solar cover results?

[vrvallejo]

Anyone care to report their findings using the solar cover?

In very limited use with my wife's phone I have not been able to get the battery meter (using elixer as the guage) to increase. Again very limited testing, 15 minutes stints in direct sunlight on the car dash and no power increase (in fact mostly experienced a 1% decrease). I know alot depends on the apps in use in the foreground and background but I have not loaded her phone up with much yet and was hoping for more than just a $30 "gimick" piece of plastic.

Also, in the 15 minutes time the phone (as I had expected) got extremely hot, which goes against intuitive cell phone care logic...looking for any other solar cover users to weigh in.

 

[rc28a]

From what I've seen it seems rather gimmicky

I would recommend this instead:



http://shop2.sprint.com/assets/images/accessories/pgu5688q_l.gif

Accessories
Chargers & Batteries for the Nexus S™ 4G from Google (Choose a different phone)
Solio Mono Hybrid Charger - Item # PGU5688Q_C
Store power from the sun or socket freeing you to recharge your mobile phone anywhere, anytime.

* Large internal Lithium-ion battery
* Easily recharged via included USB cable, AC Travel Charger, or Solar energy.
* Compact in size, Weatherproof Housing
* Built-in charge indicator displays remaining power
* Kit includes: 4 adapter tips (mini-USB, micro-USB, S20, female USB), adapter tip system cable, USB charging cable, AC charger, carabineer clip, and hemp carrying bag
* Matte Black Finish
Also works with: [8830 by BlackBerry?, BlackBerry? Curve™ 3G smartphone, BlackBerry? Curve™ 8330, BlackBerry? Curve™ 8530 smartphone, BlackBerry? Curve™ 8530 smartphone (Refurbished), BlackBerry? Style™ 9670 smartphone, HTC Arrive™, HTC EVO Shift™ 4G, HTC EVO™ 4G, HTC Snap™, HTC Touch PRO™, HTC Touch Pro2, KATANA? Eclipse X by Sanyo?, KATANA? Eclipse by Sanyo?, KATANA? LX by Sanyo?, Kyocera Echo™, LG LX370, LG Lotus Elite™, LG Lotus™, LG Lotus™ (Refurbished), LG Optimus S™, LG Remarq™, LG Rumor Touch™, LG Rumor2™, LX400 by LG?, M220 by Samsung?, M240 by Samsung?, M320 by Samsung?, M330 by Samsung?, M360 by Samsung?, MOTOKRZR™ K1m by Motorola, MOTORAZR? V9m by Motorola, MOTORAZR™ V3m by Motorola, MiFi? 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot by Novatel Wireless, MiFi™ 2200 by Novatel Wireless, MiFi™ 2200 by Novatel Wireless (Refurbished), Motorola ES400S by Sprint, Motorola Renegade V950, Motorola? Renegade™ V950, Nexus S™ 4G from Google, Overdrive™ 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot by Sierra Wireless, PRO-200 by Sanyo?, PRO-700 by Sanyo?, Palm? Pixi™, Palm? Pre™, Palm? Treo™ 800w, S1 by Sanyo?, SANYO Incognito™, SANYO SCP-3810, SANYO SCP-3810 (Refurbished), SCP-2700 by SANYO?, SCP-2700 by SANYO? (Refurbished), Samsung Epic™ 4G, Samsung Exclaim™, Samsung Highnote™, Samsung Instinct? s30™, Samsung Instinct? s30™ (Purple), Samsung Instinct? s30™ (Refurbished), Samsung Instinct™, Samsung Intercept™, Samsung Intercept™ (Pink), Samsung Intrepid™, Samsung Moment™ with Google™, Samsung Rant™, Samsung Rant™ (Refurbished), Samsung Reclaim™, Samsung Reclaim™(Refurbished), Samsung Replenish™, Samsung Replenish™, Samsung Restore™, Samsung Seek™, Samsung Transform™, Sanyo Innuendo™ by Kyocera, Sanyo Taho by Kyocera, Sanyo Vero™ by Kyocera, Sanyo Zio™, Sierra Wireless Overdrive Pro 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot, Touch Diamond™ by HTC, Touch by HTC™, Treo™ PRO by Palm?, Z400 by Samsung?]

