The manual is contained in the phone's memory.

That is one of the principal green ideas in the new line of GreenHeart phones coming from Sony Ericsson, according to Jon Mulder, head of product marketing for Sony Ericsson North America.

The company is also putting the phone into smaller packaging to save paper.

But, before you dismiss this as an obvious, un-technical innovation, go take a look in your desk drawer and count the unopened technical manuals. People have talked about it, but not done it much, he noted. And smaller boxes mean many more can be squeezed onto a shipping pallet, thereby reducing diesel and jet fuel consumed in transportation.

Like many other electronics manufacturers, Sony Ericsson is in the midst of an effort to reduce the power consumed in its operations as well as the power that gets consumed by the products it makes. It has set a goal out of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2015.

"We are going to have to change the way we manufacture phones," he said.

At the same time, however, the changes will have to be made without causing price hikes.

While paper is a good, but easy first step, Sony Ericsson is also taking others. The paint on the new phones, for instance, is a water-borne paint. The paint comes from the manufacturer a solid. Water is only added at the phone factory. Thus, water does not have to be shipped, lowering transportation costs.

The phones are also made with recyclable (but not organic) plastics. Sony may look at corn-based plastics in the future, but right now there are some concerns with reliability.

The company also added some features to cut down the power consumers will use. The phones, for example, come with a dimmer switch on the front cover. Currently, with most phones, you have to go into the menu to dim the screen. Having it on the front is expected to get more people to use it. And as an added bonus, the charger shuts off once the phone is unplugged. Consumers, therefore, can leave the charger plugged into the wall and not draw vampire power.