The folks at Olive Telecommunications have come out with a phone called Olive FrvrOn. In terms of features, it is pretty much low-end with a 1.5 inch display, FM radio, polyphonic ringtones and stereo headset. The price is very much low-end too - Rs 1,699. However, what grabbed our attention was the fact that the phone can run on any -yes, any-AAA battery. “A user upon running out of electricity charge in the supplied LiOn battery can simply slot in any AAA battery available into the phone, and stay connected,” says the press release. Now, that’s interesting. The catch is that battery life on lower end phones is pretty good as a rule, although such a device would definitely be right at home in rural areas where power availability is spotty at best.
All said and done, this is definitely a move in the right direction at a time when battery lives of phones are dipping across all segments. Now, if only we could find some similar way of keeping the battery of power-guzzling phones like the iPhone and Nokia N97 going.
