Top award for Hong Kong's solar-powered Bluetooth headset

A Hong Kong Bluetooth innovation - fittingly designed to cut down the background noise that is the bane of mobile phone usage in crowded cities - has been handed an international engineering and design award.

i.Tech Dynamic's SolarVoice 908 solar-chargeable Bluetooth headset was on Tuesday presented with an International CES Innovations 2010 Design and Engineering Award in the "Wireless Handsets Accessories product category.''

"This award is a testament to the i.Tech engineers and designers who created such an attractive, elegant headset that also meets the needs of consumers who want to help the environment,'' said Alfred Stauder, deputy managing director of i.Tech Dynamic Ltd in a press release issues to mark the award.

"With SolarVoice 908, on-the-go consumers can go green while maintaining their productivity, and do it in style.''

According to i.Tech Dynamic, the headset is the world's first solar powered device and includes a background noise reduction system. "The unit employs an advanced suite of digital signal processing software to reduce background noise and distortion,'' the company said.

It's little wonder the device came out of a city that ranks among the most noisy in the world - and has one district (Mongkok) is the most densely populated, with more than 130,000 packed in to each square kilometre.

The SolarVoice 908 markets for HK$588 (50 euros) and features ear buds designed to eliminate the "plugged ear'' sensation. The solar charger allows for up to five hours of talk time, "infinite'' standby time if there's enough sun around and up to 140 hours of standby time if the sun has disappeared.

The Innovations Design and Engineering Awards have been held annually since 1976 and are sponsored by the Consumer Electronics Association, producers of the International Consumer Electronics Show, the world's largest consumer technology tradeshow, which will next year be held from January 7-10 in Las Vegas ( http:// www.cesweb.org < http://www.cesweb.org/> ).

Details

Production information: http://www.itechdynamic.com < http://www.itechdynamic.com/>

Full list of Innovations 2010 Design and Engineering Award winners: http://www.CESweb.org/innovations < http://www.cesweb.org/innovations>  .

MS