Blind spots and outages have been the traditional weak spots of terrestrial networks designed to offer coverage for internet of things (IoT) applications, and Myriota believes it can address these challenges by combining native 5G non-terrestrial network (NTN) satellite connectivity in a purpose-built tracking device called AssetHawk.

Myriota says supply chains are growing increasingly complex, and that blind spots and outages in terrestrial coverage create significant operational and financial risk – particularly across industries such as transport and logistics, equipment leasing, mining, and agriculture.

Powered by its existing HyperPulse connectivity system, AssetHawk is said to be able to address these challenges by combining native 5G NTN satellite connectivity in a purpose-built tracking device – delivering an affordable, feature-rich satellite asset tracker.

AssetHawk is engineered to deliver reliable global visibility beyond the reach of traditional cellular networks. It can support scalable tracking of trailers, containers, pallets, vehicles and unpowered assets to verify delivery milestones, reduce asset loss, improve utilisation, lower operating costs and improve margins as fleets and deployments scale. Native 5G NTN connectivity provides global visibility for broad use cases including trailers, cargo, vehicles and unpowered assets. 

Intended for rapid deployment at the edge, Myriota describes AssetHawk as a ready-to-use device that installs in minutes and integrates seamlessly with third-party visualisation and analytics platforms.

The company says that the tracker’s compact, low-profile design and flexible mounting options, including magnetic mounting, make it well-suited to rotating fleets and temporary assets. An IP68-rated enclosure has been used to offer reliable operation in harsh conditions, surviving submersion, dust, impact and extreme temperatures commonly encountered in mining, agriculture and heavy industry.

For long-term deployments, AssetHawk is said to have been engineered to minimise operational overheads. Low-power hardware delivers a battery life of up to 10 years on two AA batteries, while intelligent firmware automatically increases location update frequency when movement is detected. The result is said to be sharper insights while optimising power consumption and operational costs.

The tracker will soon be available with optional Bluetooth Low Energy capabilities to enable the capture of valuable condition data from Bluetooth sensors, including temperature, vibration and other environmental metrics.

The device operates on a standards-based 3GPP Release 17 architecture, using private data paths to protect against unauthorised access or interference – meaning security and data integrity are built into the platform.

AssetHawk is also said to be purpose-built for operations at the edge, supporting use cases such as tracking trailers and containers across borders, monitoring leased equipment throughout its lifecycle, locating shared agricultural assets in remote paddocks, and gaining early visibility of critical equipment during mining exploration.

Developed on a TAA-compliant supply chain and backed by its experience in operating secure satellite networks commercially, Myriota is fundamentally confident that AssetHawk can meet the needs of government, and enterprise customers where trust and resilience are critical.

“Most tracking projects fail not in the lab, but at scale – when battery swaps, coverage gaps and complex integrations erode the business case,” said Myriota CEO Ben Cade. “AssetHawk is designed to flip that equation. By delivering global coverage, predictable multi‑year life and straightforward integration in a single device, we’re giving solution providers and systems integrators a way to scale tracking profitably, even for assets that were previously too remote or low‑value to justify a tracker.”

Other Samsung Phones to Consider

If you don’t see a Samsung phone mentioned in this guide, that might be because it’s not sold in the US and is a little harder to source for testing. But here are a few other Samsung phones I’ve tested to consider.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge for $1,220: Have you ever wanted a really thin and lightweight phone? No? Well, Samsung has an option for you anyway. The Galaxy S25 Edge (6/10, WIRED Review) sits in the middle of Samsung’s flagship lineup and matches several features of the Galaxy S25 Ultra, like a titanium frame, stronger front glass, and 4K 120 frames per second video recording. All the cameras even have autofocus. But it made several sacrifices to achieve its amazingly slim 5.8-mm frame (for context, the S25 Ultra is 8.2 mm thick). There’s no stylus, no telephoto camera, and worst of all, the battery capacity has been slashed. We’ve seen this before—thin phones have always compromised on battery life, and that’s no different here. I constantly had to baby this phone’s 3,900-mAh battery with average to heavy usage, and that’s just not acceptable. (The iPhone Air did it better.) If you find yourself constantly near a power source and you think you’ll enjoy the slim and light design, then go for it. Rumors suggest that the Edge did not perform well, and it may not see a successor in 2026.

Galaxy A17 5G.

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

Samsung Galaxy A17 5G for $200: On paper, the Galaxy A17 (5/10, WIRED Review) seems like a really great deal. Six years of software support, an AMOLED screen, expandable storage, and a decent camera. Unfortunately, it’s held back by lackluster performance. The problem is specifically the very limited 4 GB of RAM in the US model, which severely ruins the entire experience of using the phone. If you had to use your smartphone in an emergency, I would not trust the A17 to be reliable. But if your needs are extremely minimal, it may suffice.

Galaxy A36.

