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It's almost summer, and you know what that means — rolling blackout season is here! During these dark times, having a light and the ability to communicate is vital. Enter the hand-cranked cell-phone charger. While other crank systems generate light, this useful device goes one further by not only providing up to 20 minutes of illumination from five LEDs, but can also power a cell phone for quick 2- to 8-minute calls. It's small too, about the size of a regular flip phone, which means users have no reason to leave home without it.

As often as I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere with a dead cell phone, I'd really like to have one of these as part of my road-warrior kit. Unfortunately for now, the ECO is only available in Japan, a country plagued with earthquakes making this a necessary piece of emergency gear. If it's a success there, it's bound to make its way to the U.S. soon.

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If you are worried when you carry your cellphone in your pocket, this concept designed by Tao Ma might be the thing you are looking for.


The bracelet of this phone doesn’t have a screen display or normal buttons but it is that simplistic characteristic that makes it special. The image shows how it is supposed to work and where are all the buttons located (numbers, power supply switch, volume, hang up button).

The bracelet phone is supposed to vibrate when you receive a phone call or a message. It would be very advisable finding a way to unfold some kind of small screen in order to display info about the calling number, battery, etc...but designer Tao Ma has not worked yet in this feature.

Another very interesting feature of this bracelet phone created by Tao Ma is that it is also a MP3 player. This design is just in its early stages, so it will have more interesting features added in future releases.

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