Samsung's latest environmental phone launches in Sweden

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Samsung are making waves with the launch of a new mobile phone, the S7550 Blue Earth, by integrating environmental awareness and technological savvy more fully than before.

Mobile phone manufacturers have been putting out ecological feelers over the course of this year with several products that show off whatever environmentally-friendly credentials they may have. LG, Motorola, Nokia and Sony Ericsson have all shown that they are prepared to play the game to one extent or another.

So Samsung are not alone in bringing to market phones that are more sustainably minded. However, their 1cm-thin E200 ECO with a casing made from recycled corn shells and the Crest Solar (aka Solar Guru) with a built-in solar panel were clear indicators of what they wanted to achieve with the Blue Earth.

Launching in Sweden this month and due in other European and Asian countries later on, the Blue Earth has a casing sourced primarily from recycled water bottles, a solar panel covering the back of the phone, a 3inch touch screen, wi-fi, and fully featured software. According mobile phone news and reviews site GSMArena, the phone performs excellently for file browsing, music playback, and image viewing. There's a built-in pedometer that encourages walking for both environmental and health reasons, and a calendar that includes worldwide days of environmental action.

Despite ongoing debates regarding carbon neutrality and the overall sustainablity of many modern electrical devices, phones like the Blue Earth still mark an important step towards a change in attitudes regarding consumerism and sustainability. Coupled with LG's new GD510 Pop, another solar-panel wielding phone, it looks like manufacturers are not only listening to consumers but may be finally pushing for change themselves.