The smartphone itself is bigger than the Torque we saw in 2015, standing at 5 inches tall while still running a forked version of Android. But what matters here is the magic inside. According to Sunpartner Technologies, Kyocera's fresh prototype comes with improved power efficiency. Three minutes of sun gets you one minute of talk time, whereas the previous model required 10 minutes of light rays for two minutes of voice. Kyocera also designed an app to let users know about the charging conditions, ranging from "Excellent" to "Not Charging."

As far as internet browsing goes, a Sunpartner representative said the solar-powered technology can "probably" last longer doing that than on talk time -- but we weren't allowed to put that to test, unfortunately. There's no word on when, or if, Kyocera plans to bring it to market. Still, at least we know the manufacturer is willing to try different things, especially when it comes to solar technology.