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Skimming the article I couldn’t find which phone models they tested with. Any ideas?

by DenisM 3y ago

samstave 3y ago
It specifically was unspecified. [This Comment Intentionally Left Blank]
- tra3 3y ago
  Why would that be? > with regular unmodified Smartphones Why are they being so cagey?
  - mlyle 3y ago
    So that when operational service is announced by their partners, they have a meaningful announcement that will get worthwhile press attention. e.g. T-Mobile and Samsung might trot this out together (to counter Apple's announcement of emergency text for help by different means). It'll work better than if all the keywords have already occurred in media articles; it'll work especially better if they were testing on weird/old development phones or phones from different vendors than their chosen highlighted partners. Basically there's no upside in disclosing equipment, and there's a lot of ways it can be unfortunate.
  - lxgr 3y ago
    I’m almost certain it won’t be actually unmodified smartphones. At least some baseband and/or anpplic layer adaptation seems necessary in order to not waste all bandwidth on signaling and overhead.
OatmealDome 3y ago
Judging by the photos they posted on Twitter, looks like some semi-recent iPhones (definitely not 14 Pros or 15s because of the notch). [1] [1] https://nitter.net/SpaceX/status/1745246204118925711 https://nitter.net/SpaceX/status/1745246204118925711
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
mardifoufs 3y ago
Probably not Androids. I don't think any android supports sat comm right now especially after Qualcomm abandoned it's chip/radio effort so it's not included in most common SoCs.
- modeless 3y ago
  The point of this service is it works with unmodified existing LTE phones. "supports sat comm" is not a requirement.
  - mardifoufs 3y ago
    Ahhh I misread the article then! And Woah ok, I genuinely didn't think that would be possible without phased arrays like starlink uses for its normal service. Amazing!
- vinniepukh 3y ago
  Starlink’s direct to cell service works with regular 4G LTE radios

Skimming the article I couldn’t find which phone models they tested with. Any ideas?

by DenisM 3y ago

Skimming the article I couldn’t find which phone models they tested with. Any ideas?

samstave 3y ago

It specifically was unspecified. [This Comment Intentionally Left Blank]

tra3 3y ago
Why would that be? > with regular unmodified Smartphones Why are they being so cagey?
- mlyle 3y ago
  So that when operational service is announced by their partners, they have a meaningful announcement that will get worthwhile press attention. e.g. T-Mobile and Samsung might trot this out together (to counter Apple's announcement of emergency text for help by different means). It'll work better than if all the keywords have already occurred in media articles; it'll work especially better if they were testing on weird/old development phones or phones from different vendors than their chosen highlighted partners. Basically there's no upside in disclosing equipment, and there's a lot of ways it can be unfortunate.
- lxgr 3y ago
  I’m almost certain it won’t be actually unmodified smartphones. At least some baseband and/or anpplic layer adaptation seems necessary in order to not waste all bandwidth on signaling and overhead.

OatmealDome 3y ago

Judging by the photos they posted on Twitter, looks like some semi-recent iPhones (definitely not 14 Pros or 15s because of the notch). [1] [1] https://nitter.net/SpaceX/status/1745246204118925711 https://nitter.net/SpaceX/status/1745246204118925711

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

mardifoufs 3y ago

Probably not Androids. I don't think any android supports sat comm right now especially after Qualcomm abandoned it's chip/radio effort so it's not included in most common SoCs.

modeless 3y ago
The point of this service is it works with unmodified existing LTE phones. "supports sat comm" is not a requirement.
- mardifoufs 3y ago
  Ahhh I misread the article then! And Woah ok, I genuinely didn't think that would be possible without phased arrays like starlink uses for its normal service. Amazing!
vinniepukh 3y ago
Starlink’s direct to cell service works with regular 4G LTE radios