If for whatever the planet were the disaster due to a nuclear holocaust and we were the only ones left on the face of the Earth, surely if we had a cover with solar panels we could continue reading our favorite e-books while the world around us, and that we knew, is disappearing without flinching before it.
As we are still far from the apocalypse in the last 18 months Booekeen has been working with SunPartner Technologies to develop their Wysips solar panel in a sleeve and it was launched on the market just yesterday. The Leaf Solar Cover is a 59 euro cover for the 8-inch Cybook Ocean ereader (it may also be known as the Nolimbook XL at Carrefour).
This is characterized by a solar panel developed by Sunpartner Technologies and incorporates the technology of Wysips solar panels. Wysips is supposedly a transparent material that can be used on the device's screen to act like a solar panel.
This is how Booken wanted to use technology when he came to the final agreement announced in 2015though they finally changed their minds at the beginning of this year to use it in a case, precisely the one we are talking about today in this news.
The changes to Bookeen's plans are due to Wysips it did not work as expected. Sunpartner has been working with this technology for six years and they have yet to produce a commercial design with a solar panel covering the screen of the device. Instead, Sunpartner has created a sleeve for the Cybook Ocean e-book rather than putting the solar panel on the same screen as the ereader.
This case is available from the website of Bookeen and as can be seen in the image, some horizontal bands almost transparent, which are precisely those that capture solar energy.
It is a good idea. I have always thought that, with the little that electronic ink consumes, it is very feasible to incorporate a solar panel and make it totally independent of electrical energy.
Of course, I prefer the idea that the panel is incorporated directly in the ereader and not in the case. My Casio watch has this technology, I don't know what problems there may be with Wysips but I hope they solve them soon and in the future we will see solar ereaders that do not need to be plugged in anywhere. It is not that it bothers to have to connect them for half an hour once a month of course but having an energetically independent device is a hoot and an added value.