How do you use your iPhone? You wake up, check your email and Twitter notifications. You plug-in a pair of ear buds and jam out to some music. You play Angry Birds and explore your creativity with Draw Something, rinse and repeat, with some applications interchanged. However, do you ever use your device out of the ordinary? To help someone or even save their life? Well hear this:
An iPhone’s video camera was used to help extricate a 2-year old boy who fell into a well in southwest China.
It’s evening in the Yunnan Province near Mengzi City. A boy playing with neighborhood friends plunges 40 feet deep into a nearby well. One hour has passed, and he’s all alone in a dark hole. Local villagers respond to his cries. Finally, one hour later, firefighters arrive on the scene and lower down a harness. However, it was created for an adult, not a child. The boy begins to slip out and is back to where he started – 40 feet below ground.
Enter the iPhone:
In a move that still has many baffled, the rescue team decided to lower an iPhone attached to a rope down to the boy. Using the phone’s 1080p video camera, they recorded the scene and used the footage to visualize how he was trapped. Within moments, guided by their recent knowledge, the team was able to successfully get a harness around the toddler and pull him 40 feet up to safety. Although he suffered some bruises, he lived.
This just goes to show that the functionality of a smartphone can transcend making phone calls and flinging birds at pigs.
Now, how did you say you use your iPhone again?
