This battery-free cellphone sucks power out of thin air

Researchers from the University of Washington have developed the very first battery-free phone. Its sound quality is pretty shitty, but imagine not having to charge your phone because it harvests light and radio waves from your surroundings. Sweet. “We’ve built what we believe is the first functioning cell phone that consumes almost zero power,” co-author Shyam Gollakota, an associate professor in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering at the UW told the University of Washington blog. The researchers used a nifty way to get rid of the most power hungry part of normal cell phones: The conversion of analog…

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