It was a coincidence that I had to shop for a new cell phone on Earth Day. But buying  the Samsung Reclaim from Sprint seemed like a good way of marking the occasion. Sprint says that the Reclaim is “both eco-friendly and…feature-rich.”

Reclaim’s hardware is made from bio-plastic materials extracted from corn, making 80 percent of the phone recyclable. Reclaim’s eco-friendly features extends to its packaging and support materials, which include a link to an online user manual in lieu of a print version, use of soy-based ink on enclosed printed materials, a phone box and phone tray made from recycled materials, and an Energy-Star approved phone charger.

In honor of its green-ness, the Reclaim is available in a “Earth Green,” but the color is too bright for my tastes. I opted for “Graphite Grey,” which, in light of the recent news, looks rather like volcanic ash. On the whole, it’s a nice-looking gadget.

The Reclaim is considerably lighter and thinner than my old Treo. Its screen is bright and clear, and it seems to be pretty sturdy. I’ve dropped it a couple of times with no adverse effects. The covers for the slots for the charger plug and the MicroSD card seem awfully flimsy, though, and I suspect they may break easily.

I prefer full keyboards with vertical layouts as on the Treo, Palm Pre, and many BlackBerry phones. Keyboards that slide out sideways don’t work too well for me, since I’m left-handed, and the navigation keys are invariably on the right side of the keyboard. The Reclaim’s keyboard is well laid out, but the keys themselves are flat, close together, and not easy to type on.

Incoming sound quality is very good; one person said I sounded a bit “electronic,” but otherwise, outgoing voice quality seems to be fine. Signal strength has been excellent, even in places with marginal reception.

The volume of the ringer, earpiece, and speakerphone can be set quite loud, which I appreciate. I haven’t had the phone long enough to really test its battery life, but Sprint claims 6 hours of talk time. I also haven’t tried some of its other features, including a 2-megapixel camera, voice recognition and stereo Bluetooth.

The software isn’t bad, as long as you know what you’re getting. The Reclaim comes with Sprint’s “One Click” interface and basic productivity apps, including a mail app, a web browser, a calendar and an address book. It also has apps for social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and YouTube. The screen fonts on the Facebook app are so tiny I can’t read wall posts, even with my glasses on — I guess Sprint figured that oldsters like me wouldn’t be using Facebook.

Sprint claims that this phone can download 60,000 free applications through the “Digital Lounge,” which is the Sprint-branded version of the GetJar app store. I did find some free apps, but most of the useful apps I looked at carried monthly fees of $3-10. And the quality of apps is variable. The free version of Google Maps is almost illegible on the Reclaim’s screen, and didn’t pick up where I was, even after enabling GPS.

So compared to the one-time purchase costs that are common on the iPhone/iPod touch and Android platforms, apps for the Reclaim can get expensive very quickly. Sprint even charges a monthly fee for their service to back up one’s contact list — and it’s not even full sync. For me, this is the biggest limitation of the Reclaim’s software: its inability to sync address book and calendar data. (There are some third-party solutions that claim to be able to do this, but I have no idea if they work.)

Sprint is continuing its green efforts and has just announced the Restore, another eco-friendly phone, which is scheduled for availability this summer. Meanwhile, Sprint is offering the Samsung Reclaim online at no charge after rebates and with a two-year contract, which is a good deal. But for web workers who are used to smartphones like the iPhone, Treo, Pre, BlackBerry or Android-based phones, the Reclaim has limited functionality. If all you need is a phone that can make calls, send texts and do some light web browsing, it might work for you.

If you find the Reclaim’s green tech credentials appealing, you should check out our Green:Net conference, which takes place on April 29 in San Francisco — there are still a few tickets left.

Do you think you could get by without your smartphone?

Related GigaOM Pro content (sub. req.): Cleantech Market Overview, Q1 2010

Sadly, most solar charging products — like the aforementioned Noon Solar and Juice Bags — unnecessarily bundle solar chargers with some other product, like a bag! Fortunately, standalone solar charging products are beginning to find their way to the marketplace. Some of the most intriguing are found in Suntrica’s range of SolarBadge and SolarStrap chargers.

