T-Mobile subscribers who buy one of the phones in Google’s newly announced Pixel 10 lineup will be able to explore a new frontier in mass-market mobile connectivity: satellite access to data-dependent apps, including Google Maps.
Google worked with Bellevue, Wash.-based T-Mobile to equip Pixel 10 devices with the software upgrades required to transmit application data directly through SpaceX’s Starlink satellite network in low Earth orbit. Pixel 10 users will be able to use Google Maps, Messages and Find Hubs in areas where traditional mobile coverage isn’t available, thanks to T-Mobile’s T-Satellite service.
T-Satellite went into operation last month for text messaging, location sharing and emergency alerts, and the service is being extended to UScellular customers in the wake of T-Mobile’s acquisition of UScellular. The official launch for T-Satellite data service is scheduled.for Oct. 1. But Omar Tazi, T-Mobile’s executive vice president and chief product and digital officer, said in a blog posting that “this capability is far too important to hold back.”
“If your phone supports T-Satellite data, you can use it even prior to the official data launch this fall,” Tazi said. The Pixel 10, which is due to be available Aug. 28, is the first such device to make it onto the list.
Tazi hinted that further announcements may be in the offing. “If you don’t have a Pixel 10, your time is coming soon,” he said. For what it’s worth, Apple is expected to hold its launch event for iPhone 17 next month.
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