Home
›
News
›
This fabric may one day charge your smartphone while it is resting in your pocket

This fabric may one day charge your smartphone while it is resting in your pocket

Posted: 03 Apr 2012, 07:27, by Nick T.

Categories: Interesting facts Interesting facts

Discuss 9

This fabric may one day charge your smartphone while it is resting in your pocket

Thanks to a new kind of fabric that is currently in development, smartphones and other electronic gadgets may one day charge whilst resting inside our pockets. Witchcraft, you say? Not really. You see, the secret lies in the threads that the said fabric is to be made out of - a special type of yarn that can conduct electricity. Once contact between it and a compatible electronic device is established, its battery will automatically start charging.

The tricky part is that clothing made out of this conductive textile will have to be equipped with a battery of their own, which is where the juice for the devices being charged will actually come from. But hey, instead of charging a handful of individual gizmos overnight, it would be easier to just plug in your jeans overnight, don't you think?

Of course, such technology is not likely to become commercially available anytime soon, but it is currently being tested for use in the U.K. military. Instead of having a multitude of cables running down their uniforms providing power to their equipment, British soldiers will have no pesky wires dangling off their uniforms. However, the conductive textile still needs to be made weather-proof before it can be used in real-life scenarios.

source: BBC via Gizmodo


This conductive fabric may one day charge your smartphone

Discuss9

Maria Sharapova is "make believe" no more, swaps the Sony advertising gig 03 Apr
Prev news

EU probes Motorola for abuse of patents after Microsoft and Apple complain 03 Apr
Next news

9 Comments
Follow Following

Options

Want to comment? Please login or register.

1. andro. posted on 03 Apr 2012, 08:08 1

yes its handy but once it doesn't look as ugly!

3. shadowcell posted on 03 Apr 2012, 08:35 3

Yes, we all must look fabulous when running into the battlefield.

9. Berzerk000 posted on 03 Apr 2012, 17:45 1

Don't want the enemy to think we don't have a sense of style, now do we?

2. jasongohjr posted on 03 Apr 2012, 08:18 0

Equals to a portable charger at yr clothes.... since they have to place a battery on
E part of the clothes...

4. DanMarino13 posted on 03 Apr 2012, 08:44 0

i would bet it would be more similiar to multiple capacitors that would basically hold reserve power, so a little more advanced than just sewing in a 6000mah lithium battery pack into your clothes....

5. denney posted on 03 Apr 2012, 10:33 1

Fast forward 10 years to "conductive fabric pants used to charge smartphones cause cancer"

7. ZayZay posted on 03 Apr 2012, 11:36 0

Was just thinking the same thing.. Then thought "What doesn't give us cancer?"

6. cellphonejunky posted on 03 Apr 2012, 10:45 0

I can already see the headline "radioactive shorts" -Pause for dramatic effect-

8. JonBjSig posted on 03 Apr 2012, 17:05 0

As clothes with solar cells aren't far away I'd say this is a very promising fabric.

Want to comment? Please login or register.

