Tourist nearly tumbles down Niagara Falls to retrieve mysterious cellphone

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?

[Dexter B. @ Feb 15th 2007 12:12PM]

Must have been one hell of a cellphone.

[andrew @ Feb 15th 2007 6:49PM]

maybe he stole an iPhone from Steve. ;-)

[Yankees368 @ Feb 15th 2007 10:56AM]

Easy answer...hell no!

[Yankees368 @ Feb 15th 2007 10:55AM]

Easy answer...hell no!

[Will @ Feb 15th 2007 11:41AM]

Perhaps a Vertu?

[Daniel @ Feb 15th 2007 10:57AM]

I'd go over Niagra Falls in an inner tube for a 3g iPhone.

[lyl545646 @ Feb 15th 2007 10:59AM]

An iPhone prototype?

[NitroNeo @ Feb 15th 2007 11:03AM]

Just why did this guy have to actually be Polish? Let the Jokes Ensue!

[Jam @ Feb 15th 2007 11:08AM]

Maybe it was one of these Mobiado phones

http://www.sybarites.org/2007/01/04/mobiado-luminoso-cell-phone/

[Jonathan @ Feb 15th 2007 11:18AM]

Definitely the Nokir E828!

http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2007/02/14/brando-joins-wacky-world-of-fakes-with-nokir-e828/

[Yubal @ Feb 17th 2007 1:53PM]

lol, Nokir jaja can u imagine? going over for a fake? crazy

[Vicenzo @ Feb 15th 2007 3:10PM]

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

[ByronGman @ Feb 15th 2007 12:35PM]

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..."

[ssuk @ Feb 15th 2007 11:22AM]

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?

[Daniel @ Feb 15th 2007 11:27AM]

Apparently the Poles aren't too big on common sense either.

[Jacob Kennedy @ Feb 15th 2007 11:28AM]

"Common sense" means going nowhere near the Falls.

[Razor @ Feb 15th 2007 11:28AM]

Nope, we are quickly becoming the next Europe...

[Yubal @ Feb 15th 2007 11:34AM]

"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.

[What the... @ Feb 15th 2007 11:36AM]

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.

[Jeff @ Feb 15th 2007 11:35AM]

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.

[js @ Feb 15th 2007 2:11PM]

You obviously have never seen spoiled college students, driving their BMWs and Mercedes.

[everlastinggenie @ Feb 15th 2007 12:55PM]

either the HTC Titan (Tytn for u GSM fans)
or the HTC athena (forget its new name)

[bagoin @ Feb 15th 2007 12:17PM]

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::

[rob @ Feb 15th 2007 12:23PM]

Nokia 5165 or 5190
Barring that... a Motorola StarTac (of the TDMA variety)

[Nick @ Feb 15th 2007 12:24PM]

Knowing the Polish (and I do), it's more than likely a mid to high-end Nokia. They're crazy about the damn things.

[OM @ Feb 15th 2007 12:52PM]

if it was a motorola razr the old polish jokes ARE true!

[dan @ Feb 15th 2007 1:04PM]

judging by how stupid this guy must be, he was probably reaching for a free pre-paid POS phone.

[Warren @ Feb 15th 2007 1:09PM]

Uh...no cell phone is worth my life. Thats why I have insurance. Let THEM go sliding down the falls for it!

[Conflicted @ Feb 15th 2007 3:41PM]

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?"

[Adam @ Feb 15th 2007 5:08PM]

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.

[Anthony @ Feb 15th 2007 3:55PM]

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.

[Ron Larson @ Feb 15th 2007 7:27PM]

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.

[dave @ Feb 19th 2007 5:22PM]

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.

[2Perfect @ Feb 15th 2007 11:17PM]

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.

[scratt @ Feb 16th 2007 3:13AM]

I think he had his stash behind the battery.

[StFS @ Feb 17th 2007 8:35AM]

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?

[Russell @ Feb 16th 2007 8:13AM]

:o Lancaster made it in the news again

[skipere @ Feb 16th 2007 4:23PM]

Spy !!!