If you use your phone frequently, you'll know how important it is to keep and maintain a charge on your battery.  Phone batteries can hold longer charges than ever before, but if you're using a PDA then sometimes your charge doesn't last as long.  Constantly charging your cell phone increases the carbon footprint of your household, and it may seem to be a necessary evil.  Well, not anymore.

Samsung has created a handset called "Blue Earth" and it could be the new wave of sustainable phones.  Not only is the casing made from PCM, which is plastic recycled from old water bottles, it also has a number of great green features.  It lets you calculate how much CO2 you are not emitting when you decide to walk to work instead of drive, and you can also adjust the settings on your phone to keep a charge longer.  On top of all that, it features a solar panel on the back.  It will charge the phone enough to sustain a phone call if the sun is at its peak brightness.

The "Blue Earth" comes in recycled packaging, which is also a huge benefit.  Hand-held phones come in huge packages, set inside Styrofoam, and hardly any of it can be recycled.  Not the case with "Blue Earth" which boosts its green capacity even higher.

Unfortunately, "Blue Earth" isn't available for sale right now, but the UK will see this phone after the summer.

(Engadget original article)