M2E says it will deliver cellphone-charging motion power device in 2009

We haven't heard a whole lot from M2E Power since it burst onto the scene last year with promises of powering your gadgets with movement, but the company now says that it's made some real progress with its wonder device, and it's claiming that it'll actually be available sometime next year. According to the company, the charger will let you get about 30 to 60 minutes of talk time on your cellphone after six hours of cumulative motion, and you'll of course be able to use it with other gadgets as well. As you can see above, the charger unit can also simply be plugged into an outlet to be topped off if you need a slightly quicker fix. What's more, M2E also says that it has had discussions with some unspecified cellphone makers to build the generator directly into a phone, although it says it'll take "at least two years" before something like that is commercially available.

[raerae @ Aug 26th 2008 12:37PM]

6 hours of movement? WTF, i would walk my ass to a socket and plug it in for 30 minutes. there, problem solved. sell that idea for amillion. nobs

[avester @ Aug 26th 2008 1:06PM]

Since sockets are a plentiful at the woods while camping.

[required @ Aug 26th 2008 12:34PM]

This is great. I wonder how they define cumulative motion though. Is it casually walking or pop locking?

[Stem $ell @ Aug 27th 2008 3:32PM]

Lets just say that Michael J. Fox and Joe Cocker are pretty much assured unlimited talk time...

[Kiwi616 @ Aug 26th 2008 12:36PM]

This is pretty funny...

Remember when you saw people using BT headset for the first time? They looked like they were talking to themselves.


NOW, we will have people jacking their phone for power and looking like...?!?!

[azz0r @ Aug 26th 2008 1:03PM]

Why don't mobile phones have solar panels, ala calculators, on them...that would be much better for the environment.

[avester @ Aug 26th 2008 1:08PM]

1) They cost a bit money for good panels

2) Need big space to charge

3) Doesn't charge in your pocket

4) Needs sunlight (duh)

Jacket that would have solar panels (Are there soft ones made?) would be a damn good idea though.

[JCA @ Aug 26th 2008 1:13PM]

Maybe because they spend the majority of their time in a pocket? Naw.....that can't be it.

[Mark @ Aug 26th 2008 3:30PM]

I still remember when I couldn't get my solar powered calculator to turn on, so I opened it up and found a small battery behind it and realized it was just a piece of plastic!

[Salsa Shark @ Aug 26th 2008 7:14PM]

Scott eVest makes gadget jackets that have a "soft" solar panel flap that attaches to the back...

http://www.scottevest.com/v3_product_info/solar_faq.shtml

And a review:

http://www.pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&t=reviews&id=596

Seems that they're not actively promoting it with their current products, though.

[nick @ Aug 26th 2008 12:49PM]

"about 30 to 60 minutes of talk time on your cellphone after six hours of cumulative motion"
do they realize how stupid that sounds? @raerae: exactly. plug it in for 30 minutes for a couple hours of talk time.
I mean, it could be convenient if it was built right into your phone...so it would always be charging as you walk around and what not.
but as an extra device, with such horrible numbers like 12:1-2 charging:talk time, it's stupid.

[pieterh @ Aug 26th 2008 1:13PM]

It won't sell. In wealthy countries people will use power sockets. In poorer countries people will walk to the nearest charging station as they do today, or they'll look for more efficient recharging alternatives like crank generators. No-one is going to strap this to their hips and go jogging to raise some charge in their phones...

[avester @ Aug 26th 2008 1:17PM]

There is one big flaw with those, this is the easy way, no need to crank, just walk, I hope that you do walk, right?

This would be a nice emergency battery pack, since you can load it from USB, and then the discharging energy/small charging operations would be neutralized by the motion

[r @ Aug 26th 2008 2:59PM]

It's hard to say if something will sell or not without knowing the cost.

Also, avester is right: this is a great tool for users who need an emergency backup change and don't have the time to stop and crank.

[Dapman02 @ Aug 26th 2008 1:24PM]

Knowing me I would get tired of walking and put it in a paint shaker for a few hours.

[Jason Gold @ Aug 26th 2008 1:29PM]

typo: movment --> movement.

[Evan @ Aug 26th 2008 3:07PM]

30 min of TALK time. What is that in idle? A couple of hours? I would totally use this. I cant cout the amount of time my phone has gone dead while traveling before getting to my destination.

[Joe H @ Aug 26th 2008 4:17PM]

I've said for a while now that the best target market for something like this is the Wii remote. You're generally moving it for normal usage, so to recharge as you play would be great.

[JosephI @ Aug 26th 2008 5:06PM]

Could also be useful on wireless mice...

[flir003 @ Aug 26th 2008 7:42PM]

Maybe the military could use this? They are always hiking around and have lots of mobile electronic gadgets. I wonder how many hours of hiking they need to do to get 1 hours worth of electrical energy that they typically consume.

[cargojack @ Aug 26th 2008 8:56PM]

I will tell you who will buy this device: Anyone who bought one of those flashlights that light up by shaking the rare earth magnetic inside; anyone who has bought a crank radio or a Freeplay radio or flashlight; anyone who has bought one of those emergency cellphone chargers that use two AA cells, like the one iGo makes; anyone who lives in a hurricane zone or is the sort who has an emergency kit in their house.

[avester @ Aug 27th 2008 1:33AM]

I have one of those AA chargers for my iPod, much better than buying an battery that you can change... (By tools)

[Krassen Dimitrov @ Aug 28th 2008 9:38AM]

I don't know about you guys, but if I had to carry an EXTRA piece it would be a spare battery, rather than this thingie.
What this people wanted to do originally was to have a generator embedded INSIDE the phone. I showed them that it was physically impossible, due to the small size of today's devices, to generate enough mechanical power, so they moved towards these bulkier external chargers...
It is a pretty common thing in clean tech: start with something compelling and impossible and then make a turn towards something possible but uninteresting...