Bamboo is an excellent sustainable material because it grows quickly, is durable and relatively easy to grow. Because of it’s sustainability, we have seen a flood of different things made out of bamboo like towels, sheets, iPod/iPhone cases, furniture, rugs, etc. Later this year we will be seeing a new Android phone packed into a bamboo shell. No this isn’t a case that fits over the phone, it is the phone itself.
The Telegraph reports that a 23 year old Middlesex University design student named Kieron Scott-Woodhouse designed the new ADzero phone out of frustration. He was tired of all the similarity of design of Android phones. For a while, if you had seen one, you’d seen them all. The only difference it seemed was the name on the front and the innards.
Scott-Woodhouse is still in school but looks to have a potential hit on his hands when the phone is finally produced. He has already been “contacted by a technology entrepreneur” and is working for the company ADzero developing the unibody phone. While he works on the case, an engineer is designing the technology that will fit inside. One of the new features will be a Mobile Ring Flash Technology (MRFT), a LED flash that will ring the camera improving picture lighting. It looks from the picture as if there might be two different designs for the front of the one.
The phone will be built in China which is how the company and Scott-Woodhouse decided to make the case out of bamboo. Bamboo can be locally sourced and has all of the features mentioned above. Scott-Woodhouse has worked on strengthening the case so that it is rugged enough to survive everyday wear and tear. It will also weigh less than an iPhone, which is good since we’ve seen the advent of the Razr and Razr Maxx that are extremely thin light phones.
The company has not released any information about the technology that is going into the phone so there is no information on memory, processor or Android build. Since the phone is expected to be sold in boutiques rather than typical mobile phone outlets there is no telling what will wind up inside of it.
Unfortunately, the fact that it will be sold in boutiques means that it will probably be more expensive than most Android phones currently on the market. Bamboo items from socks to furniture seem to be costing a premium these days. Since it is such a sustainable material, you would think that the cost would be lower than the cost of products from less sustainable materials.
The release date for this phone has not been announced, but the company says that it wants to get the phone to market as soon as possible. That presumably means sometime this year. Whether that will be the Spring, Summer or Fall hasn’t been announced.
It looks to be a great looking phone. Too bad it’s aimed at the nose bleed section of the market.
All photos from ADzero
Tags: ADzero, bamboo, cell phone, Kieron Scott-Woodhouse, mobile phone
