Hi Friends,
Have you ever wondered how you take the perfect picture 38.000 meters into the stratosphere? 🤔 Then read on!
To showcase OnePlus 10 Pro 5G' trusted quality, we set out for the ultimate Never Settle challenge:
To capture the perfect shot of the horizon - in near-space 🚀
And let's just say: it wasn't easy.
Details matter in these situations, and it's all about having the right timing and the right equipment.
But even then - when you're up against wind speeds of 200 km/h and temperatures of -60°, you never really know what's gonna happen.
So this is the story of how we sent the OnePlus 10 Pro 38.000 meters into the stratosphere - to get that one perfect picture.
The beginning
It all started with an idea - and a question... "
How can we showcase OnePlus 10 Pro's quality, camera color, and processing power in the most "Never Settle" way possible?"
We really wanted to launch it into the stratosphere to show how easy it is to take the perfect shot in every condition.
But we wanted to be sure. So we asked our Community. And thankfully, you guys were in on the idea - so we quickly agreed - let's send our phone into the stratosphere to capture every horizon in a billion colors. Game on!
Our partner
To get the biggest chance of success, we teamed up with Stratoflights, a film production company from Germany, which specializes in well.. Stratospheric flights.
Ever since their first video went viral in 2012, they've been sending things to "space" for a living. Pretty cool, right?
But despite their extensive experience, Stratoflight had yet to send a phone to space. So this seemed like the perfect opportunity to explore new horizons - together!
The setup
So how do you actually send a phone to space? Well, it required a
lot of trial and error. But the short answer is that we built a lightweight module with built-in phone holders for the OnePlus 10 Pro, and attached it to an emission-free helium balloon that was sent into the stratosphere.
The phones were remote-controlled via an app, to make sure we captured as many pictures as possible.
To increase our chance of success, we did two different test flights to check how everything would go, before doing a final event with a closed group of Community members.
When the balloon reaches a certain level in the atmosphere, it pops - and the module will come back down again. And as you can guess - this brought quite a few challenges with it, starting with how to protect our phones against the extreme scenario.
Challenges
When you're taking pictures in near-space, the wind can go up to 200 km/h - so we had to build a protective "space case" to keep our phones safe.
The module had to meet a lot of requirements:
It had to be robust, hold the phones in position, protect them from the cold
and during the landing - while also being lightweight. To do this we made several construction drawings and tested different materials.
In the end, Stratoflight created a module out of lightweight Balsawood, which is used for radio-controlled planes, and covered it in Polystyrol, a lightweight isolating material used in construction work. For the finishing touch, the surface was covered with carbon foil for maximum protection.
To keep the four OnePlus 10 Pro's in position, we 3D printed custom phone holders to maintain the right angle during the flight.
The end result? A durable, lightweight carbon module that you guys decided to name... "The Stratosphone" 😎
Another issue to consider was battery drainage.
To get our perfect shot of the horizon - we had to take A LOT of pictures. And when you're taking pictures in -60°, it really takes a toll on the battery.
To help with this issue, we relied on the large 5000mAh battery and ultra-fast charging of OnePlus 10 Pro - which made it easy to do repeated picture bursts without running out of battery.
Depending on the weather, the module can land anywhere between a 0 to 150 km radius.
So to recover the phones, Stratoflight developed a GPS tracking device called "Stratofinder" which provided a location update every 5 minutes, so it was easy to know exactly where the phones were.
Fun fact: In one of the first test flights, the "Stratosphone" module ended up at the wrong end of a 40 m tall tree. So we had to hire a professional tree climber to come to retrieve it for us. Never Settle, right? 🤷🏼♂️
The final countdown
When we felt convinced that we were properly prepared and ready to go to (near) space, we invited a handful of Community members to join us "behind the scenes" on the big day, and help set everything up for the flight.
The sweet Community members more than lived up to their Never Settle-mentality, as they had to get up at 3 in the morning to join us at the flight zone - to make sure we could release the balloon at the crack of dawn.
Details matter, you know?
The ultimate Never Settle team: Julian, Anton, Jannik & Laura 💪🏼
In the end, we managed to capture not just one - but several beautiful pictures of the horizon - made possible by OnePlus 10 Pro’s Second Generation Hasselblad for Mobile-camera equipped with OnePlus Billion Color Solution.
- Which one is your favorite? 🤔 Tell us in the comments! 👇🏼
If you want to learn more about how we did the event - with the help of our amazing Community - you can see the full event recap video here:
A big big BIG thank you goes out to you, our Community. You are our reason to keep innovating and most important of all - to Never Settle.
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