Samsung Reclaim Is Mother Earth's Favorite Cellphone
The green bandwagon is as hot as ever, but usually we see companies blowing lots of hot air rather than actually doing anything to benefit Mother Earth. Not so with Samsung, which has just introduced what's very likely the world's most eco-friendly cell phone. Cleverly called the Reclaim, this device is made from 80 percent recyclable materials, and a portion of the purchase price from each one goes directly to benefit The Nature Conservancy’s Adopt an Acre program.
The Reclaim's outer shell is constructed from a bio-plastic material that is actually made from corn. Yeah, corn! 40 percent of the shell is rooted in one of your favorite vegetables, and the entire phone is free of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), phthalates, and nearly free of brominated flame retardants (BFR): three materials commonly targeted on green electronics guidelines. The outer packaging and the phone tray inside the box are made from 70 percent recycled materials, and the images and text on the box as well as the phone warranty information are printed with soy-based ink. Heck, even the phone charger is Energy Star approved.
Sprint is also taking this opportunity to showcase its enthusiasm about going green by becoming the first US carrier to establish a set of environmental design criteria for future devices and accessories. The company is also committing to reduce paper usage by 30 percent during the next five years and to implement a series of new environmentally-responsible retail initiatives including adding a dedicated display area in stores.
The full-featured QWERTY phone will be available on August 16 in all Sprint retail channels, including Best Buy, Radio Shack, Web (www.sprint.com) and telesales (1-800-SPRINT1) for just $49.99 with a two-year service agreement after a $30 instant rebate and a $50 mail-in rebate; it will be available at Wal-Mart in early September. The specs highlights are listed below:
The Reclaim's outer shell is constructed from a bio-plastic material that is actually made from corn. Yeah, corn! 40 percent of the shell is rooted in one of your favorite vegetables, and the entire phone is free of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), phthalates, and nearly free of brominated flame retardants (BFR): three materials commonly targeted on green electronics guidelines. The outer packaging and the phone tray inside the box are made from 70 percent recycled materials, and the images and text on the box as well as the phone warranty information are printed with soy-based ink. Heck, even the phone charger is Energy Star approved.
Sprint is also taking this opportunity to showcase its enthusiasm about going green by becoming the first US carrier to establish a set of environmental design criteria for future devices and accessories. The company is also committing to reduce paper usage by 30 percent during the next five years and to implement a series of new environmentally-responsible retail initiatives including adding a dedicated display area in stores.
The full-featured QWERTY phone will be available on August 16 in all Sprint retail channels, including Best Buy, Radio Shack, Web (www.sprint.com) and telesales (1-800-SPRINT1) for just $49.99 with a two-year service agreement after a $30 instant rebate and a $50 mail-in rebate; it will be available at Wal-Mart in early September. The specs highlights are listed below:
- a slide-out full QWERTY keyboard making it easy to access personal or corporate email as well as text and multimedia messaging;
- Sprint Navigation with Search, providing easy access to directory information and GPS-enabled directions;
- 2 megapixel camera with 3x digital zoom and camcorder;
- advanced stereo Bluetooth 2.0;
- expandable memory storage up to 32GB;
- an integrated Web browser; and
- two color options - Earth Green and Ocean Blue.
