Nokia 3110 Evolve eco-friendly mobile phone
Green + gadget = ?
Review The planet's warming up, and we want to do something about it. Yet we still can't stop using our power-gobbling gadgets. What's the best way to minimise this paradox? Ask Nokia, and it'll tell you to try its "environmentally-friendly" 3110 Evolve.
Nokia has taken the basic design of its 3110 Classic and added a few greener elements to the package. These include unpainted bio-covers made from over 50 per cent recyclable materials, a new energy efficient charger and packaging that’s made of 60 per cent recycled material.
Nokia 3110: limited set of mid-range features
Obviously, anyone hoping for a bio-degradable handset and carbon-neutral production process will probably be disappointed. But at least Nokia's acknowledging the need for environmental sustainability.
That said, it's a shame that Nokia hasn’t introduced the eco message using one of its more headline-grabbing mobiles, such as the N95 8GB. The 3110 Evolve isn't a particularly exciting handset and sports a limited set of mid-range features, including a basic, 1.3-megapixel camera and a disappointing low-resolution display. There’s no 3G capability. Anyone seeking for a green-equals-austerity stereotype need look no further.
The 3110 Evolve’s feature run-down is not bare-bones, however. You get a multi-format music player and FM radio; support for hot-swappable Micro SD expansion; and there’s a Nokia web browser as well as Opera Mini, and several web-based applications, including WidSets and Yahoo! Go.
And for extra eco-cuddliness, Nokia has included links for the WWF - think wildlife rather than wrestling - within its browser bookmarks.
You may be uninspired by the drab grey side and back panels that offset the glossy black face of the phone, but these are some of the more eco-worthy bits of the device. The covers are made from over 50 per cent renewable organic unpainted material, which apparently reduces the carbon footprint incurred by its manufacture. Still, they do look dull.
COMMENTS
Nokia have already had solar panels!
Oh yeah of little faith.... "You'll be waiting a while" .... Not true at all. It happened 10 years ago!
The original Nokia 1610/1611/1630 range (circa 1998/1999?) had an optional battery which had solar panels on it.
Admittedly this was an early GSM phone and thus quite large by today's standards, but a benefit of that was the rear surface area of the battery (which just slid straight on/off the back of the phone and therefore was itself the rear panel of the phone) was a fair size.
Mobile manufacturers & retailers eco crimes
"Nokia estimates that if all its phone users across the world unplugged their chargers when not needed, it could save energy equivalent to that needed to power 100,000 average-sized European homes."
Oh great - so it's "our past designs are a massive contributor to global warming so that we could save a nickel on every model, but we're getting so go buy this overpriced low tech phone!".
The most ecological choice is naturally not to upgrade and just soldier on with last years model.
It's worth checking out Greenpeace's site which ranks electronics manufacturers by their "greenness". Last time I looked, Apple got a bad rating, and Sony was towards the top.
green?
"at least Nokia's acknowledging the need for environmental sustainability"
Not so, Nokia's acknowledging the consumer trend to snap up anything with the words 'green' and 'eco' in it's title. Now if only they could get away with calling it the iGreen phone, they wouldn't need to do any marketing, and it'd fly off the shelves 10x faster than ianything ielse i!
What about Frog's concept phone?
Fast Company did a piece on a much greener phone several months ago. It was a concept developed by Frog. No solar cells, but it has a hand crank that can be used for charging. That seems more practical to me.
I'm surprised no one has taken this concept and run with it yet (although the "food sniffer" component seems a bit kooky and could certainly end up on the curb).
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/120/at-frog-being-green-isnt-easy-its-essential.html
@Mark - solar panels
"Still waiting to see a handset with a solar power strip on the back so that it'll charge itself without being plugged into the mains."
You'll be waiting a while - and then a while longer for it to charge. With the efficiency of solar cells (about 15% max) and the environments mobile phones are used (indoors, in pockets, etc) this is totally impractical.
But no doubt someone *will* bring one out, to snag the gullible. I once bought a cheap bicycle computer which happened to boast it was solar powered. I concluded the "solar cell" was a fake - take the battery out even in direct sunlight and it died.
