Just in time for the holiday gift-giving season…a paper airplane powered by Bluetooth®. We first saw this cool product at the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show where the company, PowerUp Toys, showed off their paper airplane conversion kit. The kit takes a paper airplane you make and turns it into a flying machine controlled by your smartphone.

Just fold your plane according to the template, attach the power module and pair it via Bluetooth to your phone. The battery lasts about 10 minutes and goes pretty fast.

The app looks like a real horizon and you steer by tilting the phone left or right. There are gauges that show power, batter and signal strength. It has a range of about 60 yards.

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Not to be outdone is TobyRich, an innovative startup out of Germany. They went a step further and developed the SmartPlane™, a full remote-controlled plane, which flies with Bluetooth Smart. The plane is made out of an expanded polypropelene material that retains its shape after being bent in a crash.

The FlightAssist™ app (like the one by PowerUp) looks like a real cockpit control. You drive the plane with your smartphone by sliding your thumb to up and down and tilting the phone to turn. The app analyzes the current flying situation and automatically makes adjustments and corrections to assist you. How does it do it? With Bluetooth Smart.

According to TobyRich, “A ‘smart’ plane needs smart technology. Traditional Bluetooth 2.1 or Wi-Fi was simply not enough – we went one step ahead and incorporated the latest Bluetooth Smartstandard, with long range (up to 60 m), and extremely low power consumption – so there’s more available for your plane’s engine. No clumsy dongles needed.”

(Credit: Nanci Taplett)