Monday, April 7, 2008
iPhone Inspired Sat Phone
Satellite phones have been around for quite some time, and just like all technology items, they can continue to evolve and improve. The once big, clunky devices, have now been reduced in size to that of a typical cell phone, while reliability and connectivity continues to improve as well.
Unless you've bee living under a rock for the past year, you've undoubtedly seen the other hot item in handheld phones. Apple's iPhone has become the hot gadget for 2008 and has set a new standard for what a cell phone can do. Now, a company called Mobile Satellite Ventures is bring an iPhone like interface to one of it's sat phone, giving a more user friendly look and feel.
The "L-Series" phone from MSV is a little over a half-inch thick, and sports Wi-Fi for Internet access. It'll not only do satellite phone service, but also roam across cell networks as well, and the little gadget works as a slider phone, opening up to reveal a numeric keypad so you won't have to try to operate the touch screen while your hands are in your gloves.
Now for the bad news, the phone won't be available until 2010, and satellite coverage will be limited to North America, at least initially. No word on pricing yet either, but expected it to be an expensive little piece of gear.
With coverage limited to NA, I think I'll just stick to my real iPhone for now. Besides, by 2010, Apple will probably figure out how to make it into a sat phone as well, and you won't even need to touch it. The interface will be so intuitive that it'll just anticipate what you need. I'm sure it'll be called the iPhone Telepath. You heard it here first.