Video: iPhone 3GS can tether... to an RC plane

We're still not sure what to make of the iPhone in a pool video, but if this one is legit, it certainly represents one of the most glorious ways to endanger expensive hi-tech gadgetry. Let's face it -- who doesn't want to see Apple's moneymaker strapped to the belly of an RC plane and shot up into the air? Major engine noise and the phone's camera struggling for focus are all excused by the awesome landing that seems to place the iPhone about an inch away from the gravelly ground. Make your way past the break for the full vid.

[Thanks, Mark]

[Unbeleve @ Jul 16th 2009 8:48AM]

I think they wanted to see if AT&T had any coverage up there since the signal is always pretty poor on the ground.

[iphonerulez @ Jul 16th 2009 9:39AM]

The iPhone is definitely above all other smartphones.

[Dking @ Jul 16th 2009 9:45AM]

iphonerulez: that is so related to what he said, read one more time maybe you will get..
and iphone is not the best smartphone... and there isn't everyone like their own type of smartphone..

[kohrtoons @ Jul 16th 2009 9:55AM]

Dking - your a retard, iphonerulez was being ironic.

[KR.Z @ Jul 16th 2009 10:04AM]

Oh you'll get bars with AT&T, but will you be able to make/sustain call connectivity? Probably not..

[Chibi Chaingun - blackhivemedia.com @ Jul 16th 2009 10:32AM]

I always have good service here near Austin, Tx. 3g doesn't exist where I live though (rural area).

[UnixSystemsEngineer @ Jul 16th 2009 10:46AM]

Dking: *whoosh*

[DiGi @ Jul 16th 2009 3:02PM]

kohrtoons: "Dking - your a retard, iphonerulez was being ironic."

i hope that "your" was intentional.

[adrian @ Jul 16th 2009 11:05AM]

They should send some RC planes And a couple of IPhones to Afganistan and try them out on the Taliban. It would be a lot cheaper than those drones. The picture is quite clear as well.

[Ayle @ Jul 16th 2009 11:38AM]

This works too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDL4ELNBYHo

[martyrussell @ Jul 16th 2009 12:44PM]

Thats at kite hill, in laguna niguel, CA.
hahahaha

[Entourage @ Jul 16th 2009 12:52PM]

You guys arguing about telephones made by corporations? Since when didn't the world have enough problems?

[Julian Boardman @ Jul 16th 2009 1:05PM]

Dking - Looks like the iPhone in that video wasn't the only thing over your head!

[Buddha @ Jul 16th 2009 11:58PM]

It's odd that in Ameeruka you can't get 3G in rural places.. In Australia, 3G is all you can get there.

[ED @ Jul 16th 2009 7:43PM]

@kohrtoons
Also, it was simply a pun, not irony.

[BluesK1d @ Jul 17th 2009 1:39PM]

iThrewup

Good obs Marty on spotting this was Kite Hill. I wouldn't have noticed. My favorite hangover spot, Ted's is clearly visible!

[Nick @ Jul 16th 2009 8:48AM]

I'm pretty sure this is the most awesome thing ever. Wait. Wait. Yea, its confirmed.

[Mikey @ Jul 16th 2009 9:01AM]

Not the most awesome thing *ever*, but still pretty cool.

[crawdad689 @ Jul 16th 2009 9:29AM]

waaait for it......... PROPS to that guy!!!!! :-P

[Le Big Mac @ Jul 16th 2009 10:20AM]

What would make it *a lot* better is some f'in straight and level flight. The barrel rolls don't exactly add to the video experience.

[Gibblitz @ Jul 16th 2009 1:30PM]

He wanted to get an f'in view of the f'in blue sky.

[Croooow @ Jul 16th 2009 8:48AM]

My iPhone has never taken off.

[Pete @ Jul 16th 2009 2:07PM]

That's what you think.... bet if you check the photos taken you will see some of it's trip to Cancun.

[naturlichfrisch @ Jul 16th 2009 8:49AM]

I say awesome, but I won't be doing that to mine anytime in the near future.

[enz1ey @ Jul 16th 2009 4:00PM]

Or using "of" rather than "or."

[Aaron Brown @ Jul 16th 2009 10:18PM]

what the heck are you talking about?

[christopher Johnson @ Jul 18th 2009 10:03PM]

yeah..what ARE you talking about....idiot...

