Look at this little guy. Small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, but powerful enough to enable you to make phone calls, text, and use data virtually anywhere in the world. Like, even on the peaks of remote mountains or in the middle of uninhabited deserts, thanks to the magic of satellites.
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With Nokia accidentally outing its Lumia 928 yesterday prior to its expected unveiling on May 14, we’re not sure what else the company has up its sleeves, but it has announced a global event that will take place this Thursday.
Nokia sent out an invite to its scheduled global event which was accompanied by an image of what looks to be an oval along with a yellow background and the message asking if customers are ready to “add some color to your week?” Nokia will be making its announcement in New Delhi at 12 p.m. local time, which is around 3 a.m. ET and 12 a.m. PT, which leads us to believe its “global announcement” will have something to do with the Indian market, but the company could certainly be teasing additional colors of an already released handset.
For those who will be awake at the time Nokia makes their announcement in New Delhi, you can watch the action live from the company’s Conversations page where a webcast can be viewed.
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: TWC TV App For Android Updated With On Demand Content, Future iPhones Could Feature Invisible Buttons, Sliders, 
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LG’s F-series handsets may not be in the same class an HTC One or GS4, but we can’t help but appreciate the solid specs and LTE-goodness baked into these mid-range devices. Following a debut alongside its F7 sibling at MWC, the F5 will begin trickling out to French retailers on April 29th. While there’s no mention of US availability — despite a recent leak pegging it for Verizon — we do know LG will soon be pushing it out to parts of Asia and Central / South America. Aimed at markets new to LTE, the smartphone packs a beefy 2,150mAh battery, 5-megapixel camera, 1.2GHz dual-core processor and a 4.3-inch screen for showing off LG’s skinned version of Android 4.1.2. If you’re curious to give LTE a go and this looks like a winner, you’ll find the full press release after the break.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, LG
When people call Apple’s iPhone a “global device” it’s really something of a misnomer. Can it work on a desolate, high peak? Or in the middle of the ocean? No, it’s limited to a network of ground-based antenna. This simple case frees the iPhone from those shackles, and lets it work pretty much anywhere in the whole wide world. More »
Global flavors of LTE bands can be a hassle for travelers and firms making multiple versions of the same device, but Qualcomm says its solved that quandary with a new radio chipset. Dubbed the RF360, the silicon is hailed as the world’s first mobile chip that packs support for global LTE, which translates to connectivity for LTE-FDD, LTE-TDD, WCDMA, EV-DO, CDMA 1x, TD-SCDMA and GSM / EDGE — breaking down the barriers separating roughly 40 different LTE bands. Not only does it lend globetrotters a hand, but Qualcomm claims the component carries a few other “world’s first” features that allow manufacturers to build thinner products with improved antenna performance, battery life and connection reliability. The outfit also unveiled the WTR1625L chip, which stakes claim to an industry first by sporting carrier aggregation alongside international LTE compatibility. Hardware made with the RF360 isn’t expected to arrive on shelves until the latter half of 2013, but for now you can mosey past the break for the nitty gritty details and a video to walk you through them.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Networking, Mobile
Source: Qualcomm
Last year, the UN’s International Telecommunication Union (ITU) told us there were five billion mobile subscriptions worldwide at the close of 2010, and now it’s reporting that at the end of 2011, that figure hit a staggering six billion.
Interestingly, the number of global mobile broadband subscriptions now outnumbers fixed ones by two to one, and mobile internet services showed the biggest growth rates in 2011: 40% worldwide and 78% in developing markets. The ITU attributes the latter figure to the relatively high price of fixed access in these countries, and the increasing availability of mobile alternatives. The CTIA also commented on mobile broadband use, reporting that from July 2011 to June this year, Americans consumed 104 percent more data — no doubt due, in part, to people taking advantage of expanding 4G coverage. As usual, we’ve given you the cheat sheet, so if you’d like the full reports and have got a thing for statistics, there’s plenty more in the source links below.
