New Industry Products

ultra-thin lithium-polymer battery

October 03, 1999 by Jeff Shepard

Nokia (Finland) recently announced that it will begin shipping its first ultra-thin (7.8 millimeter) lithium-polymer battery. According to Nokia, this battery is designed to be compatible with the world's most popular mobile phones including the Nokia 5100, Nokia 6100 and Nokia 7100 Series digital phones and Nokia 640, Nokia 650 (NMT 450) and Nokia RinGo (ETACS) analog phones. The 600mAh, 1.1 ounce (32 grams) Nokia lithium-polymer battery (BPS-1) offers extended battery performance of up to 3 hours talk time or up to 6 days standby time. The lithium-polymer battery cell does not employ hard metal casing. Instead, the electrodes are covered with a flexible plastic or aluminum laminate foil. The battery contains no liquid as do traditional batteries, but instead the electrolyte is polymerized into a gel-like form. According to Nokia, this allows for batteries to be designed in a variety of sizes and shapes that would be impossible using conventional battery cells. Nokia's lithium-polymer battery will be available in the Americas and Europe in October 1999, followed by Asia in the first fiscal quarter of 2000.