Envious of your Pre toting pals and that Touchstone charging rig? Don't sweat it -- WildCharge is coming through in the clutch to bring similar wireless charging technology to Apple's own handset. Starting today, iPhone (3G and 3GS included) and iPod touch users can order up a WildCharge Skin along with a WildCharger Pad in order to bring wire-free charging to their smartphone. Just slap the skin on, plug the pad in and toss the handset down on said pad. Just like that, you've got fresh energy flowing without having to scour the house for that little AC adapter. The pain? $34.99 for the skin, or $79.99 for the skin and pad.

For all those commenters in our recent Palm Pre feature wondering just exactly what kind of battery we could expect to see in the device, wonder no more. According to Dieter Bohn over at the newly christened PreCentral, the phone will use the exact same battery as the Treo 800w and the Centro -- a 1150mAh model. Apparently Palm reps were happy to snap the back off the device and show the source of its juice off. That same size battery is used in the G1 as well, and Dieter notes that there's an aftermarket 1350mAh version which could offer more power. Certainly such a small battery -- a size which we know leaves a lot to be desired in a next-gen phone like the G1 -- isn't music to our ears, but since we don't know how the Pre handles power consumption, there's still plenty of questions to be answered. And hey, you could keep a spare around, right?

Update: Jenn at Pocketables tells us that the battery is 1200mAh as told to her by a Palm rep at CES.

[Via Palm Infocenter]

Even though the FCC could have simply overridden a White House decision to reject the backup power requirement, it's deciding to reel in its ego and revise things for the betterment of all involved. After taking a fair amount of flack for its emergency plan being too outlandish and impossible to afford / implement, the agency has stated that it will issue a new proposal "with the goal of adopting revised backup power rules that will ensure that reliable communications are available to public safety during, and in the aftermath of, natural disasters and other catastrophic events." Details beyond that are scant, but we suspect the whole "at least eight hours of backup power" could be changed to something smaller. Moral of the story? Don't ditch that Y2K preparedness kit just yet.

[Via mocoNews]

The White House's Office of Management and Budget has rejected the FCC's plan to require carriers to juice most cell towers with at least eight hours of backup power, citing a failure to solicit public comments. In this case, "public comments" would particularly refer to the CTIA and its members, which had sued to stop the FCC in its tracks; besides the staggering cost of outfitting a majority of towers with backup power systems, carriers have argued that they already have sufficient disaster recovery plans in place for making sure service interruptions are held to a bare minimum following a loss of juice. The FCC says it's "considering [its] options" following the ruling; technically they can overrule the OMB on the matter, but they'll just be staring down the barrel of the CTIA's suit if they do.

Just imagine -- yapping for hours on end to your dream lover could actually leave your cellphone with more juice than what it started with. This completely bizarre scenario could theoretically become a reality according to new research from a professor at Texas A&M University, and it's all thanks to the magic of nanoscale piezoelectrics. If you'll recall, we've seen this technology generate energy in wearable devices before, so it makes sense that sound wave energy could also be captured and converted into electricity. Of course, we're still a good ways away from this being ready for commercialization, but who knows how quickly this could come together if placed in the capable (albeit unpredictable) hands of Dr. Walter Bishop.

[Via phonescoop, image courtesy of Rutgers]

We're no QA experts here, but if your product is called the "Slide," isn't the slide mechanism the one thing you'd test the dickens out of? Alas, folks are discovering that Motorola's Sidekick Slide for T-Mobile has shipped with a devil of a flaw: actuating the display's slide periodically causes the phone to spontaneously reboot or to simply turn off and stay off. We've tested the claim on our own Slide, and yeah, it happens. Granted, it only happened twice out of thirty or so slides of the screen, but by standards of modern electronics engineering, we're pretty sure that's two times too many. As Boy Genius Report points out, to make matters even worse the power cycle is a hard reset, meaning your data's kaput unless you're within range of a T-Mobile signal to download everything from Danger's servers again. An ever-so-slightly loose battery seems to be the culprit here, but seriously, Moto, how did this defect ever leave a factory floor en masse?

