It was raining, with thick cloud coverage, but Samsung’s new Galaxy S25 still connected to a satellite orbit thousands of miles away within seconds.
“What you experienced was pretty fast,” said Pete Saladino, the head of the marketing for Skylo. “And when we bring SMS over the satellite, it will be very soon.”
On Tuesday, Skylo gave us a demonstration of function in her office Mountain View, California. The company is competing with Spacex and others to supply satellite services to the phone-a developing technology that promises to make dead mobile areas a thing of the past.
Skylo has turned on Google’s pixel satellite connection and will soon be available on Verizon Galaxy S25 phones who go on sale this Friday. The free service is similar to the Apple Emergency Emergency feature for the iPhone, giving customers a way to achieve emergency responders even when traditional cell towers are out of spotlight.
“No additional application discharge is required,” Saladino said. “Satellite connection powered by Skylo is a domestic integration into Android 15 and a predictable and user -known experience. It is integrated with the device, so the UI experience is consistent.”
The response is dealt with by Garmin, whose coordinators urgently pass information to a network of law enforcement agencies, emergency service providers, research and rescue professionals, embassies, coast guards and more.
Skylo demonstrated the feature in an ultra S25. Similar to how it is implemented on Pixel 9 devices, satellite connection will appear if the user wants to reach emergency services when their phone cannot be connected to a mobile or Wi-Fi signal. Android software will then ask questions about the nature of the emergency before connecting to a satellite in orbit and transmitting the message to Garmin’s response team to coordinate with emergency responders.
“This is a relatively direct experience; there is a complicated UI [user interface]”Saladino said. The user should only run their phone in the sky and follow the instructions on the screen.
During the demonstration, the Samsung S25 was able to send an urgent message through the satellite in about five seconds after the device was properly aligned to cope with the sky. A few seconds later, the phone received a message from Garmin’s response team, looking for more details about the emergency. From there, a user can send back messages and forth to get help. The same system can also share the location of a phone with urgent services and certain contacts.
The characteristic is just the beginning of Skylo plans to strengthen satellite services-Telephone-telephone. The company also wants to deliver satellite -based SMS messages, and noted that Verizon has mentioned by bringing out the ability later this year.
“Moreover, we have said on our website that we are working aloud,” Saladino added. “We’re not so far from being able to do it.”
(Credit: Pcmag/Michael Kan)
The company is not just in its satellite ambitions. In SH.BA, Spacex has tested its satellite-in-phone services through T-Mobile partner. This includes the power of SMS messages, with support for voice calls and data provided for later this year. Another rival, Ast Spacemobile, is building a consisting of mass satellites to provide the same skills for AT&T and Verizon customers. Apple, meanwhile, is preparing to spend over $ 1 billion to help the GlobalStar partner build a new satellite constellation.
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Skylo is different in that the company does not directly have satellites. On the contrary, it uses existing geostationary satellites with high orbits from Viasat, Echostar and Terresar Solutions of Canada. As a result, the company describes itself as a software provider focused on easy making for equipment, including smartphones, quickly identify and communicate with satellites in orbit. Work has included the integration of Skylo technology into chips from Qualcomm, Samsung and Mediatek, which are widely used to empower today’s smartphones.
“What we see as our main point of change is that we built this ecosystem from the ground up,” Saladino said, mentioning that Skylo has 40 partners. “When you approach that way, the equipment is now smart enough to connect to the satellites. So we think of this as an approach from the bottom-up. And I think others are more focused on a high approach to the amazing satellite constellations. So we’re doing it another way. “
Skylo’s access also means it can knock on multiple satellite networks, including low -Earth orbit satellites. Whether Skylo can try to partnership with Spacex or Ast, Saladino said: “I think these are the first days. And we will follow our strategy and we think this is the best way to get the scale all over the world … we like our strategy. “
Although Skylo is not starting its satellites, the company has been occupied with the expansion of land infrastructure needed to direct signals from its partners’ constellations. At the same time, the company is betting on its growing ecosystem to unlock new skills, including SMS, voice and future satellite services for mobile devices.
“As the equipment becomes more powerful and as our network starts to escalate, we will be able to do more and more,” Saladino said. “We can do a lot with what we have due to chipset integration.”
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About Michael kan
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