On a typical day, anything shown off at CTIA with a "coming in 2010" sticker would cause some serious unrest, but given that we've already found that LTE is eons (or so it feels) away, we're just taking things in stride. The MSV prototype shown above will purportedly become a proud member of the L-Series, and its satellite / cellular hybrid system will enable it to play nice on traditional cell bands as well as snag sat coverage anywhere in North America. Apparently the firm is planning on shooting up a pair of birds in 2009 as well as landing a deal with an undisclosed US carrier, and the 0.6-inch thick unit itself should feature a 480 x 320 multi-touch screen, WiFi and an integrated camera. No word on a price just yet, but feel free to check back in a few years.

Generally, when Engadget editors hit the road, we make do with our ordinary GSM handsets for voice calls, but that strategy doesn't always work when we're reporting from, say, the rural fringes of Kazakhstan. Today, satellite phone manufacturer Globalstar just announced the GSP-1700, the company's smallest satphone to date, weighing just 7.1 oz (203 g) and 43 percent smaller by volume. In addition, this Qualcomm handset packs an EV-DO modem, so you can get high-speed data access from "virtually anywhere you can see sky," according to the company's website. The GSP-1700 also stays loaded for four hours of talk time and 36 hours of standby time on a single charge. We're not sure on the price of this handset, but given that its predecessor, the GSP-1600 goes for $750 (without a service plan), it's a safe bet that this one will go for at least that much when it's released "in the coming months."