Solar tech team from YOLK crowdfunds phone charger

A sunny offer on Kickstarter: Solar Paper is an item that charges an iPhone fairly fast, and it's from a company called YOLK. Among its impressive qualities are two key features: It's very light and it's very thin.

TreeHugger said the panel is about the size of an iPhone 6 and features a USB port for connecting your gadgets It's 1.5 millimeters thick and weighs in at 120 grams.

According to the company's video, it can charge the iPhone 6 within 2.5 hours in the sun. Numbers displayed on the LCD screen show the exact power amounts that the charger is generating; the Kickstarter page noted the LCD amp meter shows exactly how much current is flowing from the charger to your device at any time.

Solar Paper is looking for crowdfunding and its Kickstarter page lists its goal as $50,000. The good news for this company is that they have quite sped past the goal.

At the time of this writing, the campaign drew pledges totaling $386,807 of the $50,000 goal with 33 days to go.

The new charger is modular. What does that mean? They said they are offering 5 watt, 7.5 watt and 10 watt chargers, with 2, 3 or 4 panels, respectively. In bright sunlight, the 5 watt charger can fully charge an iPhone 6 in about 2.5 hours, which is similar to a wall charger.

Writing in BGR, Chris Smith noted the solar charger is designed to work with more than just iPhone 6. In addition, he said Solar Paper can charge a variety of devices that can be charged using a USB connection, but bigger devices might require additional solar panels, "so make sure you select the appropriate perk for your device if you plan to buy a Solar Paper." You will need to pick the right one to deliver ample power to charge devices you have in mind.

For example, tablet PCs that require more power can be charged by adding additional panels—magnet connectors help to add or subtract the solar panels. ("The basic 5 watt Solar Paper can charge your smartphone on a sunny day. If you need more power to charge a tablet, or to charge on a cloudy day, you can click new magnetic panels into place," the campaign page stated.)

The panels snap together magnetically. "Solar Paper, like all solar panels works best in direct sunlight. If you live somewhere cloudy, (indoor artificial light will generate power, but it isn't enough to charge devices like smartphones at all), you'll want a higher wattage version to charge stably and quickly," according to the company.

YOLK also had a note about the product's magnets: they provide some advantages to Solar Paper: no wear and tear on seams when you fold or unfold the panels, extending Solar Paper's life. The magnets are quite strong, and they can be used to mount Solar Paper to metal objects.

Prices vary for the item. A pledge of $79, for example, gets a 5W Solar Paper for feeding smart phones, said the campaign page, such as iPhone 3,4,5,6 or Galaxy S1,2,3 with solar energy. Estimated delivery is November.