Green ID Pack - LG Optimus S Home Screen with widget
So many cell phone apps, so many ways to waste time. Or maybe not, depending on what you’re downloading. Sprint has recently added an eco-themed option to what it refers to as “ID packs,” collections of apps, ringers, wallpaper, widgets, and more for users interested in personalizing their phones. The “Green ID" pack, as you might guess, contains a bundle of environmental content falling into four categories: news and information, lifestyle, shopping, and “taking action.”
The info category, for example, leads users to sites like TreeHugger, Greenbiz.com, and Earth911.com. “Shop Green" offers buyers tips on places to find sustainable products (my personal favorite on this screen is the “EcoEtsy” shorcut; clicking on it takes me to the more environmentally conscious part of the popular website, where I can buy vintage clothing and other goods I probably don’t need but don’t feel too bad purchasing).
But perhaps the coolest component of this ID pack—from my (biased) perspective—is how it facilitates learning about and supporting several environmental organizations. Its “Take Action” screen houses four groups: The Nature Conservancy, the Green Education Foundation, the Environmental Defense Fund, and Audubon. When I click on our familiar great egret, I’m taken directly to Audubon.org. No need to type in the address.
How did Audubon make it into the mix? “We chose a few of the top environmental brands in the country that offered plenty of opportunities for Green ID pack users to contribute their time and resources,” Sprint’s media contact Amy Johnsonbaugh told me in an email. “We also looked for organizations that Sprint has previously worked with successfully in the past.” In Audubon’s case, Sprint helped us launch a series of bird call ringtones following the release of its Samsung Reclaim, the first of what the company refers to as an eco-friendly phone. (They’ve since added more; see them here.)
Sprint chose the other features “based on the uniqueness and robustness of their Android application [all Android phones can download some of the apps individually] or the value of the content that they offered eco-minded users,” writes Johnson. “In the end, we sought resources that complemented each other to offer a comprehensive solution to anyone seeking to go green.”
I confess that I still don't own a "smart" phone, but if I did, I'd be tempted to download this pack. It seems like a no-brainer.