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It’s probably not the first place that comes to mind when you think of a technologically advanced city, yet Boston’s latest public amenity is leaving us to wonder why our own city isn’t providing the same for its citizens.
Now available in public parks throughout the city are “Soofas,” new smart benches featuring USB ports for charging mobile devices while out and about. Because sapping the city’s resources wouldn’t be the best idea, the benches actually feature solar panels and a battery for storing the sun’s energy throughout the day.
If that doesn’t sound “smart” enough for you, how about this: Soofa’s actually tap into Verizon’s 4G network, letting visitors on Soofa’s website know when and where an available smart bench can be found. Pretty handy if you’re looking for a comfy spot to write your memoirs.
Soofa says future benches might come with wireless inductive charging, so you could leave your USB cable at home. Let’s just hope, unlike Starbucks, they choose the correct wireless charging standard.
If you’re in the Boston area and would like to see a Soofa make its way somewhere near you, you can submit location ideas via their website here.
This would be great in more areas such as Universities and outdoor malls
How about longer lasting phone batteries, cheaper that this.
I can just see someone trading in the solar panels and ruining these for everyone
Tagging on the solar panels*
I would argue that Boston isn’t a tech city the first cell phones where launched in the boston/ne area. That was a huge gamble back then!
These are pretty awesome I don’t know why these are not on every bench inside malls too obviously not solar!
Because it is solar I wonder at what rate they charge the phones.
There’s probably a battery that collects the juice and sends it over to the phones at an amp or so.