[Image credit: Chris Jordan]
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Wireless, Internet, Mobile
International Telecommunication Union: worldwide mobile subscriptions hit six billion in 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Oct 2012 12:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Traveling is great — nay, amazing. And travel that requires a passport can be even more fulfilling for those willing to open their minds to new cultures (and, perhaps, deal with entirely too much security screening). But here’s the thing — travel is a lot better, generally speaking, with an internet connection within arm’s reach. Things are never more likely to go awry than when you leave your comfort zone (or, you know, home nation), and we here at Engadget have been investigating the best methods for maintaining a connection whilst abroad for the better part of our lives. To date, you’ve got a smattering of options: rent a MiFi from XCom Global, pick up a rental SIM from iPhoneTrip, pray that you can find a shop that rents data SIMs upon your arrival or pony up for whatever absurd roaming fees that your home operator deems fit.
All of the above options have their pros and cons, but the good news here is that your choices are expanding. As the market for ubiquitous connections continues to grow, another player has recently entered the market. Tep Wireless began as a hotspot rental service that mainly looked after those traversing the United Kingdom, but recently, it expanded its coverage umbrella to include some 38 countries across Europe and 50 nations total. This here editor recently had the opportunity to cross through four of those on a single journey, with a Tep hotspot in hand the entire way. Care to see how things turned out? Let’s reconvene after the break.
Gallery: Tep Wireless review gallery
Continue reading Tep Wireless review: another great option for international mobile hotspot rentals
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Tep Wireless review: another great option for international mobile hotspot rentals originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Oct 2012 15:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
The international mobile hotspot rental market just got a lot more interesting. While Xcom Global‘s offerings are still broader, Tep Wireless is expanding in a major way. Previously reserved for European nations, the upstart is now serving a full 50 nations, adding Brazil, the United States, South Africa, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Australia, Bahrain, Israel, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Russia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and UAE to its repertoire. For those in need of a refresher, the company enables customers facing an international trip to order their hotspot and get it delivered prior to departure, with a prepaid envelope included to ship it back once they’ve returned.
The company’s made clear that its hotspots will track data usage in real time right on the inbuilt display, and they’re programmed to hop onto different networks as borders are crossed. (If you’re curious, we confirmed that it all works as advertised in a recent jaunt across European borders.) The full pricing chart fo is hosted up after the break, with those needing unlimited buckets able to pay a $6.95-per day surcharge. (It should be noted that the preexisting EU-wide pricing options remain for those sticking to that region.) It’ll probably look a touch pricey to light users and common tourists, but business travelers unwilling to take chances on connectivity when heading overseas will find the rates far more palatable than roaming fees from their home carrier.
Continue reading Tep Wireless expands mobile hotspot rental plan to 50 countries, revamps pricing
Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Mobile
Tep Wireless expands mobile hotspot rental plan to 50 countries, revamps pricing originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Oct 2012 06:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Great news for those waiting anxiously at the door for their UPS / FedEx delivery… well, for those awaiting a Verizon iPhone 5, anyway. We’ve already broken down the differences between the trifecta of iPhone 5 models, and it seems that the one VZW is hawking is a real gem for travelers. Aside from handling Verizon’s LTE waves just fine, the nano-SIM slot will also accept cards from any other GSM carrier worldwide. In other words, AT&T nano-SIMs will get you onto its HSPA+ network, and T-Mobile nano-SIMs will play nice as well. If you’re heading overseas, you can pick up a local nano-SIM on arrival and plug it straight in — no unlocking code necessary. To confirm, this even applies to Verizon iPhone 5 units that were purchased under contract. You can hit the video after the break for proof, but heed one word of advice: wait until you find a legitimate nano-SIM to throw in there. It looks as if the cut-and-stuff approach leaves a bit to be desired.
Continue reading Verizon iPhone 5 is unlocked, able to accept GSM SIMs right away
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Verizon iPhone 5 is unlocked, able to accept GSM SIMs right away originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Sep 2012 16:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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It was going to happen eventually, but we’re big fans of the “better soon than later” mentality. The global edition of Nokia’s Windows Phone 8 flagship, the Lumia 920, has been given the thumbs-up from the FCC. The device, which supports five LTE bands used outside of the US and zero within, has already been WiFi-certified (the certification papers actually specify this model, the RM-821, as the Lumia 920.1, which leads us to assume the AT&T-friendly version might be the 920.2). We’re quite certain this won’t be widely available stateside — and certainly not through a major national carrier — so we’ll remain on the hunt for another Lumia 920 to pass through the federal halls sometime soon.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile
Nokia Lumia 920 gets the FCC nod originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Sep 2012 13:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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