There are situations you wish your smartphone would have connectivity everywhere. Imagine you are hiking somewhere in the middle of nowhere enjoying the nature, its colors, aroma and silence. It is getting dark and you know that the way home will be a long walk. The lighting conditions have changed, and the path looks somehow different than on the way there. And at some point, you ask yourself whether you should take the path to the left or to the right. You have the mobile with you, but there is no GSM or WLAN signal. Routing via GPS is very power consuming, and your battery is already low. Wouldn’t it be great to stay connected longer, at least to call for help in case of emergency?
A solution is provided by using NB-IoT technology enabling connectivity and positioning also in rural or signal challenging areas.
What is the benefit of doing this with NarrowBand-IoT (NB-IoT)? The main benefits are extended coverage and ultra-low power consumption allowing long runtimes on small batteries. This will be supplemented by smallest size and low device and maintenance costs, enabling the implementation of a cost-efficient and comfortable solution. Furthermore NB-IoT based positioning is more power efficient than via GPS.
NB-IoT connectivity in smartphones is still a future vision, but might help some day to find ways, to get help or to overcome critical situations.