Nokia Goes GreenNokia Goes Green

Here's yet another example of how a tech company is "going green": The world's No. 1 phone maker, Nokia, has developed an Eco Sensor Concept that involves a wearable mobile phone and a sensing device that analyzes your health and surrounding environment.According to Nokia's description, the Eco Sensor Concept consists of two parts. The first part is a wearable sensor unit that can sense and analyze a person's health, in addition to the environment and local weather conditions. The second part is a power-efficient mobile phone.

Check out pictures of the devices here.

The sensor is intended to be worn on a wrist or neck strap, which would contain solar cells that power the unit. Near-field communication technology would then relay environmental, health, and weather data back to the phone.

Both the phone and the sensor unit would feature a compact design and contain materials that can be renewed and/or reclaimed -- basically, it would follow the "reduce, reuse, and recycle" model.

Nokia said it will allow people to customize the sensor units, based on their preferences. For example, an active individual might want to choose one with a heart-rate monitor and a motion detector. Other possibilities include environmental monitoring and weather monitoring.

It's important to note that this is still a concept and not a product that Nokia has released to the mass market. It does, nonetheless, point to a greener future for Nokia. The phone maker says its goal is to create a "self-powered sensing device to reduce dependence on external, nonrenewable energy sources," as well as phones that consume a lot less energy than those that are currently available.

Nokia already has started rolling out energy-efficient mobile phones. Earlier this month, I wrote about the Nokia 3110 Evolve, a phone that's made from more than 50% renewable material, packaged in 60% recycled content, and sold with an efficient charger that uses 94% less energy.

Perhaps there are some scarifies that manufacturers have to make when creating phones that use less of the Earth's resources, such as design and feature sets. But I'm hoping that whatever Nokia comes up with next will be more cutting edge than the 3110 Evolve.

Let us know your thoughts. Would you opt for a phone with eco-friendly qualities?