Two weeks ago, T-Mobile and SpaceX announce a partnership that would see mobile devices have direct connection to satellites. The news got a lot of attention and now Google seems to be working something similar. “Now we are designing for satellites. Cool!” Googles Hiroshi Lockheimer, a senior vice president of platforms and ecosystems said on a tweet last week.
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it wasn’t clear which department at google was working on satellite connectivity from the tweet –  until recently when 9to5Google released an article confirming that the technology is to ship out mid 2023 with Android 14.
Googles Lockheimer also stated that the user experiences would be different from the other phones. They would feature experiences such as speeds and their connectivity will be high compared to other phones. Though no work has begun yet, Google did state that they expect Android 14 to roll out with the technology.
SpaceX and T-Mobile’s announcement cited that the technology would support SMS, MMS, and even “SMS-supported apps”. During the announcement, no rates were mentioned, though they did mention of a piece hardware being tested in SpaceX labs. No further information was shared by the two companies. Satellite connectivity with smartphones, is aimed according to T-Mobile, to reach areas with no coverage on earth. Areas that have no possibility of ever having coverage such as mountains and far open seas and forests.
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