Iridium 9555 Moves Satphone Form Factors Two Years Into The Future—To 1999

Satellite phones are still struggling to make it into this decade, design wise, but Iridium's new 9555 is a solid leap forward, with its internalized antenna, speakerphone, improved SMS and email and 30% volume reduction in comparison to its predecessor, the 9505a. It's still a piece Gordon Gekko would feel at home with, but I think we can definitely look the other way on clunkiness when we're uplinking to one of Iridium's 66 low-earth birds to call Mom from the barren Mongol steppe while sipping on yak tea—that's persistence that will never go out of style. Out in November for an as-yet undisclosed price. [Electronista]