Re:iPhone 13 to support LEO satellite communication
by mikestew on Sunday August 29, 2021 @01:46PM
(#28348828)
Have you seen the antenna on Iridium devices? Think that's going to fly on an iPhone? Yes, we all know that there is existing technology, no need to ask rhetorical questions. Just saying "Iridium" doesn't solve the problems that still need to be solved, though.
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Re:iPhone 13 to support LEO satellite communication
by Fatalist_ma on Sunday August 29, 2021 @02:07PM
(#28349010)
https://www.itabnav.com/545-large_default/iridium-go.jpg not that huge of an antenna...
Re:iPhone 13 to support LEO satellite communication
by turminal on Sunday August 29, 2021 @02:13PM
(#28349075)
That's still at least an order of magnitude bigger than the space available for this thing inside an iPhone
Re:iPhone 13 to support LEO satellite communication
by mikestew on Sunday August 29, 2021 @02:39PM
(#28349309)
not that huge of an antenna...
I would argue that you’ve just illustrated my point. It also wouldn’t take a lot to convince me that you’re being facetious.
Re:iPhone 13 to support LEO satellite communication
by Fatalist_ma on Sunday August 29, 2021 @04:33PM
(#28350208)
Well it's a finger-sized antenna. Admittedly all I know about antennas is that size matters. An Iphone is bigger than a finger, why is it inconceivable that it could have a comparable antenna on its surface?
Also for an Iphone this would be just one rarely-used feature, it could get by with somewhat worse reception and lower bandwidth than a dedicated satellite phone.
Re:iPhone 13 to support LEO satellite communication
by detaro on Sunday August 29, 2021 @04:41PM
(#28350272)
"satellite phone, but doesn't work reliably" doesn't sound like something Apple would waste space and money on.
Re:iPhone 13 to support LEO satellite communication
by dzhiurgis on Sunday August 29, 2021 @06:04PM
(#28350903)
AirTags, MacBook Pro keyboards, iPhone 4, Siri
The list is endless.
Re:iPhone 13 to support LEO satellite communication
by detaro on Sunday August 29, 2021 @06:06PM
(#28350922)
At least two of those are not designed to be bad.
Re:iPhone 13 to support LEO satellite communication
by lxgr on Sunday August 29, 2021 @04:38PM
(#28350252)
Mobile phones used to have antennas like this in the early 2000s, and now they don‘t anymore. I don‘t know that much about antenna design, but I‘d suspect that there might be a similar opportunity here?