T-shirt recharges mobile phones

Glastonbury revellers may have an extra incentive to elbow their way closer to the stages - it may help charge their phones.

Mobile phone giant Orange has released a prototype t-shirt which powers mobiles while festival-goers watch bands in action.

Users can plug their phone in to the t-shirt, which uses noise-responsive technology, for a quick top-up charge whenever they need it.

Orange will be conducting live testing of the gadget on site at the festival to see which acts are the "best to charge to" around the Spirit of 71 stage.

Tony Andrews, co-producer of the Spirit of 71, said: "Sound vibrations, particularly bass frequencies, will create enough shaking to produce electricity from a material as simple as piezoelectric film.

"It looks like it could provide a real solution to mobile charging and I'm interested to see how the Orange Sound Charge performs in a live testing environment such as Glastonbury."

Andrew Pearcey, head of sponsorship at Orange UK, said: "In a vibrant festival environment such as Glastonbury, sound is such an obvious medium that it seemed like a natural fit to use it in the development of this year's prototype."