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

Samsung Galaxy A36 5G for $395: The Galaxy A36 (6/10, WIRED Review) doesn’t quite measure up to its peers from Nothing and Motorola. Performance is just too choppy, and that’s not acceptable at this price. It’s manageable—it’s not so slow that it will frustrate—but you can do better. If your needs are very minimal, it’s an OK phone, and the camera system is good, with day-long battery life, a nice AMOLED screen, and 6 years of software updates.

Galaxy Z Fold6 and Flip6.

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 or Galaxy Z Flip6: If you don’t want to pay a premium for a new folding phone, then consider 2024’s Galaxy Z Fold6 and Galaxy Z Flip7 (7/10, WIRED Review). The Fold6 has a close to “normal” smartphone experience on the exterior 6.3-inch screen. Open the phone up, and there’s a vast 7.6-inch AMOLED screen staring at your face, turning this folding phone into a tiny tablet. The Flip6 isn’t as nice as the newer Flip7—the bigger and brighter cover screen on the latest model is a step up—but it’s worth considering over the new Galaxy Z Flip7 FE. Technically, it’s nearly identical to that phone, but the FE uses a Samsung Exynos chip instead of a Qualcomm processor, and performance may not be as smooth. The main drawback? Battery life isn’t great. Make sure you don’t pay MSRP for these 2024 phones.

If you’re looking to save some cash, it’s fine to buy Samsung’s Galaxy S23 range or the Galaxy S23 FE from 2023, as long as the prices are a good deal lower than the original MSRP. (They’re hard to find at most major retailers.) These phones will still get support for a while, and they’re pretty great. I don’t think it’s worth buying anything older.

Should You Invest in Samsung’s Ecosystem?

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

Samsung is one of the few smartphone manufacturers that can match Apple in its hardware ecosystem. Not only does the company make smartphones, but you can also expand your experience by adding on a Galaxy Watch8 smartwatch, Galaxy Buds3 Pro earbuds, Galaxy Ring fitness ring, Galaxy Tab S11, and even a Windows-powered Galaxy laptop.

There are certain perks to this, like how some features on the Galaxy Ring and Watch8 are only available when paired with a Samsung phone, and its earbuds will automatically switch between Samsung devices based on what you’re using. There’s not much in the way of exclusive features when using a Galaxy phone with a Galaxy laptop, but features like Quick Share let you speedily send photos and documents between your devices.

Again, it’s not necessary, and these other devices might not be the right ones for you within their respective categories, but if you’re chasing hardware parity, you have that option with Samsung.

What Is Galaxy AI?

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

With the Galaxy S24 series, Samsung launched “Galaxy AI,” a selection of artificial intelligence features, many of which are powered by Google’s Gemini large language models. These enable smart features that may be helpful day to day, like real-time translations during phone calls, real-time transcriptions in Samsung’s Voice Recorder app, the ability to summarize long paragraphs of text in the Samsung Notes app, or change a sentence’s tone with the Samsung Keyboard.

In the Galaxy S25 series, Galaxy AI expanded to include Gemini as the default voice assistant and the ability for Gemini to work with multiple apps simultaneously. It also debuted Drawing Assist, which lets you sketch or enter a prompt and get an AI-generated image. Now, you can also use video in real-time with Gemini, even from the cover screen of the Galaxy Z Flip7.

You can find many of these features by heading to Settings > Galaxy AI to toggle them on or off. We have an explainer on how to limit Galaxy AI to on-device processing, too.

What Is Samsung DeX?

Courtesy of David Nield

Samsung’s DeX (short for “desktop experience”) launched in 2017, and it’s a way to plug in your Samsung phone to an external monitor and trigger a desktop version of the Android OS, all completely powered by the phone. You can find a list of compatible Samsung phones here—the Flip7 is the first Galaxy Flip to support DeX—and you’ll need a monitor, mouse, and keyboard, plus a cable to connect the phone to the monitor. (You can also cast DeX to select screens wirelessly.)

When in DeX mode, you can resize Android apps and have them all open in separate windows. It’s a proper computing platform, though you probably won’t want to use this as a permanent laptop replacement or anything of the sort. It’s great if you’re visiting another office, or working out of a coffee shop or airplane (if you have a portable display). We have a whole guide to setting up and using DeX here.

How I Test Phones

I’ve been reviewing smartphones for a decade, but one of my earliest smart devices was a Samsung Galaxy Captivate, which I got for “free” from my carrier at the time. After working during college, I finally saved enough cash for a Galaxy S3, my first flagship. I’ve spent years using Samsung phones in my personal life and began reviewing them for work not too long after.

With each Samsung smartphone, I always put my personal SIM card inside and spend as long as I can (a few weeks) using the phone as my own. I do camera testing and compare the results with similarly priced devices, I benchmark performance and play graphically demanding games to see how they fare, I try out all the new features, and even take calls to make sure that ol’ function still works fine.

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