In the early hours of Sunday morning, HTC and British explorer Daniel Hughes successfully completed the world’s first video call from the top of Mount Everest, using the HTC One.
At 8,848m above sea level in -35°C temperatures, Hughes spoke live to the BBC using his HTC One smartphone and the latest mobile satellite technology from Inmarsat.
HTC was one of the lead sponsors for this incredible expedition, which made the scaling of the world’s tallest mountain into an interactive online experience. Hughes has enabled his followers to track his extreme journey through a constant stream of live updates, videos, pictures and a real-time map, making it the most connected climb ever.
Throughout his journey, Daniel has shared his updates on the daily trials of harsh weather conditions, sleep deprivation and high altitude, but also created more light-hearted content, including a high-altitude cooking lesson and the world’s highest Harlem Shake.
Followers have been able to get involved remotely through having their names written on Hughes’s tent by following the campaign on Facebook or Twitter.
This interactive climb was enabled by HTC equipment and on-mountain IP broadband access, with Broadband Global Area Network satellite technology provided by Inmarsat. HTC provided Hughes with cutting edge devices to assist and document his mission, including the powerful new HTC One, featuring an Ultrapixel camera, 1080p HD video and features such as HTC ZoeTM.
Hughes, 32, aims to raise one million pounds for Comic Relief after placing the first Red Nose at the top of Everest. The story behind the climb began with a 2010 trip to Bolivia, in which Hughes witnessed extreme poverty in the silver-mining region of Potosí and was inspired to take action to help others. Hughes’ intense training for the trip has taken place over a number of months and has been documented in a series of YouTube videos. To date, preparation has included climbing Mt. McKinley in the USA, the coldest mountain on Earth, as well as Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere.
Talking about the successful expedition and video call, Hughes said: “This project has been two and a half years in the making and it’s hard to put into words how amazing and surreal it is to be speaking to London from the highest point in the world. The support for the expedition has been phenomenal and thanks to the interactive nature of the climb, I really felt like I had everyone behind me.”
Suzi Watson, HTC UK Spokesperson, added: “We’re truly proud to have been part of Daniel’s amazing journey. We pride ourselves on being at the forefront of design and innovation and the HTC One was put to the ultimate test in extreme conditions, where it was able to help Daniel connect to everyone back home – even from the top of the world.”
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