Contributor: Tech Mistress is not a so young ‘eccentric’, tech loving lady. She likes to share information in funny and witty ways, to inform but yet motivate. You can follow her on twitter – @AbiikeBlogger, and check out her blog – Mumuocrats.
Innovation is defined as the creation of better or more effective products, processes, services, technologies, or ideas that are accepted by markets, governments, and society. Innovation differs from invention in that innovation refers to the use of a new idea or method, whereas invention refers more directly to the creation of the idea or method itself. The Samsung NC215S — the first solar powered laptop to officially go on sale in the United States can be categorized under ‘innovation’.
The laptop’s 10.1 inch, uses windows 7, weighs 1.3kg and has a 1024 x 600 pixel display and 1GB of memory. It can be powered by the sun with a battery that stores one hour of life for every two hours of charging — with a 14 hour battery max. An Intel Atom N570 (1.66 GHz) dual-core processor, 1GB of Ram and a 250GB or 320GB drive are the device’s main features.
Samsung has already hit the solar gadget mark in India where they released a solar powered phone last year. With Samsung’s new solar powered wonder, the Samsung NC215S, you can head out to the park and work in the sun, for an entire work day — more than you can do with most laptops already on the market. The Samsung NC215S also has a matte display that reduces glare to make your sunny work time even more productive.
The laptop has its solar cells built right into the lid, so you can place it lid-down on a sunny windowsill to charge or position yourself in the park for optimal solar charging. The solar Samsung NC215 netbook is probably the first ever solar computer, and the solar panel attaches to the front of the netbook’s lid. It is expected to relieve those whose daily undertakings depend on laptops of the hurdles that they had to go through during times of electricity rationing and off the power stations. It also has an LED backlit display that Samsung says is 50% brighter than your average computer — much needed in the bright outdoors.
The Samsung NC215S was first released in Africa to great acclaim, Initially unveiled at the Africa Regional Forum in Nairobi, Kenya, the new device has now been confirmed for other markets. It is also likely to be popular in African markets, where permanent sources of power are often not available. Samsung Electronics Africa hopes to reach $10 billion in sales by 2015.
Samsung has an established interest in solar power, launching a mobile phone using the technology in 2009 at the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona. Although the ‘Blue Earth’ device did not mark a breakthrough for the technology, it has increasingly also been used by other manufacturers – Fujitsu has also been examining the technology as part of a recent computing design competition.
The new netbook is said to retail at $399 in the United States which is approximately 63, 840 naira depending on the current price of naira. Do I think the netbook will trend? Am not too optimistic about it though we have an abundance of sunshine, what happens during the rainy season? When it eventually becomes available in the market here in Nigeria, I hope it circulates and is ‘affordable’.
