Samsung Unveils New SGH-W510 & SHG-F268 Eco Friendly Cell Phones [W510 Becomes Samsung’s First Bio-Plastic Cell Phone]

Samsung have announced two new, seemingly entry level ‘green’ handsets in the form of their SGH-W510 and the SHG-F268 cell phones which feature a range of eco-friendly manufacturing considerations such as, in the case of the W510, the use of bio-plastic materials obtained from corn (the W510 will be the first handset from Samsung to feature bio-plastics), and the omission of environmentally hazardous materials such as mercury, lead and cadmium.

Whilst the W510 comes with body made of bio-plastics – and therefore negates the use of petroleum in the manufacturing process – as well as being designed to be free of materials mercury, lead and cadmium Samsung’s F-268 is rather less convincing in terms of its apparent green credentials in offering an alarm function that prompts users to remove its charger on the event of its battery being fully replenished and, according to Samsung also meets ‘Energy Star requirements as well, which [are] strict energy-efficiency guidelines set by the US Environmental Protection Agency and the US Department of Energy ‘ though, to be fair, the F268 also comes free of both BFRs(Brominated Flame Retardant) or PVC.

What is not known at this stage, however, is whether the W510 also comes with a similar energy efficiency rating or, for that matter, the F.268’s charge alarm (a strange omission from Samsung’s press release that would indicate that, for some curious reason, it doesn’t – but that’s pure speculation on our part at this stage).

‘Samsung is striving to continue to be a strong corporate citizen that contributes to environmental sustainability,’ said Geesung Choi, President of Samsung’s Telecommunication Business, who introduced Samsung’s new W510 and F268. ‘Now we are trying not only to launch more environmentally-conscious products with more renewable material and less energy consuming, but also to expand proactively set up a phone recycling system.’ [sic]

Samsung are yet to reveal the specifications of either of their new green handsets – both of which are slider in format – however our suspicions are that they will fall very much into the entry-level category (the lack of any released specifications alone underpin these suspicions) though Samsung has indicated that both the W510 and the F268 will be made available to the Korean and Chinese markets (respectively) this month (June 08).

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