Chinese phone maker ponders solar-powered Android handset

Google-based device coming next year

Three months after it unveiled the world’s first low-cost solar-powered mobile phone, Chinese handset maker ZTE hinted today that it may launch an Android-powered solar phone next year.

In an interview with Register Hardware, ZTE Sales Director Wu Sa confirmed that the company will launch its first handset based on Google’s Android platform during Q2 2010.

The ZTE Android device “could be solar-powered”, he added.

However, Wu Sa explained that before ZTE goes ahead with the production of an Android-based light-powered handset, the company must look carefully at how the Google OS and solar panel would impact the handset's eco-qualities, features and capabilities. ®