OK, we knew you could use cellphone tech to detect stealth aircraft, but now it seems geeks have discovered they're pretty neat for controlling UAV's, too.

A few years back I did a job for someone in HK that was trying to convert discarded cellphones as Linux-based games machines.  He said the stripped-down devices (arm7 boards) cost him beteen 1 and 10 cents each, and after some refurbishment (new case, better battery, new s/w) they brought in around $100 us profit.

I've also used them to control simple bots via bluetooth, and have always wondered why more of this isn't done in the hobby world.

Since 2nd-hand 1-5 yo PDA's were settling on ebay and other similar places for 50 usd (original prices closer to 500 usd), they are pretty cheap platforms. Usually convertable to Linux boxes. And have a load of audio, SD, USB, and other i/o available for external devices. They even have LCD controlers, although you can usually ditch that and just use an RS232 or USB serial into the thing.

Anyway, 'nough rambling, and over to the geeks:

http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/the-dewline/2008/06/iphone-uavs-neat.html