Designed specifically for portable consumer electronics — like digital cameras, phones, MP3 players and GPS units — Suntrica’s chargers include adapters for common mobile charging connectors and USB devices and come in form factors ranging from flexible paperback-sized panels to wearable wrist-straps. Each charger holds an internal rechargeable battery, so that devices can be charged even when there’s little or no sunlight.

The chargers are priced between $40 and $70, with adapters priced individually at around $5 each — although, unfortunately, it seems that Suntrica’s products are currently only available in the company’s native Finnish market. Suntrica’s products are by no means the only portable solar chargers available today, but they look pretty durable, have some flexibility in the devices they support, and are competitively priced.

Alternatively, for the more adventurous, the fantastic Instructables site recently published a how-to guide to building a solar iPod/iPhone charger using some basic electronic parts, rechargeable batteries and a soldering iron! The component parts come to around $70, about the same as Suntrica’s high-end unit with an equivalent output, and although the project does look fun, it’s not quite as lovingly styled. It’s great to see that solar power is beginning to attract both venture-backed and grassroots-driven innovation.

I’m itching to try Suntrica’s products, so if you are using solar chargers regularly, let us know how they’re performing for you in the comments.

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Last summer, we cheekily covered the Macro-1, a kind of lockable and movable cubicle for coworkers and hotdeskers.

A similar product, but perhaps stranger still, is the recently launched OfficePOD, a self-contained office space intended to create a high-quality office space for employees at home. The OfficePOD is intended to help companies minimize the need for centralized, serviced offices and for employees to have a discrete working space within their home property.

Curiously, rather than a one-off capital purchase, the OfficePOD is being made available as a managed service to employers and workers. The pod is envisaged as being situated outdoors, with electricity and connectivity piped to it from the worker’s home. With just over six 45 square feet of floor space, it’s certainly a cozy workspace!

Though an interesting piece of product design, and bearing claim to some green credentials, the OfficePOD seems to be a slight oddity, providing a solution to a problem that most telecommuters and web workers simply don’t have.

Increasingly, as families begin to accommodate multiple web workers and telecommuters within the home, house design will need to explicitly accommodate permanent working areas, rather than repurposing a dining area, spare bedroom or cramped study for work. I can’t help but think that the OfficePOD isn’t a good solution. If you have little space within the home to work, chances are your property doesn’t have a garden or yard that can accommodate a “parked office” outside!

As a design study and exploration of the changing nature of work, the OfficePOD is interesting. As an option for working from home, it’s kinda gimmicky. And at £5,000 ($7,000) per year, it’s expensive.

Other companies, such as IKEA, are probably providing more practical workspace solutions. Personally, I have a VIKA OLEBY tabletop and a couple office chairs at home (less than £150!) that provide me a with a ton of space for a pair of laptop users to work together.

Read more at the official OfficePOD site and at TreeHugger’s The Home Office Shed Goes Big Business.

What do you think of the OfficePOD?

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It was something I hadn’t paid particular attention to since leaving an office setting. At my last corporate gig, I was instrumental is establishing a proper recycling program. It was easy because it was me vs. the corporate climate. At home, with no machine to rage against, I hadn’t even realized how much could be done.

1. Turn it Off

Seems like an obvious one, and it’s been the subject of countless public service ads, but it bears repeating. Especially for those sneaky peripherals that some of us like to leave on perpetually, just in case they need to spring in to sudden service. That means monitors, speakers, and yes, even powered USB hubs and drives. Best way to affect a quick and easy shutdown? A power bar with an on/off switch to take them all off-grid at once.

2. Buy Less, Give More

If you work a lot with computers, chances are you, like me, really enjoy getting new gadgets. Which is why this measure is so difficult. My tiny apartment is literally strewn about with knick-knacks and gizmos I thought would increase my productivity or benefit my workflow in some way. In most cases, I was wrong.

