British red phone boxes are turning green to charge your smartphones

Famous British red phone boxes are being revived to charge smartphones. The new solar-powered hubs are painted green and branded "Solarbox", but retain much of the same iconic design. Gone were the days of wired calls, say hello to free public charging.

While the service to charge your smartphones is free, users will be met with advertisements displayed on a small screen located within the Solarbox. Many of the original red phone boxes are no longer in use, making this project quite the revival scheme.

The boxes are locked overnight and are maintained on a daily basis. The Solarbox project itself is by entrepreneurs Harold Craston and Kirsty Kenny, who managed to bag second place in the Mayor of London's Low Carbon Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Five more boxes will launch early next year.

Source: BBC image: London Evening Standard

Rich Edmonds
Senior Editor, PC Build

Rich Edmonds was formerly a Senior Editor of PC hardware at Windows Central, covering everything related to PC components and NAS. He's been involved in technology for more than a decade and knows a thing or two about the magic inside a PC chassis. You can follow him on Twitter at @RichEdmonds.