Gadgetory

hi I'm Ken Sherman senior managing editor at Cena today we take a first look at the spot mobile phone now I know this phone looks a little strange looks a little old looks like it might be from like I don't know the early 2000s or you're probably wondering maybe it's something from Wall Street that old movie but I can't say this is a satellite phone so it is actually somewhat newish it is a phone of now but it doesn't connect with solo network it actually connects with satellites floating way up in space which is why it probably looks a little big and why it has a non-traditional design actually it has this big antenna which I'll get to in a minute that really connects you with the satellite but yes it is very big it is very bulky even though this is a phone that you'd want to carry probably when you're hiking or camping or backpacking or something like that isn't exactly compact you're gonna want to bag or a really large pocket for it isn't particularly heavy even with this big battery on the back but yeah it's just a little big so just keep that in mind one thing that I didn't like is this charger now this isn't just some normal little wall charge or even just a small cable you could plug into maybe an external battery or computer no this is something like you'd find with maybe a camera or I don't know or you know some sort of big electronics so you have the plug that goes to the wall you have that big AC adapter and then you have this other cable that's pretty long which is you know nice if you can keep you can park it a long way from the wall when you're charging but not so nice when you it's just something else to carry around also has a proprietary connection that goes to your phone which don't not really a fan of the phone actually has that port here on the bottom not the most convenient or best arrangement for something that you're going to want to take when you're on the go on the front there is this small display it is a completely monochrome but it just has red and green pretty small just shows the essential information like the connection your battery life if you're connecting to a satellite the phone status of course there are no graphics since this phone doesn't run any apps or a music player or play movies or anything like that and then down below are the alphanumeric keypad so you can use this to dial you can actually send text messages with this phone but you cannot receive them so that's a bit disappointing that you can't have the two-way communication but I guess that letting you send text messages out just gives you another way to communicate otherwise not many controls here on this side there's a volume rock right do you like it cuz it's really big and it's rubberized so it's easy to find we're on a call and there has a 2.5 millimeter headset jack here I'm the top almost everything is 3.5 these days so a little disappointing they go 2.5 you're gonna need to get an adapter if you have normal size 2 headphones or you're gonna be needing it a two point five millimeter headset the biggest features on the back are this big battery you can see it right here it does pull out easily and that antenna so of course you're connecting to satellites that means you need a big two antenna you're gonna have to rotate that tena up and pull this out and there you go so you know if you're using this in public you will be noticed quite readily but this is essential for connecting to the sky of course when you use it you're gonna want to make sure that there are no trees or buildings or any other obstructions around you don't need to be in a completely open field I mean I used it in places where you know there are trees little ways away but you just need to have a clear shot to the sky mechanism is fine it's not too loose it's not too stiff and you're just gonna need to rotate it around sometimes adjust it maybe to get the maximum satellite coverage the display will have a message it says rotate antenna you're gonna see that here because it says now it says looking for service of course we're not gonna find anything since we're inside but you will find that status of where the phone's connecting or not right on that display and then when it's connected you'll see the bar you'll see bars just like you would normally up here in the corner I use this phone a few places I used to use it here in San Francisco I used it up in Sonoma County where it's in a rural part of there I used it on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington and I used it in Greece as well in each place I was able to make a call after a few seconds or maybe almost a minute of connecting to a satellite sound quality's okay you know it's not fantastic but this is a satellite phone so I really wasn't expecting miracles if this were a normal cell phone I would be pretty disappointed I probably Tralee trash it actually but one thing about this phone of course is the it really needs to work only that one time where you really really really need it so as long as it does then you'll probably be okay it is a bit expensive the phone itself is almost 500 dollars and then service plans are pretty pricey but if you are a person that really is gonna be out in the wilds a lot you are you're gonna be likely backpacking out in the backcountry you're gonna be in a place that just doesn't have normal cellular service and you really need to keep in touch or you really just want it for emergencies I suppose the cost is going be worth it to you overall though pretty unique device but as far as satellite phones go it is accessible it is pretty small and it works and it works fine I'm Ken Sherman and this is the spot global problem