iPhone Case Lets You Charge By Hand

iPhone Case Lets You Charge By Hand

In today’s age of apps for every purpose, Wi-Fi and emailing on the go, it’s no surprise that a lot of people struggle to make their smartphone battery last throughout the day.

A campaign through crowdfunding website Kickstarter is trying to launch an iPhone case that literally puts the power in your hands. The Mipwr Dynamo is a multi-functional case that offers both protection and charging ability to your phone, with no need for an external power supply.

When your iPhone’s battery is at risk of getting low, you can easily pop out the hidden lever from the side of the case and begin to power it back up. As you press the hand crank inwards, a charge is generated. It harnesses electromagnetic induction, which is the process of generating electricity using a magnetic field. A magnet inside the case spins as you crank the handle, creating energy that is transferred into voltage to increase your phone’s battery power. The creative minds behind the case explained that “the magnet is generally encapsulated with coils of wire to transfer the electricity to a battery storage device.”

Using this method of creating electricity is not a new technique, as it is widely used in numerous products today such as rice cookers and electric toothbrushes. It takes a minute of cranking the lever to generate 30 seconds of talk time.

A quote from the campaigns webpage explains that while it may seem like a lot of work for little reward, the implications are powerful. “In the event you exhaust both the cell phone battery and Mipwr's backup battery (that will give you two extra hours of talk time) - you can pump the push lever to produce 30 seconds of talk/text for one minute of pumping. These efforts will create enough battery power to make a distress call or text at a moment's notice.”

This would be ideal when stuck in traffic, stranded at the airport or in the event of an unpleasant large scale event such as a hurricane, flooding or extended power cut. Being able to generate your own power would become a valuable asset and give you an advantage in being able to contact friends or relatives about your situation. It could also help you get by in the event of your charger breaking until you are able to purchase a new one.

The team said the finished product will also include three LED lights at the bottom of the case to indicate battery life. Of course, you can still go the traditional way and charge your phone using a typical wall plug in.

The current Mipwr Dynamo prototype is for an iPhone 4/4S, but the designs for an iPhone 5 are already completed, and the team said that version will be available as well if the Kickstarter campaign is successful.

Posted by George Daniels on Wednesday October 30 2013, 5:07 AM EST. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Technology. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0