Finnish Bluetooth accessories vendor Iqua brought to International CES what it claims is the world’s first solar-powered Bluetooth headset.
The Iqua 603 Sun, a 2008 CES Innovations Award winner, sports a solar panel that drives a proprietary 3.7-volt/110mAh lithium-polymer battery that provides up to nine hours of talktime and up to 200 days of standby time when fully charged.
The solar panel is sensitive enough to charge on a cloudy day as well as indoors using artificial light, according to Iqua VP Americas, Paul Murdock. The headset also ships with a USB charger and a wall charger, which charges the unit in about two hours.
The unit has a small form factor, weighing in at 14 grams, and can be paired with up to eight devices, one at a time.
Features include: answer/end/reject call; last number redial; voice dial activate (when supported by mobile phone); mute; volume control; switching between phone and handsfree modes; Bluetooth connection active, call status and battery low indicated by multi-colored LEDs; automatic reconnection to default user or the last user; automatic reconnection at power on and disconnect at power off, and support for VOIP calls
The Sun was set to ship in late January through retailers and carries a suggested retail of $99.99.