 

[itsme2]

A windshield can cut 30-50% of the solar energy that passes through it, so a phone on the dashboard is already not receiving full illumination.

Given the auxiliary electrical contacts meant for the solar cover, I was thinking about using those to adapt Palm Pre's inductive wireless charging back & base. I plan on getting those Pre accessories off of ebay, and seeing if I can modify them to work on a Replenish with minimal cosmetic variance.

 

[kc_exactly]

I am not sure how well it works either after a week. It really empresses people though. The are like "Wow, your phone has a solar charger." I just play it off like "We all need to do what we can." I am going to go pick up some hot hippies chicks. I just wish the phone came with a razor for the hippie chicks.

 

[johhnyrockws]

Alternative Power Supply

Hello.
I know it may sound like a tacky idea, but there is a much better way to power the phone. Ebay sells the batteries for this phone for about $15 with free shipping(HongKong delivery takes two weeks). I purchased two extra batteries for my phone because I use it constantly throughout my business day and personal life.

Ebay also sells an item called a universal cell phone charger for $5 with free shipping. So for about $40, a person can have all the power they would ever need to get through their day. If you don't think you need all that power you can still spend the $20 for the one battery and charger which is still beating the price for one battery in the Sprint stores at $45 or the $60 solar charger. Batteries are Samsung factory batteries at 1500mAh, not generic knock offs too!! Some might think it's tacky to carry extra batteries in your pocket but they are slim and don't take up much space. I think that's a small price to pay for "all day long" power including use over wifi.

 

[hawk1500]

I returned my solar back cover cause it didn't really help much with my battery life. It was cool to see the sun icon while I had it though...

 

[Dhalgren]

Results are mixed, and only positive if the solar cells are fully exposed to sunlight while outdoors. In outdoor sunlight, the solar cells can pretty much maintain the current standby battery level, so long as the sun is high in the sky and is sustained for a good 30 minutes at least. So a trip to the beach or park on a clear day could allow you to extend battery life by as much time as the unit is exposed to peak sunshine. So if you phone battery typically lasts from 7am to 10pm (typical for a Replenish - 15 hours), you could get it stretched to midnight if you and your phone bask in afternoon summer sunshine for 2 hours.

A nice looking accessory for what most users must be a rare event. It's like asking convertible owners how much sunshine do they get while driving. Depends on where you are and how much you drive.

 

[holyjoe722]

I don't have a solar charger, but I noticed that if my phone sits in the sun too long, it slows down and the screen goes beserk. Based on reviews I've read, the solar charger requires a lot of sun to work. Sun=heat. I'm going out on a limb here, but I'd guess that you would be better off using a separate solar charger (like someone above suggested) and not waste your $$ on the cover. IMHO, of course.

 

[Thadion]

I have the solar charger with the phone. I have Ghost Armor on the phone screen and battery charger door. I also have a Body Glove case for it that has clear plastic on the outside. I took the phone camping one day:

I woke up at about 6 am and unplugged the phone from the charger. The day was nice and sunny. While out on the camping trip (about 18 hours) the phone spent a majority of the time searching for service. I had disabled everything that I could but still be able to send and receive text and phone calls. When the phone did have coverage, it was one bar of roaming. I did not run any applications at all. When I got back to the house and the phone had been unplugged and ON for a full 24 hours (yes, at night too) the battery was still at 45%.

In my opinion, it's more of a trickle charger if you will. It will help to maintain the battery level as long as you aren't doing much of anything with it. The only thing I really used the phone for while camping was a clock. The charger worked just fine through the Ghost armor and the Body glove case. It was enough to impress me and justify the $30 I spent on the solar door for it. Just my two cents though. Hope this helps someone.

Ryan

 

[jamesencina]

the solar panel was a waste of money for me it never worked