Samsung Galaxy S4
- Announced: 14 Mar 2013
- OS: Android 4.2.2
- Hardware: Quad core, 1900 MHz, Krait 300, 2048 MB RAM
- Display: 5.0 inches, 1080 x 1920 pixels, Capacitive Touchscreen
- Camera 13 megapixels, 1920x1080 (1080p HD) video
- Technology: GSM (850 900 1800 1900)
- Data: LTE Cat3 Downlink 100 Mbit/s LTE Cat3/4 Uplink 50 Mbit/s HSDPA+ (4G) 42.2 Mbit/s HSUPA 5.76 Mbit/s UMTS EDGE GPRS
Apple iPhone 5
- Announced: 12 Sep 2012
- OS: iOS
- Hardware: Dual core, 1300 MHz, Apple Swift, 1016 MB RAM
- Display: 4.0 inches, 640 x 1136 pixels, Capacitive Touchscreen
- Camera 8 megapixels, 1920x1080 (1080p HD) video
- Technology: GSM (850 900 1800 1900), CDMA (800 1700/2100 1900)
- Data: LTE Cat3 Downlink 100 Mbit/s HSDPA+ (4G) 42.2 Mbit/s UMTS EDGE GPRS EV-DO Rev.A EV-DO Rev.B
Samsung GALAXY Note II
- Announced: 29 Aug 2012
- OS: Android 4.1.2 4.1.1
- Hardware: Quad core, 1600 MHz, ARM Cortex-A9, 2048 MB RAM
- Display: 5.5 inches, 720 x 1280 pixels, Capacitive Touchscreen
- Camera 8 megapixels, 1920x1080 (1080p HD) video
- Battery: 35 hours of Talk Time, 980 hours of Stand-by
- Technology: GSM (850 900 1800 1900)
- Data: LTE Cat3 Downlink 100 Mbit/s LTE Cat3/4 Uplink 50 Mbit/s HSDPA+ (4G) 21.1 Mbit/s HSUPA 5.76 Mbit/s UMTS EDGE GPRS
HTC One
- Announced: 19 Feb 2013
- OS: Android 4.1.2
- Hardware: Quad core, 1700 MHz, Krait 300, 2048 MB RAM
- Display: 4.7 inches, 1080 x 1920 pixels, Capacitive Touchscreen
- Camera 4 megapixels, 1920x1080 (1080p HD) video
- Technology: GSM (850 900 1800 1900), CDMA (800 1900)
- Data: LTE HSPA (unspecified) UMTS EDGE GPRS
Sony Xperia Z
- Announced: 07 Jan 2013
- OS: Android 4.1.2
- Hardware: Quad core, 1500 MHz, Krait, 2048 MB RAM
- Display: 5.0 inches, 1080 x 1920 pixels, Capacitive Touchscreen
- Camera 13.1 megapixels, 1920x1080 (1080p HD) video
- Battery: 11 hours of Talk Time, 550 hours of Stand-by
- Technology: GSM (850 900 1800 1900)
- Data: LTE Cat3 Downlink 100 Mbit/s LTE Cat3/4 Uplink 50 Mbit/s HSDPA+ (4G) 42.2 Mbit/s HSUPA 5.76 Mbit/s UMTS EDGE GPRS
Google Nexus 4
- Announced: 29 Oct 2012
- OS: Android 4.2.2 4.2.1 4.2
- Hardware: Quad core, 1500 MHz, Krait, 2048 MB RAM
- Display: 4.7 inches, 768 x 1280 pixels, Capacitive Touchscreen
- Camera 8 megapixels, 1920x1080 (1080p HD) video
- Battery: 15.3 hours of Talk Time, 390 hours of Stand-by
- Technology: GSM (850 900 1800 1900)
- Data: HSDPA+ (4G) 42.2 Mbit/s HSUPA 5.76 Mbit/s UMTS EDGE GPRS
LG Optimus G
- Announced: 28 Aug 2012
- OS: Android 4.1.2 4.0.4
- Hardware: Quad core, 1500 MHz, Krait, 2048 MB RAM
- Display: 4.7 inches, 768 x 1280 pixels, Capacitive Touchscreen
- Camera 13 megapixels, 1920x1080 (1080p HD) video
- Battery: 15 hours of Talk Time, 335 hours of Stand-by
- Technology: GSM (850 900 1800 1900)
- Data: LTE HSPA (unspecified) UMTS EDGE GPRS
Nokia Lumia 920
- Announced: 05 Sep 2012
- OS: Windows Phone 8
- Hardware: Dual core, 1500 MHz, Krait, 1024 MB RAM
- Display: 4.5 inches, 768 x 1280 pixels, Capacitive Touchscreen
- Camera 8.7 megapixels, 1920x1080 (1080p HD) video
- Battery: 17 hours of Talk Time, 400 hours of Stand-by
- Technology: GSM (850 900 1800 1900)
- Data: LTE Cat3 Downlink 100 Mbit/s LTE Cat3/4 Uplink 50 Mbit/s HSDPA+ (4G) 42.2 Mbit/s HSUPA 5.76 Mbit/s UMTS EDGE GPRS

Carriers

Manufacturers

Phone tools

Carriers

Manufacturers

Tablet tools

Phone Links

This fabric may one day charge your smartphone while it is resting in your pocket

Share:

Share:

9 Comments Follow Following

1. andro. posted on 03 Apr 2012, 08:08 1

3. shadowcell posted on 03 Apr 2012, 08:35 3

9. Berzerk000 posted on 03 Apr 2012, 17:45 1

2. jasongohjr posted on 03 Apr 2012, 08:18 0

4. DanMarino13 posted on 03 Apr 2012, 08:44 0

5. denney posted on 03 Apr 2012, 10:33 1

7. ZayZay posted on 03 Apr 2012, 11:36 0

6. cellphonejunky posted on 03 Apr 2012, 10:45 0

8. JonBjSig posted on 03 Apr 2012, 17:05 0

Popular stories

Hot Phones

Interesting stories

10 iPhone and Android apps for making music

A look at the iOS7 camera filters and features

10 puzzle adventure games for Android and iPhone

Siri on iOS 7: testing the new commands

Controlling the GoPro Hero 3 action camera from a smartphone

Best Android, iPhone and iPad games of the week

It's not stealing when Apple does it, because it wasn't stealing when Google did it either

iOS 7 vs Android 4.2: first look

9 Comments
Follow Following