Stopped by Lowe's today (lumberyard) and my son found cell phone chargers that use AA batteries not sure what kind -- alkaline or lithium and would give up to 3-6 hours time per charge I think. Cost was 20 dollars.

I picked up one of these for my Samsung phone at Home Depot a few days back. It is made by Enegizer and includes 2 lithium batteries. They have a selection to fit most current cell phones. They conveniently have the connectors hanging out of the back of the package so you can test the connector before purchase.

The pack claims it can be used for charging and allows you to talk while you charge. Other claims- Up to 9 hours with GSM phones and up to 3 hours with CDMA phones.

I haven't tested mine yet, but if it works as advertised, I will be getting one for each glove box, as well as my wife's emergency kit at work.

Use with lithium batteries is a real bonus- maintains voltage when exposed to temp extremes, doesn't leak (at least not in my experience) and long shelf life.

TR

INteresting that they're selling these at home stores....

...And just last night, I saw them at target...$20. and they run on our favorites aa batteries

tro

I just keep a few spare batteries made for the phone... but such a recharger sounds pretty cool.

Bought mine at the lowes near by, Package allowes one to check the connector to see if it fits your phone.

Lee

5th unit sells those things for around 8 bucks - http://contents.fifthunit.com/html/products.5th/sku.898.html

It seems like a real dumb idea, though better than nothing, to use an AA cell to charge up the phone's silly lithium battery. It would be a lot better to throw away the lithium battery and have a phone that simply runs on NiMH rechargeable AA's day to day. I've been looking all over for a phone like that, with no luck.

The old Motorola flip phones had an aftermarket battery pack which would take AA's or AAA's but no one wants a phone that big today. I buy and carry a spare lithium ion battery for my phone (at least until I washed one) and rotate them monthly so I have a backup there.

The old Flip phone AA pack used six AA cells, enormous by today's standards. But a normal sized modern cell phone could easily be made to run on two AA's. That should run the phone for a lot longer than the typical 900 mah 3.6v lithium ion pack. I just completely despise lithium ion and having to buy more special purpose batteries and chargers for every device that uses them. The very existence of these AA powered chargers for them shows how dysfunctional lithium ion systems are. I'm doing everything I can to select portable electronic products that run on AA's or AAA's exclusively (digicam, mp3 player, flashlights, etc). Cell phone is the one item where it seems near-impossible these days.

Exactly, that was my point, while AA's or AAA's might be a better source for phones, the general consumer public doesn't want a phone that an AA or AAA will fit into.
I don't like lithium ION either, espicaly the cheap consumer grade cells which don't last more than a couple years. I'm just now warming up to NiMH after suffering through self discahrge a few years ago. I recently bought a new set of NiMH's and am testing them out now as I have standardized on AA and AAA also (but I ended up with a couple camping items running D's but they are not critical in any way so if I run out its no biggie).
I wish someone would make a phone in a more square form factor so AA's would fit.