As I promised-and I apologize for being a bit late with this-I'd give a review of a certain hand-cranked cell phone charger that I purchased. The short answer: not worth the $12 I paid for it.

It does actually charge the mobile phone, but only while you turn the crank. You have to turn it fairly consistently for several minutes before you get a usable charge. And I found it difficult to do with the small crank on the device.

Many of my older Nokia phones refused to be charged by the device. Oh sure, it recognized something resembling a charger was plugged in, but I got a very informative not charging message from the phone while I was turning. Bummer!

I suppose if you've got no other choice, you've got some time to kill, and you don't mind the noise, this may be a worthwhile gadget. But I have to suggest you look for an alternative.