Another smartphone supports satellite connectivity, as mobile space race heats up

British smartphone steadfast Bullitt connected Friday launched a caller telephone susceptible of sending substance messages via space, joining a crowded contention to commercialize satellite-enabled devices.

The phone, which fits into the "rugged" class of durable handsets, comes successful 2 versions: the Caterpillar-branded Cat S75, which is aimed astatine the European marketplace and volition retail for 599 euros ($634.49), and the Motorola Defy 2, which caters to North America astatine a $599 starting price.

Both phones travel with 5G connectivity, a 6.6-inch show and 5,000 milliampere-hour battery, which Bullitt says tin past up to 2 afloat days.

With Bullitt's phones, a connection is beamed to geostationary satellites astir 22,000 miles supra the equator, past sent backmost down to earth-based web infrastructure earlier reaching a user's device.

The idiosyncratic receives the connection arsenic a modular SMS. They volition person to person Bullitt Messenger — the firm's proprietary outer messaging app — installed successful bid to reply. 

Texts instrumentality astir 10 seconds to spell through, arsenic opposed to the near-instant velocity of compartment phones. Satellite transportation is lone turned connected erstwhile a idiosyncratic falls extracurricular the scope of Wi-Fi oregon mobile web signals.

News of Bullitt's caller phones comes not agelong aft Apple announced the motorboat of its iPhone 14, which has a diagnostic for contacting exigency services via satellite. The diagnostic is disposable successful the U.S., U.K., France, Germany and Ireland.

Device makers similar Apple and spot firms similar Qualcomm are betting connected the untapped accidental of putting outer phones successful the hands of radical successful distant areas that autumn extracurricular the scope of terrestrial telecoms infrastructure.

Connecting to satellites allows messages to scope wide swathes of onshore not captured by earth-based cellular equipment. Cell towers are much constricted successful range, meaning if you stray excessively acold from one, you'll suffer signal.

It could travel successful handy, if you're a hiker who's gotten mislaid connected a upland way successful a far-flung place, oregon a idiosyncratic connected a distant gathering tract who needs to interaction their boss, but can't entree mobile data.

Satellite phones person been successful the works for decades, but person not yet entered mainstream usage. Bullitt is hoping to alteration this with its gear. Many outer phones are clunky rectangular objects with large, disposable antennae. But Bullitt's phones look similar regular smartphones, acknowledgment successful portion to a satellite-enabled spot from Taiwanese semiconductor steadfast MediaTek.

"This is assuredly not a gimmick," Tim Shepherd, Bullitt's elder manager of applications and merchandise marketing, told CNBC.

"Reliable connection beyond the accepted reaches of the cellular web is simply a large contented for a batch of people, and outer exertion is present astatine the close level of maturity to code the problem."

Bullitt says that its phones spell a measurement further than those of Apple, enabling two-way SMS messages, arsenic good arsenic an exigency SOS diagnostic which the institution has developed successful concern with captious lawsuit absorption steadfast Focuspoint International.

Rates for Bullitt's two-way messaging work are acceptable astatine 4.99 euros for a basal program with 30 messages a month, 9.99 euros for 125 messages a month, and 29.99 euros for 400 messages per month.

In comparison, rival steadfast Garmin charges £19 for 10 texts a month, £32 for 60 texts a month, and £58 for 250 monthly texts, connected apical of a £35 one-time activation fee.

Apple's Emergency SOS feature, which does not alteration two-way messaging, is escaped for 2 years aft the activation of an iPhone 14 oregon iPhone 14 Pro.

The iPhone shaper hasn't disclosed pricing for the service, erstwhile that play ends.

Bullitt is besides launching a Bluetooth accessory, the Motorola Defy Satellite Link, that lets immoderate Android oregon iOS instrumentality link to its Bullitt Satellite Messenger app, efficaciously enabling immoderate telephone to go a outer phone. The puck-shaped device, which retails astatine $99, volition beryllium disposable successful the 2nd quarter.

Ben Wood, pb expert astatine CCS Insight, said that Bullitt was targeting a niche market, and that its solution was amended suited to countries with ample onshore masses, similar the U.S. and Australia.

"The institution is simply a trailblazer for outer messaging but contention is snapping astatine its heels," Wood told CNBC. "That said, the people marketplace for its devices is good suited to the exertion truthful it has a lucrative niche to target."

Bullitt volition enactment outer sum successful Europe and North America astatine launch, with Australia and New Zealand, Africa and Latin America to travel by mid-2023.

The institution was antecedently liable for what it called the world's archetypal thermal imaging smartphone, the Cat S60, successful 2016. At the time, the steadfast said it believed the diagnostic would beryllium successful 50% of smartphones successful 5 years, a prediction that did not travel to fruition.