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Gizmag: Mobile phones and the beach are generally not a great mix, but for anyone looking to stay in touch while soaking up the rays there are a few more details filtering through regarding Sharp’s waterproof, solar-powered phone. [...]. There’s no word on if or when the phone will be released outside Japan.

The new phone will claim a world’s first in being the first waterproof phone to embed a solar panel into its lid. The solar panel can charge up to 80% of the battery’s capacity and can draw enough power from ten minutes of direct sunlight for a one-minute call, or two hours of standby time. Other details about the Solar Ketai are thin on the ground. Going by the picture it won’t be a touchscreen model like Samsung’s previously announced Blue Earth solar powered offering, but with still no release date set for the Blue Earth, it could beat its solar-powered competitor to market.

The Solar Ketai by Sharp is expected to be priced somewhere in range of 40,000 to 60,000 yen, (approx. 300-450 euro) and will be released in June through Japan’s KDDI – just in time for summer.

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PMP Today: The EP2501 from Epoda Technology Co. Ltd is not only a watch phone, which in itself is a technological feat worthy of praise, it’s also a water-proof watch-phone. Honestly I have a bias for convergence technology that takes into account the little things like water-proofness and durability previously only found in one genre of devices (like a watch) but not in another (like a phone).

The 1.45-inch screen is not much use for watching videos, which it supports in MP4 format, but what it lacks in screen size it makes up for in Wi-Fi connectivity and Skype and MSN support, which are, well, pretty awesome.

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