Of the many concept phones and prototypes I’ve seen come and go over the years, not many have finally been unveiled as full production models. However, today, we have a first: a phone that’s been unveiled not once, but twice. Yes, you read that right, the LG GD910 Pop is now being unveiled to the world. Again. Only this time, there’s a difference. Y’see, in the first unveiling, as covered in a previous blog post, it was very much a case of LG going, “Ooh, look, new mid-range touchscreen phone, ain’t it nice!”
So, what’s the crack with this second unveiling, then? What’s new, second time around?
Well, this time, according to GSMArena, LG are focusing on the fact that the LG GD910 Pop is, in fact, an eco-phone, a fact that was entirely absent from the previous unveiling. So, that officially makes the Pop (hehe, I love that name) an actually decent phone, that also happens to be more eco-friendly.
So, how have they done it? Well, LG have basically gone from the ground up with the aim of saving baby pandas in mind. So, right through the phone’s life, from production techniques, through to the tech used and finally disposal at the end of its life, everything’s been done with the green ethos firmly in mind. The box and manuals are made of recycled materials, printed with soy ink (whatever that is… seems a bit close to Soylent Green for my comfort, if y’see what I’m saying)…
Oh, and it comes with a charger that automatically stops charging the phone when the battery’s full, a technology I’m right behind, not because it’s more eco-friendly, but because it’ll save you money on your leccy bill.
The LG GD910 Pop will also have an optional (read: sold separately) battery cover, with a solar cell on the back, that they claim will provide 2 minutes of talk time, or 180 minutes of standby time, from just 10 minutes of sunlight. Of course, we’re lucky in Britain if we get 10 minutes of sunlight, but that’s a pretty impressive amount of power from solar charging, nonetheless.
So, the question remains of whether it’s any good, to which I say the following: it’s an LG touchscreen phone, of course it is! Like I said earlier, they’ve made it a good phone first, and an eco-phone second. And since most UK people buy a phone on its features rather than its carbon footprint (it’s true, there was a survey and everything), the only way an eco-phone will sell well is if it’s, first and foremost, a good phone.
Which, thankfully, the LG GD910 Pop really does look to be. As they’ve proven with phones like the LG Viewty Smart, LG really know how to make a good touchscreen device. And the Pop looks to be a proper good’n.
It just happens to also be eco-friendly.
[UPDATE: Our news section has some more info on what other green features it has.]
And another thing, I agree with Chris Packham, who famously said that the panda is virtually unsavable. I agree. The panda may be an icon of endangered species, but it’s rubbish. Any species that won’t get jiggy (they’re, like, pathologically celibate) is doomed to be out-competed, in an evolutionary sense, by, well, just about everything else in the world. And remember that nature isn’t some awesomely omniscient perfection, it just makes things up as it goes along (hell, that’s the cornerstone of evolution, is that), and frequently gets it wrong, big time.
So, I say save the tiger instead, ‘cos that one is our fault…
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