British smartphone agency Bullitt on Friday launched a brand new telephone able to sending textual content messages through area, becoming a member of a crowded race to commercialize satellite-enabled gadgets.

The telephone, which inserts into the “rugged” class of sturdy handsets, is available in two variations: the Caterpillar-branded Cat S75, which is aimed on the European market and can retail for 599 euros ($634.49), and the Motorola Defy 2, which caters to North America at a $599 beginning worth.

Each telephones include 5G connectivity, a 6.6-inch show and 5,000 milliampere-hour battery, which Bullitt says can last as long as two full days.

With Bullitt’s telephones, a message is beamed to geostationary satellites about 22,000 miles above the equator, then despatched again all the way down to earth-based community infrastructure earlier than reaching a consumer’s gadget.

The consumer receives the message as an ordinary SMS. They should have Bullitt Messenger — the agency’s proprietary satellite tv for pc messaging app — put in so as to reply. 

Texts take round 10 seconds to undergo, versus the near-instant velocity of cell telephones. Satellite tv for pc connection is simply turned on when a consumer falls exterior the attain of Wi-Fi or cellular community alerts.

Information of Bullitt’s new telephones comes not lengthy after Apple introduced the launch of its iPhone 14, which has a characteristic for contacting emergency companies through satellite tv for pc. The characteristic is offered within the U.S., U.Okay., France, Germany and Eire.

System makers like Apple and chip companies like Qualcomm are betting on the untapped alternative of placing satellite tv for pc telephones within the fingers of individuals in distant areas that fall exterior the attain of terrestrial telecoms infrastructure.

Connecting to satellites permits messages to achieve broad swathes of land not captured by earth-based mobile gear. Cell towers are extra restricted in vary, that means when you stray too removed from one, you may lose sign.

It may turn out to be useful, when you’re a hiker who’s gotten misplaced on a mountain path in a far-flung place, or a employee on a distant constructing web site who must contact their boss, however cannot entry cellular knowledge.

Satellite tv for pc telephones have been within the works for many years, however haven’t but entered mainstream utilization. Bullitt is hoping to alter this with its gear. Many satellite tv for pc telephones are clunky rectangular objects with giant, seen antennae. However Bullitt’s telephones appear like common smartphones, thanks partially to a satellite-enabled chip from Taiwanese semiconductor agency MediaTek.

“That is assuredly not a gimmick,” Tim Shepherd, Bullitt’s senior director of purposes and product advertising and marketing, advised CNBC.

“Dependable communication past the normal reaches of the mobile community is a significant problem for lots of people, and satellite tv for pc know-how is now on the proper degree of maturity to deal with the issue.”

Bullitt says that its telephones go a step additional than these of Apple, enabling two-way SMS messages, in addition to an emergency SOS characteristic which the corporate has developed in partnership with vital occasion administration agency Focuspoint Worldwide.

Charges for Bullitt’s two-way messaging service are set at 4.99 euros for a fundamental plan with 30 messages a month, 9.99 euros for 125 messages a month, and 29.99 euros for 400 messages per 30 days.

Compared, rival agency Garmin prices £19 for 10 texts a month, £32 for 60 texts a month, and £58 for 250 month-to-month texts, on prime of a £35 one-time activation price.

Apple’s Emergency SOS characteristic, which doesn’t allow two-way messaging, is free for 2 years after the activation of an iPhone 14 or iPhone 14 Professional.

The iPhone maker hasn’t disclosed pricing for the service, as soon as that interval ends.

Bullitt can also be launching a Bluetooth accent, the Motorola Defy Satellite tv for pc Hyperlink, that lets any Android or iOS gadget hook up with its Bullitt Satellite tv for pc Messenger app, successfully enabling any telephone to develop into a satellite tv for pc telephone. The puck-shaped gadget, which retails at $99, will probably be accessible within the second quarter.

Ben Wooden, lead analyst at CCS Perception, mentioned that Bullitt was focusing on a distinct segment market, and that its answer was higher suited to international locations with giant land lots, just like the U.S. and Australia.

“The corporate is a trailblazer for satellite tv for pc messaging however competitors is snapping at its heels,” Wooden advised CNBC. “That mentioned, the goal marketplace for its gadgets is nicely suited to the know-how so it has a profitable area of interest to focus on.”

Bullitt will assist satellite tv for pc protection in Europe and North America at launch, with Australia and New Zealand, Africa and Latin America to observe by mid-2023.

The corporate was beforehand accountable for what it referred to as the world’s first thermal imaging smartphone, the Cat S60, in 2016. On the time, the agency mentioned it believed the characteristic could be in 50% of smartphones in 5 years, a prediction that didn’t come to fruition.