Hasta La Gadget!

With international pre-orders now being taken, more data plan details have started emerging for Apple’s iPad. We now know that Rogers will be charging Canadians pretty similarly to how AT&T treats American 3G users, albeit with the inclusion of a 5GB monthly data cap on the pricier tariff. O2 has also outed its plans, though it’s not much better news in the UK where it’s matching Orange’s pricing with a 3GB monthly allowance for £15 per month ($22), while Vodafone has completely lost its marbles with a 250MB offers a 1GB option costing £10 a month and 5GB costing £25 per month. Apple engages in a bit of false advertising in Germany, claiming unlimited data plans with O2 (€25) and Vodafone (€29.95), but there are clear limits set out on the carriers’ sites of 5GB and 3GB per month, respectively.

Finally, Japan gets the stiffest deal of all with iPads there officially confirmed to be SIM-locked to Softbank Mobile‘s network, something that has already earned plenty of ire from the local populace. The carrier does offer a variety of monthly payment plans for obtaining your tablet, though its data tariffs are nothing special: ¥2,910 ($32) for a month’s unlimited use if you sign up to what seems like a longer-term plan, or ¥4,410 ($48) for a 1GB allowance if you go pre-paid. There’s a third option for spendthrifts, costing ¥1,510 ($16) for 100MB pre-paid, but that’s not even enough for you to watch a full Engadget Show, so we’d probably advise against it. You can find price breakdowns for each country after the break.

[Thanks, Bram]

Update: Rogers has killed that lovely third option shown in the image above. Hope you weren’t excited about it.

Update 2: Turns out Apple had the wrong details about Vodafone UK too — you get 1GB of data if you spend £10 a month. [Thanks, Rob]

Update 3: Movistar, Telefonica’s consumer arm in Spain, has announced a pretty stonking deal: if you already have a smartphone data plan costing €25 a month, you can get a Micro SIM and 3G data on your iPad for free. Espana totally just won the “best place to own an iPad” contest.

Continue reading iPad international data plans roundup: Japan gets SIM-locked devices, Spain gets a great deal more (updated)

iPad international data plans roundup: Japan gets SIM-locked devices, Spain gets a great deal more (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 May 2010 07:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As promised, the iPad is now available for pre-order in the first wave of non-US markets. If you want to get ahold of one on the first day of sale, May 28th, then you’ll need to sign up now.

The prices for the various iPad models vary from country to country, although it looks like Apple isn’t loading up the margins quite as much as usual, international customers will still pay a premium. After taking into account local taxes (VAT at 17.5% in the UK for example) and also adding on the sales tax in the US (which isn’t quoted in Apple’s pricing) and the differences become clearer. The table above was put together by our friend Fabio Zambelli of the Italian tech blog SetteB.it, and has been converted into Euros to make it easy to see the differences.

Example: the cheapest iPad is $500 in the US. Add on New York sales tax and you get $543. In the UK, the same model will cost you £430, or $635, a difference of roughly $90. Move up to the top-of-the-line 64GB with 3G and the NYC price is $902, compared to £700, or $1,036 in the UK. Meanwhile, the same model in Spain is €780, or $993.

The second difference will be the 3G data plans offered around the world. AT&T has set an aggressive precedent with its unlimited $30-per-month plan, and we have a feeling that, if Apple favors certain carriers by including their SIM-cards in the box as it does with AT&T, then there will be similar deals. That hasn’t happened yet though, as you’ll see below.

Off to the UK once again: Orange has announced its plans, and there is no unlimited option. The best you’ll get is a monthly limit of 10GB for £25 ($37). for £15 per month you can be capped at just 3GB, and there are also daily (200MB) and weekly (1GB) plans. You can also pay as you go, paying 5p ( 7 cents) per MB, capped at £40 ($59), or 800MB.

Over in Spain, things get better, a rather surprising result given the backward state of data billing here. The tariffs are not yet live on the respective sites, but Apple reveals the basics in a popover on the 3G info page.

Orange this time promises unlimited access, for €3.50 ($4.50) per day or €35 ($45) per month. All telcos in Spain apart from Vodafone are loose with the term “unlimited”: in some cases it means as little as 100MB at full speed, whereafter you do have real unlimited access, but at 64kbps.

Vodafone offers true unlimited access. The plans are 250MB a month for €17.40 and unlimited for €37.12 ($47). That compares with a regular, non-contract unlimited 3G tariff of €50 ($64), so you’ll save something.

From these numbers, it look like the plans are likely to vary wildly from country to country, reflecting the existing prices in local markets, only a little lower. And one more thing: The micro SIM cards aren’t pre-packaged with the iPad. Who’s betting that the telcos will be nickel-and-diming us for those?

International iPad Prices Compared [SetteB.it. Thanks, Fabio!]

