Verizon Satellite Messaging, a Retro Console, and Velotric's Ebike—Here’s Your Gear News of the Week

On Verizon? If you own a Google Pixel 9 or Samsung Galaxy S25 series phone and find yourself in a cellular dead zone, you can now send texts to your friends and family via satellite. This is the same functionality Apple introduced for the iPhone 14 and newer (regardless of carrier) in iOS 18. While these Android phones have been able to connect to emergency services via satellite, they can now use satellite connectivity to send texts to anyone, regardless of the recipient's device or carrier. Verizon says this capability has already started to roll out but will take two weeks to complete. Verizon isn't the only carrier focused on providing this kind of satellite connectivity to fill in the gaps in terrestrial cellular network coverage. T-Mobile recently announced a partnership with Starlink that's currently in beta until July. It lets you send and receive texts, and the carrier says you'll soon be able to share photos, use data, make voice calls, and more. T-Mobile's solution will be ... Read full article.