My solution? First of all, be much more judicious about purchases in the future. Also, declutter without throwing anything away, giving some of the stuff to people I know can actually use it. Case in point, an old Wacom Graphire4 tablet, which I no longer use since buying my Cintiq 12WX. Magically, it becomes a gift for my girlfriend to ease her transition into the age of digital illustration.

3. Order in Bulk

One of the benefits of working from home is that I’m always here to receive packages. Which means I order them a lot more frequently, and often from the same source. Now, I’ve decided to take a cue from my corporate past and finally start consolidating my orders.

This saves me money, since I more often break the cost threshold that qualifies for free shipping, and it saves the environment in a number of ways, i.e., less packaging, less carbon emissions spent in the delivery of items, etc. It takes a little more foresight and planning on my part, but those planning skills are also a benefit, in the long run.

4. Shift Your Day

This is another tough one, depending on when you like to work. I was never really a morning person, but time and circumstance have led to great improvement in that area. Now that comes in handy, since I wake whenever too much day light prevents me from sleeping.

Turning that in to a green web working strategy is simple enough. Work when there’s day light to do so by, in order to conserve the amount of energy you spend on heat, artificial lighting, etc. This one is particularly easy to do for those whose schedules are largely arranged at their own discretion.

None of these are extreme, and surprisingly, don’t even involve buying carbon credits (I’m still not exactly sure how those work), but they are a good beginning towards a more environmentally friendly web working culture. In many ways, those of us who work from home have to be extra vigilant, since we don’t have corporate programs in place to help us do our part.

What other measures do you practice/can you suggest for those looking to be more green in 2009?

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A recent survey by the US Consumer Electronics Association found that although the carbon emissions from home offices increased because of telecommuting, the saved petrol consumption more than makes up for it:

The report states that there are 3.9 million people in the U.S. who work from home at least one day a week. By avoiding an average 22-mile commute to the place of work, and taking into account the increased power use in the home, this practice saves about 840 million (U.S.) gallons of petrol, equivalent to taking two million cars off the road for a year.
Source: PC World, Telecommuting Saves Carbon Emissions

Despite these claims, there are still some skeptics.

In an article at Forbes.com entitled “Telecommuting is Bad for the Environment”, Klaus Kneale wrote that “telecommuting is often worse for the planet than driving to work each and every day”. He cited the following reasons:

• The commute from home to work only accounts for 20% of car travel, and most telecommuters go to the office occasionally anyway. Also, they drive their cars to run errands or to meet up with friends when they get too lonely.
• Telecommuters have to equip and power their own home offices, duplicating equipment (such as printers) that could be shared in an office.
• The extra electricity used by home offices produced more nitrous oxide and methane.

Source: Forbes.com, “Telecommuting is Bad for the Environment”

As the comments following the article suggest, most telecommuters disagreed with Kneale, especially since some of his ideas were hasty generalizations (that telecommuters faced cabin fever and needed to drive around), or lacked ample research.

Other environmental benefits of telecommuting, such as lessening the need for paper and higher productivity measured against electricity consumption were not mentioned. Also, even if commuting to work only accounts for 20% of car travel, that 20% is still a big deal. Less car travel to work also lessens traffic congestion, which, in turn, lessens the need for highway expansion and the addition of new parking lots.

With these things left out, it’s no wonder that the readers felt like the article was an exaggeration.

Exaggeration or not, opposing views to teleworking’s green benefits remind us of one thing – that teleworking and being environment friendly don’t automatically go hand in hand. Unless we make educated, conscious efforts to reduce waste and lower energy consumption, teleworking won’t be as green as the theorists and studies hoped it will be.

Do you think that teleworking is more environment friendly than full-time office work? Why or why not?

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These tips from PC magazine serve as a good reminder of how to be more judicious with our printing. The suggestions include using your Print Preview more thoroughly, printing to PDF for digital storage and searchability, and really considering whether or not a print job is truly necessary.

Do you have any additional tips? Do you consider yours a paperless office?

(photo credit: Flickr user josef.stuefer)

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