I'm planning on checking into the various solar panel options. From what little I know of them, solar panels also take a long time to fully charge a phone. The advantage seems to be that you could set the panel out in the sun with the phone plugged in and be doing other things while it charges. With the biolite you need to keep feeding wood into the stove. The other disadvantage with a solar panel is that they seem to require sunlight, which is not always in good supply, at least in my part of the world.

Perhaps some of our other readers can shine some light on the topic of solar panels?