Hope he doesn't phone me...
I can't stand cold callers.
Aging adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, 65, has hinted that rugged-phone firm Sonim is working on an ultra-hard handset ideal for use on his next jaunt. Sonim_landrover_01 Sonim's S1 Land Rover phone: will work at down to -70°C? During Sonim’s launch of its new S1 Land Rover phone in Birmingham yesterday, Sir Ranulph said …
Where does he need such a capability? Where can you go that temperatures get down to -70, but there is still a usable mobile network signal? Surely a sat-phone or walkie-talkie is a much better bet?
Also, why is it branded with Land Rover? If this phone is as rugged as indicated, then it'll certainly outlast one of the cars.
I suppose he's off on yet another pointless expedition up a mountain top or antartic plateau with the usual publicity gimmick extras - perhaps to be the first to hop up everest with one arm tied behind his back , or the first to hand walk across antartica in a smurf outfit carrying a dog on his head - to inflate his planet sized ego but all the while pretending he's attempting some big triumph for humankind.
Quite why this self publicising egotistical narcissist ever earned a knighthood when people who actually do useful things for society (doctors, scientists etc) generally don't beggers belief.
Surely the real test is if when the unit is at -20 C (not just the air temperature but a thoroughly chilled phone), and therefor a lot more brittle, THEN you drop 2m onto the concrete. If only as thats the time your grip is likely to be less flexible.
The Vulture needs to test these claims to their logical conclusion. We need to know.
OK, so Sir Ran is off to some where that gets to -70, this either has to be somewhere near either of the poles, or up a very high mountain, given he's just been up Everest, then we'll assume the poles.
I can't imagine he's going to find the GSM coverage all that great. Here's a coverage map of Greenland as an example... http://www.gsmworld.com/cgi-bin/ni_map.pl?cc=gl&net=te
-70 deg c is overkill, but -20 is not enough. There are plenty of places in the US and Canada with GSM coverage where temperatures are often in the -20 to -30 range (northern Minnesota, the prairies, Quebec, etc.)
Latitude wireless operates in the Yukon, NT, and Nunavut, but they use CDMA phones. It often gets to -30 or -40 in Tuktoyaktuk, Iqaluit, and Old Crow.
I've used my iPhone below -20, but I keep it in an inside pocket so the handset itself never gets that cold.
-70C is a bit pushing the envelope. The coldest temperatured in record has been in Vostok, antartice and that was -89.2C. So antarctic is one possible place for it, and it wouldnt surpirce me mutch if there were a gsm base stations in some of the expedition stations. The gsm can't be farther than about 30km from base station as that is the limit in the travel delay factor coded to the signal so you would have to stay fairly close to base station. You cant get past that limit with power or antennas.
Next possible place is Siberia where the temperature goes often close to -70C. In Canada the records are about -55C so not as cold as siberia. Both Canada and Siberia might have some coverage on mountains.
There are several problems with getting a phone working in those temperatures.
First batteries. Lithium and NiMH both work badly in cold, NiCd a bit better but not close enough in that temperature. Even lead-acid has trouble below -40. Sodium-hyroxide battery might work but dont think theres ever made one for that size.
Display. No LCD display works that low, even -20 makes them sluggish. Need to be led or electroluminence. Even them start to have trouble at those temperatures. Plasma would work best but kind of bulky for that use.
Transistors. Even them start to have trouble that low. Bias point changes with temperature and as there isnt that many uses for chips for extreme low temperatures all processors etc would have to be special made for this phone. Even the manufacturing process for these chips would have to be custom made.
Easiest way to do this, replace the regular battery with plutonium one. Works in cold temperatures and heats the electronics to working temperatures. Just have to make a temperature controlled cooling on it.