Phone-Charging in Certain Parks

If you need to charge your smartphone or tablet while your in motion, you're in luck.

AT and T and the Bloomberg Administration have teamed up to create a pilot program that provides free solar mobile charging stations at Pier 1 in Riverside Park, North Plaza of Union Square Park, and Governors Island. Rumsey Playfield at Central Park SummerStage opens July 2.

Look for the 12 1/2-foot poles when your cell phone "dies." Charging is free.

AT and T Street Charge developed from Superstorm Sandy when AT and T powered the city's distribution centers with commercial generators and pop-up cellular service. New Yorkers who had lost power for days or longer flocked to the centers seeking a charge and a way to communicate to the outside world. AT and T teamed up with solar technology company Goal Zero and Brooklyn-based design firm Pensa to develop the initiative and bring it to local residents.

The solar mobile charging units work day or night, in sun or shade. During the day, three monocrystaline solar panels collect the sun's energy to charge up powerful internal batteries. The result? AT and T Street Charge can return power to your phone, even when the sun isn't shining.