Solar-powered charger case for the iPhone shines in time for Christmas

Normally we’re not too fussed about reporting on new cases and accoutrements for our hardware, but every so often an intriguing one catches our eye – like these solar-powered iPhone cases.

It’s no secret that the iPhone’s battery takes a pretty severe hammering during the average day, so these leather cases with a solar panel on the outside and a small, emergency charger battery built in could be a life saver.

The solar panel charges the case’s internal battery, which in turn charges your iPhone, or, in dire emergencies, the solar collector can feed power directly to the handset (you probably won’t be able to play games on it for too long under those circumstances, mind you).

The internal battery can also be charged directly from the bundled iPhone USB charger to get it topped up before you head out and about.

They seem to be dotted around the net (see a good selection here at Solar Arcadia), and on everyone’s favourite online marketplace – though be aware that some auction-based units suggested they were only fit for the iPhone 2G.

Not a bad back-up option, in our opinion.