A Chinese manufacturer by the name of Yoobao decided to concoct a battery for Nokia's N95 that crosses the line of "freakishly gigantic." With stats that see capacity upped half again from the standard in-box battery (that's a total of 1,400 milliamp hours, mind you), it's anything but easy on the eyes -- but we just know there are some owners out there willing to make the sacrifice to own The N95 That Wouldn't Die.

Hot on the heels of a snazzy new CMOS sensor and newfangled plastics, NEC's engineers are cranking out yet another innovation to make our next phone a lot more useful (for a whole lot longer). The M2 system LSI chip can purportedly "drastically cut the energy used by a cellular phone" by halving the energy needed by each element on the chip. Notably, the firm has suggested that a cellphone battery currently lasting seven hours would be able to maintain that life even if "twice the power is required for high-speed telecommunications." A host of sophisticated technologies and software regulations are behind all the energy conserving magic, but the news you care about is that NEC plans to start shipping samples of the ¥5,000 ($41) device in the very near future, and it should hit a variety of 3G handsets by the year's end. [Warning: Read link requires subscription]

Although most modern phones can go quite a few hours sans an AC outlet, we understand the need for juice in unexpected emergencies, and while the solar-powered charger does a fair job at high noon, you'll probably need a different approach come nightfall. Tackling two issues in one fell swoop is the cellphone-charging flashlight mod, which not only provides a beacon of light for those dim excursions, but also offers up hand crank recharging abilities for your fading mobile. Of course, hacking your flashlight to pull double duty as a manually powered charger is a bit more complex than just picking up a hamster or bicycle-powered option, but you've got to admit, crafting a makeshift charger with spliced cables and a soldering iron is totally MacGyver-approved. So if you're interested in giving yourself (and your handset) a bit longer life when robotic overlords eventually invade our domiciles, be sure to hit the read link for a video demonstration, and do mind the managerial cat on duty.

[Thanks, Kipkay]

Countrywide 3G coverage: check. Plethora of gorgeous 3G phones in all shapes, sizes, and platforms: check. 4G development well underway: check. Dismal standby times: check. With battery tech having largely stagnated over the last few years, Japan's NTT DoCoMo has turned their attention to powering all that buttery, broadband goodness via more creative means, showing their direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) recharger last year. The DMFC wasn't a bad first effort, but how about shrinking it by a factor of four, doubling the output, and swapping methanol for water? That's what they've managed to do through a partnership with Aquafairy Co., pumping out a prototype polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) that rocks 800mAh at 3.6V -- enough juice to recharge your average FOMA handset in the same time as a wall wart. The new unit gets shown off this week at Wireless Japan 2006 with production plans slated for next year; availability outside Japan is (as usual) an open question, but with battery life falling to under a day on some modern smartphones, we can only hope manufacturers' hands are going to be forced on this one.

[Via The Raw Feed]

We'll sheepishly admit to being among the reported 20 percent of cellphone users whose phones conk out at least once a week (in fact, it just happened today), so you can bet we'll be first in line to pick up one of Energizer's new AA-based cellphone chargers when they hit stores on September 1st. Eschewing proper spelling for catchy branding, the Energi To Go line will come in numerous configurations to support a claimed 100 handsets covering most major manufacturers, with each package containing a special tip for individual models. Energizer promises that its e2 batteries will enable most dead phones to make a call in just 30 seconds (you can use regular alkalines, but of course Energizer recommends its own pricey products), with smartphones requiring several minutes to suck up enough juice for calling. Along with the $20 cellphone version, Energizer will also be releasing a $30, four-battery model to charge DAPs and portable gaming devices, with iGo-developed tips available for iPods, PSPs, Nintendo DSes, and other small gadgets you see mentioned with regularity on these pages.

[Via Mobiledia, thanks Ryan]