First-ever 3G call and tweet from summit
It’s official, the world’s highest mountain has seen its first tweet and its first phone call thanks to a 3G network, a Samsung Galaxy S II, and a guy named Kenton Cool. That’s right, he’s so cool, he has the word in his name. The English mountaineer had climbed Everest eight times, however, Cool had never climbed the 29,029-foot mountain with a smartphone on his person before. Of course, and as you can see in the video below, this little stunt was sponsored by Samsung.
In a video from BBC News, Mr. Cool said he decided to make this his ninth climb because he wanted to prove that 3G radio worked at the highest place on earth.
Back in October of 2010, Ncell, a mobile operator in Nepal, installed the first 3G station at Everest’s base camp. The goal was to bring online services to the people of Nepal and the mountaineers who ordinarily have to carry around cumbersome satellite phones or nothing at all.
Cool tweeted from the summit, thanking both a weak 3G signal and Samsung’s Galaxy phone for giving him the change to make this small step forward for mankind.
The guy’s certainly good with his product placement. It’s just too bad that AT&T didn’t jump on-board so they could deliver the ultimate insult to Verizon in the form of the world’s best “Can you hear me now” commercial.
This article first appeared on Geek.com
Photo: Geek.com
