Getting your mobile phone juiced while working out on an exercising machine is not the newest news. Manual-powered charging, as we would like to call it, exists in both static and non-static exercise equipment, including bicycles, but this fitness corner developed by Singapore-based playground consultancy company Playpoint, is the first of its kind in Singapore to be outfitted with such charging option. The fitness corner, located in the neighborhood of Bukit Panjang at block 234, features static exercise equipment with integrated USB ports for charging your mobile device as you pedal on a recumbent bike or work your arms muscle on a handbike.
One thing to note though, this fitness corner isn’t your gym kind of fitness equipment; instead the equipment are made for outdoor, which is a common sight around Singapore’s neighborhoods. So, I guess this could be among one of the world’s first (that’s both outdoor and static). But before you get all gaga over it, you have to understand that it does have its caveat and that is, it will take over 3 hours to take a completely flat-out device to full. Well, that’s an awful lot of time (and probably a painful one, if you are not well equipped in the muscle department), considering that most people would spend just 30 minutes tops, at outdoor fitness corners like such.
Some quick math suggests that if 3 hours is required to full charge, then a fifteen minutes pedalling on a recumbent bike would yield 8 percent, or there about, which is not all that bad. That said, if assuming that you get butt to go through about 45 minutes of non-stop work out, you could reap, theoretically, over 20 percent of battery life, which should be enough to see you through until you get home to your lovely wall outlets. Though it won’t help if you are those who can’t help but to use the phone as it is charging (though, switching to low-power mode may be a good idea).
In any case, it is a nice-to-have option for those who love hitting up outdoor fitness corners. On the other hand, it could encourage incidental fitness corner users, cos’ these days, people just can’t live without their smartphones and they would do anything to keep the device kicking.
via Yahoo!
