. Plus Blue Earth is equipped with a luminance sensor which will reduce power consumption via controlling the brightness of the display according to the ambient light conditions. It also comes with an energy-efficient charger and "charger reminder" function which notify users to stop charging when the device is fully charged. Tags: Solar Panel, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., mobile, handset, manufacturing |
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