Stand alone solar chargers for iPhones and iPods are around for sometime now. But a casing for iPod or iPhone that converts the sun's energy to the much needed power is still unheard of.

The new Solar Surge line of cases from NOvothink for iPhone 3G and 3GS and iPod touch will surely keep you iPhone and iPod going as long as the sun is shining. Novothink claims that its Solar Surge line of cases are the first Apple-certified case solar chargers.



The solar charging cases for both iPhone and iPod are soft-touch and non-slip. The iPhone version has eight solid and metallic colors while the iPod version is available in four.

In full sunlight, the solar charger cases output 5.5V at 100mAh pumping juice into 1500mAh 3.7V lithium-polymer batteries that provide 120 per cent of the the Apple handhelds' built-in batteries. Two hours of direct sun exposure will give 60 minutes of talk time on 2G network. Using the 3G network will cut the talk time to 30 minutes. First generation iPhones is not supported,

The Solar Surge will costs $69.95 for both iPod and iPhone version but the iPhone version will not be available until November.