The iPhone 13 Does Not Have Satellite Internet, Band N53 and Globalstar • Hacker News Board

Re: The iPhone 13 Does Not Have Satellite Internet, Band N53 and Globalstar

#21

Post by tiernano » Thu, Sep 02, 2021, 9:29 PM UTC

frazbin wrote: post #19

imwillofficial wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There will be no satellite internet on the iPhone 13.

pull-quote from the article: > Apple has created a mechanism that will ask users to be outdoors and walk in a certain direction to help the iPhone connect to a satellite. Linking to a network also won’t always be instantaneous, with testing of the feature indicating that it could sometimes take up to one minute to work.

thats the bloomberg article... a "someone familuar with..." said kind of quote... how drunk where they? or what were they paid?

Re: The iPhone 13 Does Not Have Satellite Internet, Band N53 and Globalstar

#22

Post by baxtr » Thu, Sep 02, 2021, 9:29 PM UTC

wmf wrote: post #16

umeshunni wrote: post #2

I find it representative of the sorry state of tech 'journalism' that anyone would think that a cell phone in 2021 is capable of satellite internet. A quick search will show anyone the size of even the smallest Starlink receiver and common sense dictates that current generation phones cannot have any meaningful signal strength connecting to even an LEO satellite.

The joke's on you; multiple startups are working on satellites that can communicate with unmodified cell phones. It will probably be limited to SMS but it's not literally impossible.

I've heard there is a startup that has developed devices to automate and miniaturize blood tests!

Re: The iPhone 13 Does Not Have Satellite Internet, Band N53 and Globalstar

#23

Post by Jtsummers » Thu, Sep 02, 2021, 9:29 PM UTC

frazbin wrote: post #19

imwillofficial wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There will be no satellite internet on the iPhone 13.

pull-quote from the article: > Apple has created a mechanism that will ask users to be outdoors and walk in a certain direction to help the iPhone connect to a satellite. Linking to a network also won’t always be instantaneous, with testing of the feature indicating that it could sometimes take up to one minute to work.

While that's in the style of a pull-quote, it is not a pull-quote. It's a quote from the Bloomberg article that the author of this article is generally disputing.

Re: The iPhone 13 Does Not Have Satellite Internet, Band N53 and Globalstar

#24

Post by randomopining » Thu, Sep 02, 2021, 9:30 PM UTC

Whatever. You know most of you and everybody else in the 1st world is gonna order one within 1-3 months of it coming out anyway. Apple's phones are so good.

Re: The iPhone 13 Does Not Have Satellite Internet, Band N53 and Globalstar

#25

Post by xwdv » Thu, Sep 02, 2021, 9:30 PM UTC

umeshunni wrote: post #2

I find it representative of the sorry state of tech 'journalism' that anyone would think that a cell phone in 2021 is capable of satellite internet. A quick search will show anyone the size of even the smallest Starlink receiver and common sense dictates that current generation phones cannot have any meaningful signal strength connecting to even an LEO satellite.

Why? Look how fast technology progresses these days and how people have become so used to it. Seemingly impossible technological advances are rarely met with skepticism and disbelief but rather a shrug of the shoulders and a “Huh, guess they figured that out.”

That’s partly why people are so easily scammed by companies like Nikola and Theranos.

Re: The iPhone 13 Does Not Have Satellite Internet, Band N53 and Globalstar

#26

Post by Retric » Thu, Sep 02, 2021, 9:31 PM UTC

xvf22 wrote: post #17

wmf wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The joke's on you; multiple startups are working on satellites that can communicate with unmodified cell phones. It will probably be limited to SMS but it's not literally impossible.

Plenty of startups works on impractical stuff. Not to pass judgement but the fact that startups are trying doesn't necessarily confirm validity. See wireless power.

You can buy a range of actual wireless power tech today going all the way back to crystal radio‘s. Charging pads, RFID tags, and fully radio powered sensors etc aren’t want we thing of as wireless power but yesterday’s magic is today’s background noise.

Re: The iPhone 13 Does Not Have Satellite Internet, Band N53 and Globalstar

#27

Post by Andrew_nenakhov » Thu, Sep 02, 2021, 9:31 PM UTC

umeshunni wrote: post #2

I find it representative of the sorry state of tech 'journalism' that anyone would think that a cell phone in 2021 is capable of satellite internet. A quick search will show anyone the size of even the smallest Starlink receiver and common sense dictates that current generation phones cannot have any meaningful signal strength connecting to even an LEO satellite.

Iriduim phones are much smaller (~5x, I guess) than first Motorola mobile phones. They are capable of internet access, likely with first-generation GPRS speeds, and at killer rates.

Re: The iPhone 13 Does Not Have Satellite Internet, Band N53 and Globalstar

#28

Post by jasonhansel » Thu, Sep 02, 2021, 9:33 PM UTC

> The most likely path forward, and the one that Globalstar proclaims themselves, is licensing this spectrum for use on a terrestrial basis.

Maybe it will be used for connecting iPhones to wearable devices, as an alternative to Bluetooth? Or maybe Apple is planning on something like Amazon Sidewalk?

Re: The iPhone 13 Does Not Have Satellite Internet, Band N53 and Globalstar

#29

Post by Retric » Thu, Sep 02, 2021, 9:33 PM UTC

umeshunni wrote: post #2

I find it representative of the sorry state of tech 'journalism' that anyone would think that a cell phone in 2021 is capable of satellite internet. A quick search will show anyone the size of even the smallest Starlink receiver and common sense dictates that current generation phones cannot have any meaningful signal strength connecting to even an LEO satellite.

I agree it wasn’t going to happen, but I understand their confusion. Current satellite phones are the size of regular cellphones. That’s the equivalent of very low bandwidth internet access, but even low bandwidth access can still be really useful. https://www.g-comm.us/iridium-9555-satellite-phone.html

Dropping that to something that fits in an iPhone would be a very significant improvement, but it hardly breaks the laws of physics. Thus https://xkcd.com/2501/

Re: The iPhone 13 Does Not Have Satellite Internet, Band N53 and Globalstar

#30

Post by gruez » Thu, Sep 02, 2021, 9:34 PM UTC

hugs wrote: post #13

bob1029 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder what the theoretical minimum size would be for an antenna that can maintain a half-decent connection with the current generation of starlink/iridium/et.al. satellites.

Check out the Garmin inReach Mini or Rock Seven's RockBLOCK 9603. They're already relatively small -- I could imagine those circuits getting smooshed into a phone case. However, I doubt the connection would be anywhere close to half-decent. Would be useful for emergency text-messaging after a disaster, though.

>Would be useful for emergency text-messaging after a disaster, though.

Disaster is probably the least useful use case for this. The satellite would be overloaded from all the people requesting help. A far more plausible use case is if you got lost hiking or something.