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A while ago, I found myself with some credit card reward points that needed to be used before they expired, so I used them for a Solio charger for Fenric the iPod and my mobile phone (which I haven’t yet named, oddly enough). After maybe a month of playing with it, I have come to the conclusion that it’s a neat little gadget, but I would have probably been somewhat irritated if I’d paid the hundred dollars or so for it retail.

I’d been warned that it required direct sunlight for charging; I wasn’t quite prepared for how persnickety it is about the exact angle and brightness, but whatever. I learned pretty quickly how to adjust it and move it around periodically as the sun arcs across the sky. It only reached a full charge today, though, mainly because, at my office and in my flat, I only have windows on one side and only get sunlight that’s direct enough for maybe one or two hours a day. A couple of people (Jodi, Mark) were nice enough to let me appropriate their office windows for additional charging, but I felt bad that I kept having to interrupt them to adjust the Solio’s angle and position, so I kind of knocked that off.

Still, I’d been forewarned about its slow (compared to, say, rechargeable batteries you plug into the wall) charging, and I can deal with that. A lot of days were too cloudy for me to get direct-enough sun, and then there were the days I forgot to bring it to the office for charging, so it probably took way longer for me to reach full charge than it would’ve ordinarily. Under my specific and sunlight-limited conditions, I would estimate I could get a full charge during the summer in less than a week, assuming cloudless conditions. (If I had access to south-facing windows or my flat’s windows didn’t look out on another building about 10 ft [3 m] away, it would probably be much closer to the 1 full day of direct sunlight estimated in the product literature.) So it’s a bit slower than plugging something into the wall, but one full Solio charge is supposed to be enough for two full chargings of a mobile, which is not bad at all. No big deal.

The problem, however, is that they don’t make an adapter tip for my phone. Sure, it comes with an LG connector, and my phone is an LG — but it’s a somewhat elderly LG by mobile phone standards, being about three and a half years old, and the LG tip that comes in the box is intended for newer models (the Chocolate line, etc.). It’s an itty little thing, and there’s no way it will mesh with my geriatric mobile.

Yes, I should’ve researched more when it said “LG tip included.” Yes, the Solio USB adapter should fit onto Fenric’s iPod charge cord, so the Solio is far from being useless. However, I recharge my phone a lot more than I recharge Fenric — in addition to communication, the phone also serves as alarm clock, backup calendar, portable solitaire game, and notepad. When it comes to my main charging needs, the mobile would be it, and there’s no way I can use the Solio for that.

Meh. My plan at the moment is to keep the Solio around for Fenric, and maybe lend it out to friends whose phones are compatible. Either that, or buy a new, compatible phone, recycle the old, and go from there. Hmm. If I can ever remember what our temporary office building’s address is (signature is required for delivery, which experience suggests is maddening to the extreme if I try having it delivered to my flat), I may try ordering a new phone.

Why do new purchases so frequently seem to require further purchases? Stupid non-open-source capitalist electronics people. Bleagh.