Tourist nearly tumbles down Niagara Falls to retrieve mysterious cellphone
By Darren Murph 
posted February 15th 2007 10:47AM
posted February 15th 2007 10:47AM
We've heard of filing larceny charges in an attempt to retrieve a highly desired cellphone, but risking your life at Niagara Falls? Apparently, a Polish tourist studying English in Lancaster, Pennsylvania wasn't exactly fazed by the treacherous surroundings at Terrapin Point, as he slid to within 50 feet of the falls before finally stopping. Whilst frolicking about on the obviously icy terrain, 29-year old Waldek Kubicki slipped about 200 feet down a rock after "trying to pick up his cellphone," and remained stranded for around 45 minutes until rescuers came and roped him up. Of course, the mystery here is simple: which (potentially unavailable in the US) phone do you think was worth nearly plummeting into an abyss for?
Must have been one hell of a cellphone.
maybe he stole an iPhone from Steve. ;-)
Easy answer...hell no!
Easy answer...hell no!
Perhaps a Vertu?
I'd go over Niagra Falls in an inner tube for a 3g iPhone.
An iPhone prototype?
Just why did this guy have to actually be Polish? Let the Jokes Ensue!
Maybe it was one of these Mobiado phones
http://www.sybarites.org/2007/01/04/mobiado-luminoso-cell-phone/
Definitely the Nokir E828!
http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2007/02/14/brando-joins-wacky-world-of-fakes-with-nokir-e828/
lol, Nokir jaja can u imagine? going over for a fake? crazy
the iPhone is in brasil also... there´s a friend of mine that knows a guy that has one... he´s high ranked in a telecom company... iPhone coming soon to brasil?!?!? =D
Engadget team,
You ABSOLUTELY MUST find out what cell phone that was.
Think of the marketing possibilities...
"Hi, I'm Jake. I'm in love with my Motorola Q. One day at Niagra Falls..."
Simple, he liked his phone, thought he could traverse the distance safely but could not. Thus, the indicent happened. Common sense would indicate that this is how he would have come to this, but of course America isn't really big with common sense now, are they?
Apparently the Poles aren't too big on common sense either.
"Common sense" means going nowhere near the Falls.
Nope, we are quickly becoming the next Europe...
"which (potentially unavailable in the US) phone do you think was worth nearly plummeting into an abyss for?"
jaja rotflmao I love you, Engaget, I do love you profoundly. You just made my day...
for me it would be my precious HTC Universal or one of those Fujitsu phones you covered a few days ago.
Guys... think about it... he didn't climb down to get his phone because it was a "cool phone"... he climbed down because he probably had some nasty pictures of himself and farm animals (or something else really gross and embarrassing) that he didn't want people to see when they found it.
Hmm... methinks it ain't the phone. It's the entire "I'm 4,000 miles from home and am totally stuffed for a SIM card if I lose it" thing. Or, more likely it's "Oh gawd! My entire 'black book' is on there and that's the only number the über-hottie I met last night has!" A Vertu? Doubtful anyone willing to shell out $7,000-$25,000 (or €5,300-€19,230, or zł21,000-zł75,000) is gonna be a student hanging around Niagra Falls.
You obviously have never seen spoiled college students, driving their BMWs and Mercedes.
either the HTC Titan (Tytn for u GSM fans)
or the HTC athena (forget its new name)
The only thing that could've saved him from being a "complete" tool was if he actually did get his cellphone back... ohh wait he didn't -_-
::insert polish toilet joke here::
Nokia 5165 or 5190
Barring that... a Motorola StarTac (of the TDMA variety)
Knowing the Polish (and I do), it's more than likely a mid to high-end Nokia. They're crazy about the damn things.
if it was a motorola razr the old polish jokes ARE true!
judging by how stupid this guy must be, he was probably reaching for a free pre-paid POS phone.
Uh...no cell phone is worth my life. Thats why I have insurance. Let THEM go sliding down the falls for it!
I faced a similar dilemma after my Treo fell from my back pocket into the toilet. As one of my friends so appropriately put it, "You had to ask yourself...will you touch your own feces for $500?"
I don't know about you, but I'm starting to see a trend. http://www.engadget.com/2004/04/12/man-shot-twice-for-refusing-to-give-up-his-cellphone/
The man was a student from Poland.
The same thing happened to me (no press, of course). I was trying to take sneaky shots of the Maid of the Mist, but then realized it was a boat, not some hottie Canadian. So befuddled & distraught I dropped my phone.
Oh, I lament the loss of my beautiful DynaTac- lost forever in her watery grave.
I hope they billed him for the rescue. They should have let the nature run its course and allow the guy to be the next "Darwin Award" winner.
i wouldn't jump down the falls to save a fricken fertu constellation...especially since the falls would either short-circuit your phone or smash the casing, and it's suicide to jump those rapids. i'd [[insert polish joke here]] but i'm part polish myself.
it was a credit card phone :$ with some uber hax built in.
Or maybe it's just a normal phone and he thought he could still save his $300 from literally going down the drain.
I think he had his stash behind the battery.
Have you guys ever lost your cell? I just did... and I was a mess... not because it was a great model, but because it contained all my contacts, info and even a load of pictures. Now, would I have put my life on the line to get it back? Nope. But who knows what this guy had on his phone. Anyways, I believe it's not a question of what kind of a phone it was but rather, what was in it. Perhaps a Paris Hilton video?
:o Lancaster made it in the news again
Spy !!!