As we read on technologyreview.com some companies are comfindent that they will manifacture self-charging phones. They are coming up with ways to extend your phone’s battery life when you’re far from a power outlet.
The case for iPhone 6 and Samsung Galaxy S6 that Will Zell and Flavio Lobato create in Nicola Labs’ is a case that contain a system that harvests radio frequency (RF) waves and converts them into DC power, which feeds back that power to your phone’s battery. found a way to strike the perfect balance between capturing enough RF energy and converting it into power without impacting data or call quality. This case allows you to download power from the air and extends the battery life of your phone – there is no need for an external battery pack or some bulky battery case
Battery technology hasn’t kept the same pace, probably because its evolution is dependent on advances in chemistry. While smartphones have gotten increasingly capable, with faster processors, better displays, and higher-resolution cameras, it can still be a challenge to get the battery that’s powering all these features to last throughout the day.
Your phone is constantly transmitting energy in the form of radio frequency waves but the vast majority of this energy is lost into the environment. This case will extend your battery life between charges by simply using energy wasted from your phone. As magical as this sounds, the iPhone case won’t be able to charge your phone from zero to 100%. There’s no internal battery and no way to store any of this energy while it’s not connected to your phone. And it won’t charge very quickly, the power-converting circuit can only extend the battery life of an iPhone 6 by about 30%. You will see your iPhone discharge at a slower pace throughout the day, rather than see it constantly hovering between 90% and 100%.
The Nikola phone case increases battery life by slowing the rate at which the phone’s internal battery discharges and does this:
- Without impacting data transmission rates or call quality
- With no supplemental batteries, allowing the case to be significantly slimmer than typical powered cases
- While providing a layer of protection through its lightweight, high-strength polycarbonate material offered in a variety of colors
- With easy access to the headphone jack and charging port
Will Zell acknowledges that there’s plenty of skepticism surrounding the utility of harvesting energy from radio waves, he says Nikola Labs’ technology works because it’s doing the harvesting so close to the transmitting antenna in the phone, and that it’s capturing radio waves that aren’t needed for communication in order to avoid impacting call quality. Τhe purpose of the company is to create a product where the battery life is no longer something that’s in everyone’s minds.