• Android one-ups Apple's satellite SOS with general-purpose satellite SM

    From NewsKrawler@21:1/5 to All on Sun Jan 8 00:11:11 2023
    https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/01/qualcomm-says-it-built-a-better-satellite-messaging-system-than-apple/
    Android one-ups Apple's satellite SOS with general-purpose satellite SMS

    Qualcomm packs Iridium satellite compatibility into a normal phone.
    The connection uses the Iridium protocol, just like a real satellite phone.

    Unlike on the iPhone, this is real, two-way, SMS-style texting that you'll supposedly be able to use for more casual conversations instead of the
    iPhone's highly compressed, emergency-only, one-way questionnaire system
    that discourages composing a message.

    The iPhone is on a different Globalstar constellation with different characteristics. That Globalstar constellation has only 24 satellites
    covering the world, which is not good enough for continuous 24/7 coverage. These satellites are moving around, so there's a regular up-and-down
    cadence to the Globalstar service that lasts for minutes at a time for any given location. With 66 satellites in the Iridium constellation, you should always have service, and you might not even need to do that "hold your
    phone up" dance to get a connection.

    Qualcomm's solution will run on the Iridium satellite constellation-this is
    the 25-year-old, 66-satellite network that powers traditional,
    purpose-built satellite phones with giant external antennas. Qualcomm says
    this is now going to work with normal-sized smartphones and with normal, internal-only antennas. Qualcomm said "in most cases" you won't even need a
    new antenna. Iridium runs in the 1-2 GHz L Band, the same as GPS and some mid-band cellular services, so your phone already has an antenna for this.

    Just like with the iPhone, skipping out on the normal big, external antenna means dealing with a specific set of compromises. Unlike an always-on
    cellular connection, you'll fire up some targeting app and might be asked
    to point your phone at a location in the sky and wait for a connection.

    Qualcomm's performance promises here seem good compared to Apple's
    solution. Grilli says you'll be able to send a "full-size SMS in less than
    10 seconds, and on average, it takes three seconds." That's faster than the iPhone's 15 seconds for an emergency SOS, which is a highly compressed questionnaire message and not a full SMS.

    Presumably, you'll have to pay someone to access the satellite network. Qualcomm is a chip provider and didn't want to get into ISP or messaging
    app details. Texts to 911 (or your local equivalent) will be free, without
    any kind of plan, just like how cellular works (this is a law).

    If you're paying for a premium plan, Qualcomm's proprietary setup allows
    for whatever messaging standard you want to use, either bog-standard SMS
    with your normal phone number or some over-the-top service (i.e.,
    WhatsApp), but operators will need to figure that out. Some existing
    standard would be great since only one person would need to pay for the satellite service and could talk to the outside world.

    Qualcomm says the service will be available in phones in the second half of
    the year for phones launched in North America and Europe. Hardware support technically starts in the Qualcomm Snapdragon Gen 2 SoC, which already has
    a few announced devices, but it sounds like satellite compatibility will be
    an add-on feature manufacturers need to plan for.

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