3G plans Spain (click link for pop-over) Apple

Orange UK Announces Data Plans for iPad Wi-Fi + 3G [Orange UK]

Illustration: SetteB.it

• Orange, Vodafone, O2 Announce iPad Plans
• Apple Delays International iPad Launch Until 'End of May'
• IPad Ships Internationally May 28th

A tipster who apparently correctly predicted the recent MacBook Pro refresh has alerted Australian Macworld to a new SKU making its way through Apple’s systems down under. According to said “well-placed” source, the MC516LL/A K87 BETTER BTR-USA code string identifies an incoming batch of all-new MacBook Air laptops. This makes all the sense in the world given the recent hubbub about Intel offering ULV versions of its 32nm Core 2010 processors and the Air’s overdue need for an upgrade, but there is the proviso that this could also be referring to shipments of new 27-inch LCDs, to match the ones found on the latest iMac generation. Either way, we’re looking at some unannounced hardware rapidly making its way to Australia. Hey, doesn’t Apple make a habit of announcing new goodies on Tuesdays?

MacBook Air feeling the wind of change? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 May 2010 05:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wi-Fi is about to lay claim to a new frequency band that could result in speeds at least 10 times faster than what’s currently available.

An agreement between the Wi-Fi Alliance and the Wireless Gigabit Alliance will let the Wi-Fi Alliance carve out specs and standards to support Wi-Fi operation in the 60-GHz frequency band in a bid to make Wi-Fi faster. By contrast, Wi-Fi today operates in the 2.4-GHz and 5- GHz bands.

“Today’s Wi-Fi speeds are measured in the low hundreds of megabits per second,” says Edgar Figueroa, executive director of the Wi-Fi Alliance.”The 60-GHz band allows for significant boost in performance, so we are talking about speeds in the gigabits per second range.”

Specifically, the move to 60 GHz could allow for speeds in the range of 1 gigabits per second to 6 gbps, in contrast to today’s theoretical maximum of 150 Mbps for 802.11n.

“Wi-Fi in 60 GHz band could mean some compelling apps, such as those connecting your Blu-ray player to your TV or sharing uncompressed video in real time without any degradation,” says Figueroa.

With the proliferation of multimedia such as photos, home video and HD movies, consumers are looking for faster ways to transfer data that can also cut through the cable clutter. Users who are hooked on Lost through Hulu or can’t resist watching Lady Antebellum videos on YouTube currently have to hook up their computers to a TV through an HDMI cable.

Wi-Fi in the 60-GHz band could be the first step toward helping consumers go truly wireless, says Xavier Ortiz, an analyst at ABI Research. The drawback is that the higher frequency waves have much shorter range and won’t go through walls well.

“The 60 GHz is like a beam of light — you have to have line of sight — but you can get multi-gigabit point-to point networking speeds with it,” he says.

The agreement between the Wi-Fi alliance and the Wi-Gig standard also helps two different standards to come together. Earlier, the Wi-Gig alliance, which has been advocating the 60-GHz band, had to work independently to get chip makers and gadgets manufacturers to get on board with its technology.

“Now we are going to rally the industry around a compelling subset of features and go through a process of testing compatibility and interoperability,” says Figueroa.

Still the new Wi-Fi frequency will have to find a way to work with other standards including Wireless HD and Zigbee to free consumers from being tethered to their devices. Chip makers such as SiBeam have said they will try to find a way to make the Wi-Fi and WiGig chips compatible with Wireless HD.

Figueroa estimates routers and other gadgets that have dual-band or tri-band capability, that is the ability to switch between 2.4 Ghz or 5 GHz and the 60-GHz band, will be available in about two years.

See Also:

• WiGig Tempts With High-Speed Wireless Data Transfer
• Major Cable Providers To Share Wi-Fi Networks
• Blazingly Fast Wireless HD Hits the Mainstream

Photo: (nicolasnova/Flickr)

The ZonePlayer S5 launch was an important milestone for Sonos as it attempts to bring down the cost (and raise the appeal) of its excellent whole-home music delivery system. Now we’ve got a bit of good news for those of you who already picked up a few of the $399 all-in-one wireless speakers we reviewed back in October. A 3.2 software update for the Sonos controller and iPod touch / iPhone apps will be released sometime this month letting you assign left and right audio channels to a pair of S5 speakers. The result should be impressive since the portable units can already easily fill the average room with sound on their own. The update will provide owners of multiple S5s with a temporary option for parties, especially if you decide to take the show outdoors… assuming you can still celebrate knowing that you’re listening to two-channel audio on $800 worth of speakers. Hey, at least the software update is free.

Sonos update turns wireless S5 speaker into a premium ‘stereo pair’ originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 May 2010 04:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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