The Bullitt company has teamed up with Caterpillar and Motorola to offer a smartphone that is not only very resistant, but also capable of sending SMS via satellite. We tell you.
If you want to send SMS by satellite today, it seems impossible. The iPhone 14 do not allow it, since they have positioned themselves on a system of sending SOS. Qualcomm has announced that its chips will soon be able to take advantage of it, but for the time being, this is not yet the case. Therefore, we thought that it was still impossible to test this solution. A stand at MWC 2023 proved us wrong.
Caterpillar (which is now called Cat) already includes a model that can take advantage of satellite communication, the Cat S75. Yes, you read that right, Caterpillar, the construction equipment company, manages to beat Samsung, Apple and all the others on a technology that is bound to win. It is not surprising that the construction giant is interested, the use of satellite communication is obviously essential for workers in uncovered areas.
Be careful however, Caterpillar is not really the manufacturer of this device, it is actually a company called Bullitt, which pays a license to Caterpillar to sell its devices with a well-known acronym. In North America, this same Cat S75 is also branded Motorola to sell more easily there, where the brand is still in the top 3 of sales.
geostationary orbit
Of course, Bullitt doesn’t have its own fleet of satellites. In order to use this new technology, the company relied on two service providers: Inmarsat and Echostar. These two companies give them access to a network of geostationary satellites, meaning that they are always in the same place relative to Earth orbit. The main interest for the user is that there is no need to raise your arm to get a connection, since the machine is not moving above your head.
The Cat S75 can send SMS via satellite // Source: Frandroid
The Cat S75 can send SMS via satellite // Source: Frandroid
The Cat S75 can send SMS via satellite // Source: Frandroid
The Cat S75 can send SMS via satellite // Source: Frandroid
Ultimately, Bullitt’s coverage aims to be relatively extensive, even if the company excludes certain areas that would not necessarily be used every day, such as the oceans. By the end of March, all of Europe and the United States should be covered. Australia, New Zealand, Latin America and Africa are expected to follow in 2023.
It works well ?
During a demonstration, a member of Bullitt sent an SMS from the Cat S75 to a perfectly ordinary smartphone. The operation took regarding a minute in total. It takes approximately 30 seconds to establish the connection and 30 seconds to receive the text once it’s gone. Even if it may seem a bit long, on a textual exchange in an emergency situation, we can argue that waiting only one minute is already very convincing.
To take advantage of the service, simply buy the smartphone and you will have access to 12 months of free SOS sending. For sending SMS, limited to 35 per month, it costs 5 euros per month. Once the 12 months have expired, to continue to benefit from the SOS, you have to pay 3 euros per month.
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