Elektrobit rips the monster antenna off the satellite phone

One of the more interesting items from the always-sleepy fall edition of the CTIA trade show is a reference design for a satellite/terrestrial combo phone from the folks at Elektrobit.

A Finnish company, Elektrobit stands to change everything you think you know about satellite phones. In fact, if you check out the (unnamed) design for its smart phone (see photos above), you probably wouldn't realize it's a satellite phone at all. Where's the enormous antenna, as thick as a broom handle?

Gone, that's where, nestled inside the device. There are five other antennas in there, too: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, and two standard cellular network radios. All told, the device is a little thicker than a standard smart phone, but weighs about as much as a Treo.

As hardware and software design goes, the Elektrobit phone is nothing out of the ordinary, and that's intentional. It's a QWERTY handset with the usual set of keys and with Windows Mobile 6 loaded out of the box. But you aren't likely to see the device hit the market looking exactly like this. Elektrobit isn't an OEM for the device, but is rather looking to license it to already established device manufacturers. Those OEMs will likely tweak the device further, in either hardware, software, or both, and run with it from there, at least once satellite provider TerreStar completes its satellite launches and has the network it's designed to run on up and flying.

If all goes well, expect to see the device on the market worldwide in 2009. Prices won't be cheap, though, and it'll be up to manufacturers and carriers to set them. Best guess is in the $600 to $700 range.

LINK: More details/press release