An award-winning mobile phone that runs on a single AA battery

MANILA, Philippines - With tropical storms getting stronger and dumping more rainfall every year, it is inevitable that Filipinos will have to constantly deal with flooding, damage to property, and worst, loss of life.

It is during these times that communication can play an important role in saving resources or even in simply staying connected with loved ones who may have been stranded because of the floods.

Mobile phones can only do so much especially when electricity is down and the battery has run out. And not all top-of-the-line smartphones are waterproof.

SpareOne hopes to be the solution to that. The world’s only mobile phone powered by a single AA battery, it provides up to 15 years of battery shelf life (when stored unused) or 10 hours of continuous talk time.

Also equipped with waterproof packaging, LED torchlight and an auto-911 dial feature with no SIM required in most countries, SpareOne is like the swissknife of mobile phones.

According to Eric Chao, VP for Operations at Fil-Nippon Technology—exclusive local distributor of SpareOne—he came across the product during a tech show in Taiwan. After inquiring around, he was able to talk to the product’s inventor Alan Cymberknoh.

After being shown how the SpareOne works, Chao decided to bring the product into the Philippines, where he believes it can be very useful especially in flooded situations.

Chao adds that he has since asked local hikers to test the device and has given a few units to the Philippine National Red Cross and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council as well.

Never lost

SpareOne also has the ability to pre-set 9 speed dial numbers and this year, the people behind the product developed a new category when it created the Alert and Location Services for the SpareOne PLUS.

Based on a triangulation system (through cell towers) the device is able to locate a person carrying the SpareOne PLUS, through a web interface. By pushing the allocated Emergency button, a text message and an email will be sent to your designated contact. It is all the more useful for kids, the elderly, and the handicapable alerting loved ones in case they are in trouble or are lost.

The SpareOne comes in a talk-through, re-sealable waterproof bag with a humidity-proof seal. The floatable bags operate in extreme temperatures of -22F to 140F and protect against water submersion for 30 minutes at a depth of one meter. It is also designed with room to accommodate a few small items such as credit cards, bandages, keys, medicine, etc.

SpareOne is designed to work independently of a specific cell phone carrier. Users simply insert a SIM card with credit to begin making calls at local rates. SpareOne is SIM unlocked so it can accept SIM cards regardless of the GSM operator, and micro-SIM adapters are also available for iPhone users to insert their iOS SIM.

A power solution

The Argentina-born Cymberknoh said that the idea for SpareOne came to him after reading a report from the United Nations that 1.6 billion still lack access to electricity. Thus, access to power is a real issue for mobile phones users all over the world.

It took several years to come up with the right power solution to actually make the SpareOne concept a reality but Cymberknoh, who has an extensive history of involvement in developing innovative solutions to the "charge" concern, was able to develop the first Hybrid Cell phone—with both a rechargeable and an AAA battery—in collaboration with Philips Electronics and Energizer batteries, as well as solar powered devices, super long battery phones and more.

He then joined the high tech startup from Israel, Techtium in 2008 and he took care of some very interesting semiconductor solutions with some of the technology giants such as Nokia, Energizer, and Samsung.

Two years later, he decided to finally follow his dream and started his own company providing design and product development services for diverse technology inventions. He then began developing the SpareOne phone, partnering with XPAL Power Inc., a Californian company, to develop and bring to market this easy to use, lifesaving solution.

SpareOne Phone has been recognized worldwide with different awards, such as Taiwan Excellence Awards in 2011, Popular Mechanics in 2011 and The Technology for a Better World from CES 2012, and last week in Chicago, it was given the Gold IDEA (Industrial Designers Society of America) Award for “Communications Technology” category together with the Windows Phone 8s and the Nokia Lumia Range.

“We had a solid idea of what we wanted, whom we wanted to appeal and a good notion of price point,” Cymberknoh says. “We had the best industrial designers in Asia and the brightest engineers from Israel working together. There’ve been 4 or 5 different shapes and concepts that lead us into the “window” concept that then became the SpareOne chosen design. It was beautiful yet disruptive. It highlighted the battery, right in the center of the device as it was the king of the show.  Various mockups were created, which today are part of our jewel box.”

Chao explains that the SpareOne, however, cannot send or receive text messages. In the event that someone should send a text message to your SpareOne, an automatic text response is sent back informing them that you cannot read text messages and can be reached via phone call instead.

The SpareOne will soon be available in the Philippines and Chao hopes that the device can play a role in saving lives during unfortunate events such as natural disasters or emergencies.