At Tuesday’s Made By Google occasion, we acquired our first official take a look at the brand new Pixel 9 collection of telephones. Whereas they’ve some {hardware} upgrades over final 12 months’s Pixel 8, Google spent much more time explaining all of the methods its Gemini chat AI assistant may very well be utilized in day-to-day life. The corporate barely talked about one other new characteristic within the Pixel 9 telephones that would save individuals’s lives: Satellite tv for pc SOS, which lets customers contact emergency providers when they’re out of vary of cell networks and Wi-Fi.
As a rival to Apple’s Emergency SOS (which works solely with iPhones), Satellite tv for pc SOS works equally: when out of sign vary, customers can faucet the Satellite tv for pc SOS button to fill out a questionnaire describing their calamity and get related with an emergency service supplier for back-and-forth textual content exchanges. They will additionally optionally notify their emergency contacts. As with Apple’s satellite tv for pc answer, Google Satellite tv for pc SOS works no matter which provider a person has signed up with.
There are a couple of huge caveats to Satellite tv for pc SOS. Proper now, it is out there solely on the Pixel 9 collection of telephones and the Pixel 9 Professional Fold. It really works solely within the continental US (sorry, Hawaii and Alaska) for now. And you could have Google Messages chosen as your default messaging app — if it is not, you may be notified that Satellite tv for pc SOS is now not out there, in line with a Google weblog publish.
A Pixel 9 display displaying Satellite tv for pc SOS.
Satellite tv for pc SOS makes use of satellite tv for pc service supplier Skylo to position these emergency calls. Skylo says it has partnerships with a number of satellite tv for pc companions worldwide and labored with the Google and Android groups for a “direct-to-device” satellite tv for pc connectivity expertise, in line with the corporate’s press launch. This concierge-like service looks as if will probably be much like how Apple has arrange its Emergency SOS service to deal with the connectivity on the again finish in order that customers in disaster have solely to fret about sending and receiving messages to emergency providers.
However like Apple’s answer, Google nonetheless hasn’t answered some primary questions on Satellite tv for pc SOS. Google guarantees solely two years of Satellite tv for pc SOS, however would not say how a lot it would price thereafter — very like Apple, which additionally supplied two years of free satellite tv for pc service earlier than quietly giving customers a further 12 months free of charge with out explaining how customers will pay for it thereafter. Google additionally hasn’t defined whether or not different Pixel or non-Pixel Android telephones will have the ability to use Satellite tv for pc SOS going ahead or which areas past the continental US will get assist for the service sooner or later.
Skylo is an attention-grabbing companion for Google to decide on. The corporate is not any stranger to linking its satellite tv for pc providers to shopper gadgets, because it partnered with rugged phone-maker Bullitt in early 2023 to hyperlink its Motorola Defy 2 handset (often known as the Cat S75 elsewhere) and standalone dongle to the satellite tv for pc networks Skylo leases. With Apple partnering with satellite tv for pc community firm Globalstar for Emergency SOS and satellite tv for pc community firm Iridium pitching its personal telephone connectivity choice after ending its deal to hyperlink up Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Satellite tv for pc characteristic, satellite tv for pc connectivity has been in flux.
Google’s new Satellite tv for pc SOS characteristic has reignited competitors with Apple’s Emergency SOS, although for just a few telephones at first. It stays to be seen how for much longer iPhone house owners will maintain the sting in mainstream satellite tv for pc connectivity.
New Pixel 9 house owners can check out the Satellite tv for pc SOS characteristic as a demo even when they’re in vary of a cell community. Simply open Settings > Security & Emergency > Satellite tv for pc SOS and comply with the demo directions, in line with Google’s weblog publish.
Watch this: Every part Introduced at Google’s Pixel Gemini Occasion
