Yap puts remote charge in mobile phones

SINGAPORE--Your mobile phone goes flat while you are on the move...and you don't have a spare battery. Sound familiar?

Cell phone accessories maker Emporia Telecom (Asia), might just solve the problem--with a Korea-made device called "Yap" that charges mobile phones for up to 20 hours in a secure manner.

To utilize the device, the user first punches in a 4-digit number to set a security code. Then he or she slots in a S$1 coin (US$0.54) and places the mobile phone in a selected chamber, depending on the make and model of the phone.

Closing the charging chamber leaves it locked and it can only be re-opened with the four-digit security code punched in earlier, the Austria-headquartered company said. --Nawaz Marican, Special to ZDNet News