Apple Watch Ultra - no satellite access

[Jackbequickly]

GPS is satellite based so . . . . . 😳

 

[wilberforce]

GPS is satellite based so . . . . . 😳

GPS is receive only.
Transmitting a signal to a satellite 500 miles up from a "postage stamp" is whole different thing.

 

[BenGoren]

GPS is receive only.
Transmitting a signal to a satellite 500 miles up from a "postage stamp" is whole different thing.

Indeed.

The Moon is much farther away than GPS satellites, yet your iPhone camera can see the Moon just fine.

Take this to the extreme … a WiFi transceiver “detects” (and promptly ignores) the cosmic microwave background, which is the light of the entire universe from when it was a mere third of a million years old; which is to say that it “sees” “stuff” that’s about 47 billion lightyears away. (Not a typo nor an exaggeration. Yes, the universe is “only” a baker’s dozen billion years old, but space is expanding, so things are farther away than it would take light today to reach them.)

The technological miracle here isn’t detecting a far-away source. The miracle is in being heard by a far-away listener. With something that’s probably not even as “bright” as the flashlight on the camera.

Imagine you’re in the middle of Denver. You can see the Rockies really easily from almost anywhere in the city. If somebody put a searchlight on the top of one of the peaks on a clear night, you’d see it without trouble. Now imagine you’re at the searchlight and your friend is in the middle of the city with a flashlight trying to send you a message with Morse code.

b&

 

[wilberforce]

Indeed.

The Moon is much farther away than GPS satellites, yet your iPhone camera can see the Moon just fine.

Take this to the extreme … a WiFi transceiver “detects” (and promptly ignores) the cosmic microwave background, which is the light of the entire universe from when it was a mere third of a million years old; which is to say that it “sees” “stuff” that’s about 47 billion lightyears away. (Not a typo nor an exaggeration. Yes, the universe is “only” a baker’s dozen billion years old, but space is expanding, so things are farther away than it would take light today to reach them.)

The technological miracle here isn’t detecting a far-away source. The miracle is in being heard by a far-away listener. With something that’s probably not even as “bright” as the flashlight on the camera.

Imagine you’re in the middle of Denver. You can see the Rockies really easily from almost anywhere in the city. If somebody put a searchlight on the top of one of the peaks on a clear night, you’d see it without trouble. Now imagine you’re at the searchlight and your friend is in the middle of the city with a flashlight trying to send you a message with Morse code.

b&

I think the technological miracle is being able to transmit and receive from the Voyager spacecraft which are something like 15 billion miles away, and they are running on very low remaining power.

 

[Jackbequickly]

GPS is receive only.
Transmitting a signal to a satellite 500 miles up from a "postage stamp" is whole different thing.

It was a joke. I am well aware what GPS is, but thanks.

 

[BenGoren]

I think the technological miracle is being able to transmit and receive from the Voyager spacecraft which are something like 15 billion miles away, and they are running on very low remaining power.

Indeed!

There’re probably more impressive feats of sussing signal from noise, but they’re really hard to think of. The Higgs would be a good candidate, along with gravity waves. Neutrino detectors, too.

There is so much awesome that goes into those projects that, if your mind isn’t boggled, you have no soul.

b&

 

[Howard2k]

Maybe you could use a wire from the watch to the satellite? Would that work?

 

[jacklivehere]

some how I thought same. I always thought Ultra is first watch to support satellite communication and that's main difference between series 8 vs ultra. but sad to get clarity now 🙁