The Galaxy S22 Ultra Just Made History as it Was Used to Place World’s First Voice Call Via Satellite

wccftech.com:

The Galaxy S22 Ultra has just made history as it has become the first smartphone to be used to place a satellite voice call. This was done by a partnership between AST SpaceMobile and AT&T, the call was made using a standard device with no modifications, and it was made from Texas to a phone in Japan.

So, how did it work? Well, AST and AT&T used the Galaxy S22 Ultra to place a call to BlueWalker 3 satellite. Once the call was received by the satellite, it was then forwarded to the phone in Japan. Acting as an intermediary was an AT&T spectrum, and this right here is the key that made the whole process work without needing a smartphone capable of satellite calls. This also means that any smartphone with 4G LTE can theoretically work.

Now, another interesting thing to note here is that this test proves that the BlueWalker 3 satellite is perfectly capable of handling cellular data speeds, which, in simpler terms, means that any smartphone can use this technology without having to use the latest technology, or some expensive changes being made to how networks already work. If the Galaxy S22 Ultra was used for this, there is a possibility that we could see the same test being done on other phones.

With more research on this application and how it works, in the future, we could see various regions being connected to each other using off-the-shelf smartphones instead of specialized communication. Sure, most people would have a hard time understanding why there is a need for such a technology in the first place. But we have to remember that there are cellular deadzones around the world, areas where standard cell towers cannot be installed for one reason or another, and because of the same reason, having satellite calling available