[Norman Ramirez @ Jul 16th 2009 8:53AM]

AND.......
First!
Not Really.
Don't Care About Being First, But This Video Is Very Awesome!
If all these videos of the iPhone 3GS Being put through life or death situations continue to come,
Then i Guess we can feel Safe With our iPhones simply falling to the ground. :)

[ray k @ Jul 16th 2009 9:35AM]

Quite lucky you don't care about FIRST!'s really... or capitalisation...

[overdawg07 @ Jul 16th 2009 11:32AM]

Or the spelling or capitalization...

[trappy @ Jul 16th 2009 8:55AM]

Well ... one more reason the iPhone sucks. Above you see how it looks like when an iPhone makes a video ... and here's how it looks with a proper camera: www.vimeo.com/5622672

[greenlight @ Jul 16th 2009 9:04AM]

At least the iPhone video doesn't look like VHS

[Karl @ Jul 16th 2009 9:11AM]

The landscape is a hell of a lot more exciting, but the video quality from that "proper camera" is worse with than the iPhone's.

[Templarian @ Jul 16th 2009 9:29AM]

That's because it's a wireless camera. They are not that much btw for rc planes.

[Jayenkai @ Jul 16th 2009 11:22AM]

That's a terrible quality! It's stuttering, and everything!!
How you could say the iPhone one looks bad against that, I don't know!

[SteveH @ Jul 16th 2009 12:54PM]

I hope you had your sarcasm turned on after that statement.

[Zak @ Jul 16th 2009 2:05PM]

You know, I shouldn't HAVE to point out that the video quality from a dedicated camera should not be worse than the video quality from a damn PHONE. But apparently since you're just that dumb I am going to point it out. The video that the iPhone took was better quality than the video from a dedicated video camera.

So the iPhone sucks why again? Because it takes better video? And the camera on the plane in your link is a "proper camera" why again? Because the video it takes is worse that what you get from a phone? I think you need a reality check, son.

[Phoenix @ Jul 16th 2009 8:56AM]

Meh. I know a guy who wrote a program for his old WinMo phone that would take pictures every X seconds, strapped it to a balloon, used the GPS to track it and found it once it came down. Some awesome pics came out of this :P

[mex @ Jul 16th 2009 9:52AM]

I think you get confused with that guys that made a science experiment at school with the baloon a digital camera and a GPS, no winmo involved: http://www.flickr.com/photos/arena5/sets/72157606119049987/detail/

[Phoenix @ Jul 16th 2009 10:23AM]

I was a little confused, the balloons were just tethered to the ground. However, here's what I was talking about

http://www.coolsmartphone.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10992

Winmo most certainly IS involved, than you very much :P

[artissco @ Jul 16th 2009 8:59AM]

Why all iPhone videos is recorded vertically?

[Cris T @ Jul 16th 2009 9:15AM]

They are not, it depends on when you hit the record button. If you hit the record button while it is in portrait it will record in portrait.

[Brandon @ Jul 16th 2009 9:20AM]

They're not. You have to orientate the iPhone horizontally before you start recording though, otherwise, even if you turn it to its side, it will record vertically.

[David Roberts @ Jul 16th 2009 6:01PM]

lol nice, but why put a ~$300 piece of gadgetry in the air? I guess if u've got the money

[the swiss @ Jul 16th 2009 9:09AM]

well you definitly missed the point here...strapping a "proper" camera aint that difficult...this is probably the first cellphone strapped on a rc-plane used to capture video and that is pretty cool...the quality aint that bad neighter...

[pedro @ Jul 16th 2009 9:53AM]

Certainly not the first, I strapped my old Samsung D500 with its great VGA video camera to a plane years ago ;)

[Alan Strangis @ Jul 16th 2009 9:54AM]

Not first by a long shot. There are vids and DIY UAV guides showing other phones (feature phones and smart phones) strapped to RC planes, cars and boats. I remember seeing one with a WM 5 phone a couple of years back.

[muckwarrior @ Jul 16th 2009 12:53PM]

Do something with an iPhone that's been done hundreds or thousands of times with another phone and all of a sudden it's AMAZING!!!

[MaxPower @ Jul 16th 2009 2:25PM]

Nothing new here, I would be impressed if they wrote something to stream the video back to the pilot...

Now that I think about it nix the radio control system, and pass commands over the cell network with a video feed back. You could fly well outside of radio range until you ran out of gas...

[DiGiC @ Jul 16th 2009 9:09AM]

My iPhone doesn't need a plane to take off -_-''