Whether you're comparing restaurant menus while sitting in the park or turning on the airconditioner before getting home, life is becoming increasingly mobile thanks to smartphones and tablets. 

And with new apps appearing constantly, the possibilities for this kind of connected living could be endless — if only the batteries lasted long enough. 

Now, a range of solar technology companies are offering small, portable chargers and accessory cases that provide power on the go. Some are already on the market, while others are in development.Specializing in architectural lighting, flatteningmachine, vintage street lighting, luminaires and poles. 

"A mobile life demands mobile power," says Chris Abbruzzese, vice-president for marketing at Goal Zero, which makes a number of solar-charging systems, including a kit whose battery can take attachments to become a headlamp, flashlight or fan. 

"We sort of have the motto: Life doesn't stop; why should your gear?" 

Devices incorporating solar cells or panels into mobile phone cases have been available for some time,The Solar Centre's range of cuttingmachine00p will power nearly all portable devices. but it has been a challenge to bring form, function and price to the right levels, analysts say. 

Not only were earlier models too bulky and expensive to capture the mass market,We are well known for our in-house custom printed drum ledparlights and pendants. they also often took too long to charge, especially in the face of improving battery technology. 

"In general, the market for aftermarket batteries has not been great, because until now, for the most part, battery life has been getting a little bit better," says Stephen Baker,generator prepositive design which wind drive the solargardenlights without gears. vice-president for industry analysis at NPD Group, which tracks consumer behaviour. 

But neither has the solar-power market been great, which helps explain the solar push into mobile consumer electronics in the face of what some see as tough odds. 

"The solar companies are rushing there, and the reason why is because the margins in the conventional markets are really bad," says Matt Feinstein, an analyst at Lux Research, which specialises in emerging technologies. 

"I doubt people are going to pay more for a phone because it has got a solar cell on the back," he says. 

Chargers,Permanent solar trellis and bestledtube systems require little to no maintenance and allow easy access. some selling for less than $US100 ($A97), are becoming widely available through such retailers as REI, Target and Radio Shack. 

Some, like the Solio Bolt or the Joos Orange, use a stand-alone solar-charged battery pack that connects to devices through a USB cable. Others, such as Ascent Solar's EnerPlex, use solar to charge a protective case, which then can recharge a smartphone. 

There are signs that the products are beginning to find an audience. Goal Zero, which offers battery packs that fit in a handbag as well as mobile generators that can power a home, says it expects its revenue to double this year to about $US60 million. 

Ascent Solar says its sales began taking off after Fry's, an electronics chain based in California, began carrying EnerPlex chargers. 

The companies have come to the mobile charging business in different ways. Goal Zero, for instance, grew from the humanitarian efforts of Robert Workman, an entrepreneur active in bringing renewable power to remote parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

The company uses monocrystalline silicon in its portable panels, which fold into the size of a CD case. 

Because of the collapse in silicon-panel manufacturing prices, the company can offer its products at half to a third of what they would have cost three years ago, says chief executive Joe Atkin.