Ever wanted to use your iPhone in the middle of a desert or in the middle of an ocean or high above a mountain and you find no signal reception? A satellite phone offers you with calling and data services anywhere in the world but is very bulky, uncool and expensive. Thanks to Thurya’s SatSleeve now you can use your iPhone as a satellite phone anywhere in the world. SatSleeve is an iPhone sleeve that supports iPhone 5/4S/4 and also extends itself as a external battery offering up to 48 hours of additional battery backup. The only downside to all this is a case that cost $500 and calling charges starting with a minimum of $1 and extending up to $8 depending on your location and the location you call.
The phone not only offers voice service but also data services that will begin starting June 2013 at an undisclosed price, the case will be shipping starting April 2013. The setup and usage of the SatSleeve is very easy as well, all the user needs to do is to drop the phone into the SatSleeve case and then switch on the Satellite Mode using a physical switch on the case. Call and SMS have to be sent out using Thuraya’s native iOS application that will provide the services. One cool feature of the case is emergency call feature that cab be enabled with just push of a button right on the case and guess what, the emergency call can be made without even the iPhone present in the case as the case itself has a microphone and speaker builtin.