Ever since cell phones made the leap from formal, sometimes flashy business and long-distance necessity to consistently hot and popular personal item, and even beyond that to a blend of both, companies have been racing around the clock to put together units that are more and more flexible, dynamic and loaded with features that can keep up with their users’ ever-busy lifestyles. Whether or not some features are actually regularly used is actually increasingly becoming irrelevant, as the technology to integrate the newer hardware and make room for software is becoming affordable and feasible enough to not be as much of a factor as it used to be. As a result, phones now have still image and video cameras, multi-SIM card carriage capability, music players, and all manner of “smart” enhancements designed to maximize the cell phone usage experience.
Making a strong foray into the smartphone game, longtime telecommunications titan AT&T has announced plans to release a new smartphone unit in the first quarter of 2010. To be released in a joint effort with TerreStar Networks, the Terrestar Genus dual-mode cell/sat smartphone will provide cellular wireless connectivity via At&T’s wireless service or – using the same phone number and phone unit – connect to the TerreStar satellite network as backup in the event of difficulty connecting using standard cellular phone signals. Beyond this seemingly simple option, certain AT&T wireless users who have a line of sight to the satellite will also have the ability to access expanded voice and data coverage, although this service is likely to be focused on the United States, US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and possibly US territorial waters.
Providing a cell site in the sky when cell sites on ground have difficulty maintaining service due to many possible factors is a smart move for helping users stay connected, and a solution ideally suited for users in various government, energy, maritime and transport contexts, not to mention to disaster recovery groups and first responders. Various emergency and otherwise high-stakes situations could be addressed with this critical communications back-up option. The monthly invoice bill will present the cellular voice and data service charges, along with separate charges for the satellite access subscription feature and satellite voice and data transmission and roaming, all of which will have been worth it if used to the fullest extent in situations necessitating the features.
Running on the Windows Mobile operating system, the TerreStar Genus uses GSM/GPRS/EDGE/UMTS/HDSPA technology to provide terrestrial wireless capability and contains the hardware and access clearance to also provide satellite voice and data features. All this is contained in a powerful smartphone that fits the smartphone standard size and form, with a 2.6 inch 16M-color touch-screen with 320×240 resolution, and GPS and Bluetooth capabilities. Its memory capacity is also considerable, with 100MB end-user memory and microSD card support that can handle up to 16GB in a hot-swappable memory storage device. Its Windows Mobile platform also comes stocked with Microsoft software and functionality, providing users with Outlook Mobile, Internet Explorer, Office Mobile and PDF support as well, making this a key tool for business use.
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