A Chinese company has announced a technological breakthrough: a mobile phone that will recharge itself through solar power and enable 40 minutes of talk-time after being recharged for an hour.

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Hi-Tech Wealth, a leading telecommunication products supplier in China, claims that its mobile phone will be the first in the world to use solar power.

The company described how a scale-like solar panel on the top of the phone will absorb light from surrounding sources including candles. The phone harnesses cutting-edge solar power technology to accomplish this feat.

An official with Hi-Tech Wealth admitted that many companies worldwide were working on similar product but that these were still at an experimental stage.

Zhang Zhengyu, chairman of Hi-Tech Wealth, revealed that the company began researching light as an energy source back in 2000 and pumped hundreds of millions of yuan into the project.

"With more than 400 million mobile phones in the country, China would save a great amount of electricity if all its mobile phones were recharged by light," Zhang said, pointing out the new phone's battery life which dwarfs by 2.5 times conventional batteries.

Hi-Tech Wealth rolled out its light energy mobile phones at the world's largest electronic, IT and telecommunication products trade show CeBIT in Hanover, Germany, in March. It has planned to release six of its solar-powered phones this year with a further 30 models set for next year.

(Xinhua News Agency June 8, 2007)