News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on SpaceX, T-Mobile to connect satellites to cellphones in remote areas. Parent comment

Re:SpaceX, T-Mobile to connect satellites to cellphones in r... by mr_toad on Friday August 26, 2022 @03:46AM (#32604353)
> Of course, Apple’s solution will likely only work with iMessage.

If I’m in the middle of nowhere and need to send an urgent message I wouldn’t want to be worrying about whether the recipient had an Android phone.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:SpaceX, T-Mobile to connect satellites to cellphones in r... by cheschire on Friday August 26, 2022 @06:26AM (#32605513)
This conversation is a frequent annoyance for me. I’m tired of asking folks if they have Apple or Signal available just to send a photo. MMS is unreliable and opaque to most folks it seems since pictures never seem to get through if they’re on android.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:SpaceX, T-Mobile to connect satellites to cellphones in r... by Melatonic on Friday August 26, 2022 @04:02PM (#32612093)
Same is true for android to android - it does a much higher quality non MMS. Unfortunately neither Google nor Apple will open up their damn protocol to the other.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:SpaceX, T-Mobile to connect satellites to cellphones in r... by Stevvo on Friday August 26, 2022 @05:46PM (#32613112)
https://www.android.com/get-the-message/

This page, from Google, makes it quite clear their protocol is an open standard, and Apple are the only closed one.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:SpaceX, T-Mobile to connect satellites to cellphones in r... by Melatonic on Friday August 26, 2022 @06:27PM (#32613449)
There are no android clients that can do it besides google messages. Google also has their own version of RCS that only works messages to messages. Carriers also have a version of RCS but its not quite the same.

Apple could and should totally adopt the carrier version of RCS though. And it would be great if Google would let apps like Textra in too

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:SpaceX, T-Mobile to connect satellites to cellphones in r... by dfadsadsf on Friday August 26, 2022 @07:22AM (#32605932)
If recipient does not have iMessage he will get it as SMS.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:SpaceX, T-Mobile to connect satellites to cellphones in r... by black3r on Friday August 26, 2022 @08:34AM (#32606574)
iMessages aren't converted to SMS on Apple's servers side. It's a fallback on the phone's side. When you're on a WiFi but with no cell coverage, you can send an iMessage but can't send an SMS.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:SpaceX, T-Mobile to connect satellites to cellphones in r... by londons_explore on Friday August 26, 2022 @10:07AM (#32607755)
But, for such a satellite phone service, Apple totally could make a SMS to iMessage gateway, or even just a web interface where non-apple users could log in and see that someone had sent them an iMessage.

Obviously Apple will make the process as painful as possible to encourage buying iPhone.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:SpaceX, T-Mobile to connect satellites to cellphones in r... by skimo8 on Saturday August 27, 2022 @10:39PM (#32625283)
This isn’t entirely true. If you have WiFi calling enabled, you can also send SMS over WiFi if the carrier supports it. I use this extensively when traveling internationally.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:SpaceX, T-Mobile to connect satellites to cellphones in r... by Taniwha on Friday August 26, 2022 @08:02AM (#32606245)
it's not really an android phone or an apple phone though - good satellite reception (as opposed to initial middling reception) is going to mean phones with radios meant for satellites and antenna that are designed to look up (and track) and not just sideways.

5 years from now you'll be choosing a particular android or apple phone because its good for satellite, just like you choose a particular one today because it's small, or fast, or has a good camera

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:SpaceX, T-Mobile to connect satellites to cellphones in r... by crossroadsguy on Friday August 26, 2022 @10:02PM (#32614871)
Well, if you’re a fruit company user you’d think about such petty things? So better start pestering everybody to get an iPhone.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:SpaceX, T-Mobile to connect satellites to cellphones in r... by KennyBlanken on Friday August 26, 2022 @06:28AM (#32605526)
Because clearly nobody has ever been able to send a text message from an iPhone to an Android device.
[ Parent | on HN ]