LAS VEGAS -- When you're on the road without access to electrical power, keeping a cell phone or PDA charged can be a challenge. Emergency chargers can keep you going for an hour or so, but then what?
Medis Technologies Fuel Cell Power Pack, on display at the CTIA Wireless 2006 show here, isn't a wall outlet, but it may be the next best thing. About the size of a fat bar of soap and weighing about 5 ounces, this disposable fuel cell promises to deliver 15 to 20 watt-hours of power, enough to keep a standard cell phone going for some 30 hours of talk time, or the equivalent of 10 recharges, says Medis president Jacob Weiss.
What's more, the same device can be used to recharge most popular cell phones as well as other handhelds such as portable media players and gaming devices such as Sony's PlayStation Portable.
Getting Started
It is expected to sell for $20, but the first time you buy a Power Pack, you'd also have to buy a kit that includes a power management cable for connecting the cell to a device, as well as about half a dozen tips to adapt the cable to the charging ports of several popular device types. Weiss says the kit would go for $25. Medis will make adaptor tips for devices not supported in the starter kit available on its Web site, he says.
When sold, the cell would be packaged in such a way that the liquid fuel and chemicals it combines to generate power would be separated. To combine them and activate the cell, the user would squeeze the top and bottom sections of the cell's case together. Once activated, the cell will only generate power for two to three months, Weiss says.
Weiss says frequent travelers, emergency service workers, and any business that dispatches employees to outdoor locations would be the obvious customers for the Power Pack. But, he says, the product is so inexpensive for the amount of recharging it can provide that he believes it will take off as a convenience device.
Weiss said he expects the Fuel Cell Power Pack to ship towards the end of this year or in early 2007.
Ad Choices