The soon-to-be-released Samsung Blue Earth looks set to be the mobile phone of choice for anyone who fancies themselves to be eco-friendly.

Basically, the Blue Earth has a solar charging panel on the back, which recharges the battery. Of course, this isn’t the only way you can recharge the phone (because let’s face it, with all this global warming business, who knows what’s going to happen with the weather for one day to the next). If you’re out of sunlight you can still plug it into the wall to charge it up.

Samsung has manufactured the Blue Earth from recycled water bottles, adding to the phone’s “green” elements. The manufacturer also claims it’s free if harmful materials. How resilient these materials remain after lengthy exposure to the sun remains to be seen.

Another nice touch is the built-in pedometer, which tells you how much carbon dioxide you are saving by walking rather than driving.

Samsung has also made sure to equip the phone with enough featured to make the Blue Earth a worthwhile proposition, even for those who don’t care so much about their handset being environmentally friendly. It comes with HSDPA and Wi-Fi for access the Internet, as well as Bluetooth connectivity. There’s 130MB of internal memory, expandable up to 16GB via the microSDHC slot. At the phone’s hearth is a 3-inch WQVGA screen.

The Samsung Blue Earth will be released in markets around the world from November, with Australia’s release date and price yet to be confirmed.

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By Caroline Warnes