Samsung announced the upcoming release of the first solar-powered touchscreen smartphone. The device is called Blue Earth and aside from its solar-power feature is also has a built-in eco-mode system.

The company has scheduled the official presentation during next week's Mobile World Congress, which will take place in Barcelona.

The device brings several new options, being able to set the low screen backlight brightness and the duration with a single push of a button, and it can also switch the Bluetooth module into a special "low consumption" mode, depending on the user’s needs. A fun feature, which is also somewhat useful, is the installed pedometer, which translates the distance walked by its user into the equivalent CO2 savings by not using a vehicle for the recorded distance, also translating the data in the number of trees saved.

The solar panel, installed on the back face of the phone is powerful enough to allow users to call anyone at any given moment. The Blue Earth has a conventional charger, which is actually a five-star energy efficient one that consumes less than 0.03 watts in stand-by mode. 

It is made from the PCM plastic, a material made from recycled water bottles and according to the company’s officials, all of the wiring and the rest of the electronic pieces are free of any harmful substances, such as beryllium, phthalates and flame retardants.

Samsung’s initiative was received with great enthusiasm, and in the near future other handset makers are expected to release similar products, in order to address the worldwide environmental concerns.