The 'world's thinnest phone' is as slim as a credit card

Business cards are still an integral part of life for most Japanese workers, so it's a good opportunity for country's largest carrier make the most of the situation with a phone that can fit in a cardholder. Yes, you read that right, the 'card phone' KY-O1L manufactured by Kyocera is coming to NTT Docomo in November.

It has the same form factor as a credit card, and is only 5.3mm thick and 47g - Docomo calls it the thinnest and lightest phone in the world. It sports a 2.8-inch monochrome e-paper screen, LTE connectivity, and a 380mAh battery. It doesn't have a camera or an app store, but it does have a web browser.
The KY-O1L phone will be priced at 32,000 yen or about $300 which is a reasonable price considering the compact size of the device.

A lot of manufacturers and researchers are poised to pave new ways to make these mobile devices more useful and convenient. One of the biggest concern for these devices is the battery life. Many efforts are being made to overcome this issue and offer a longer battery life.

According to a new study by University of Birmingham researchers, sodium-ion battery technology can hold as much as seven times the charge of the current lithium-ion solution. However, in an article published in the Journal of American Chemical Society, the biggest issue is the storage of these sodium ions.

Considering the fact that a sodium ion isn't small enough to fit between the graphite carbon layers seen on conventional lithium-ion batteries. Earlier, solutions had glass substrates and other materials. According to the recent study, the best intermediary for the batteries could be phosphorus.

A research published by the Advanced Energy Materials journal also shows that several devices can be recharged through their movement only. The process will use the Triboelectric Nanogenerators (TENGs).

The study by the researchers at the University of Surrey's Advanced Technology Institute shows how an electrical current can be generated by contact between multiple materials. The scientists have also created a step-by-step guide for creating a TENG and formulated a "TENG power transfer equation," in addition to "TENG impedance plots."