Hasta La Gadget!

Once a novelty (a very handy and popular one, but a novelty nonetheless), MiFi-style personal hotspots are now popping as fast as new cellphones. But these 3G-data-sharing boxes are swiftly getting old. The new hotness is 4G, and the iSpot from Clear is one of the few around.

The iSpot uses Clear’s own WiMax network and allows up to eight devices to connect at a time. Weirdly, it is billed as working only with Apple devices (hence the white styling which matches all of Apple’s mobile products… Wait, no) but as it send the 4G signal out over WiFi, it should be fine with anything (it looks like USB-tethering to a laptop has been disabled, though).

As for specs, the iSpot will serve 4G at speeds of 3Mbps to 6Mbps down, and will do it for up to four hours. It costs $100 and you’ll need to be on Clear’s $30-per-month plan to get it. Perfect for adding 4G to your white iPhone. If it ever ships, that is.

iSpot [Clear via Slashgear]

See Also:

• New MiFi with OLED Display
• Blazing-Fast 4G MiFi Could Replace Your Home Connection
• Sprint Leapfrogs Verizon With Fast 4G Hot-Spot Device
• Sprint Launches New Personal WiMax Routers

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Check it out, Clearwire has decided to do up an Apple-centric version of its Spot 4G hotspot, so it’s quite naturally fashioned it in the shape of a Magic Mouse and stuck an i prefix to the front of the device. Really, there’s nothing new or Apple-exclusive that we can see here — up to eight devices can hook up to this portable 4G emitter via WiFi and the only (see update) authentication required is a password. So yes, like a lot of products before it, the iSpot has done the ignoble thing of associating itself with iPhones, iPads and iPod touches just because those devices are considered the cool kids of the digital playground today. Then again, Clearwire might decide to be difficult and refuse to sell you one of those excellent-sounding $25 (pre-tax) a month 4G broadband packages that go with the iSpot if you don’t have an i-something else in tow. If you’re fancying this curvy little accessory for your mobile gear, it costs $99, but can be had for $29 on sale from Clear today, ahead of an August 10 launch at major retailers.

Update: We followed up with Clearwire regarding authenticating with the iSpot. We’re told that “the device is configured to filter based on MAC address which allows it to ID the Apple mobile devices,” which explicitly means iPhones, iPads and iPod touches only.

Continue reading Clearwire’s 4G iSpot brings wireless broadband to Apple mobile devices (updated)

Clearwire’s 4G iSpot brings wireless broadband to Apple mobile devices (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Aug 2010 03:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Like we said, you don’t have to wait until August 3rd to get your Android 2.2 Froyo update for the EVO 4G. You can grab the update file right now from HTC’s servers (via source link). All you gotta do then is move the file to the root directory of your SD card, boot the phone into recovery mode (hold the “up” button while the phone is turning on), and select apply update from the associated .zip file — you might also have to rename the file “update.zip” and expect a few other variations in the instructions, user depending. Too much thought process for Friday evening? Feel free to take a crack at it tomorrow, or simply wait for Sprint to give your phone the head’s up next week.

Update: HTC just shot us a message to clarify that this is not the final ROM version and that the company is strongly recommending not to install this. Additionally, a request has been put in to remove the file from the server, so if you still want to try at your own risk, better download now while it’s still available.

Update 2: … and now it’s gone. We’re sure crafty internet users can still find the file lingering elsewhere, but you won’t be getting it from HTC’s servers this weekend. You know the old saying, ye who snoozes, something something, tough luck.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

EVO 4G’s Froyo firmware was available for download, manual install (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Jul 2010 19:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You might remember that an LTE modem for Verizon passed FCC muster not long ago — now, it seems we’re getting our first glimpse of it. As is usually the case with these early devices on next-gen networks, this USB stick doesn’t look quite as svelte as we’d probably like it to be, but we have little doubt that they’ll get progressively thinner and sexier over the course of a year or three. And hey, in the meantime, far be it from us to steer clear of faster download speeds just because the modem’s a little chubby, you know?

LG VL600 LTE / CDMA modem for Verizon in the wild? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 21:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Timely, no? In concert with its HSPA+ expansion, T-Mobile USA has decided to come clean with that webConnect Rocket 2.0 that we peeked a few weeks ago courtesy of a leaked presentation slide. Said device isn’t drastically different than the original, offering a mildly overhauled design and “a new rotating swivel USB form factor.” The bigger news is the expanded platform support, with this bugger now playing nice with Windows 7, XP, Vista and any version of OS X since 10.4. It’s up for grabs right now via the source link if you’re in the mood for those so-called “4G speeds,” with an on-contract stick costing absolutely nothing and a no-strings-attached version running $199.99.

Update: We’ve updated the post with a new image of the actual device, though it’s not quite ready for primetime on T-Mobile’s site just yet. When it hits, it’ll run $49.99 on contract, with the 1.0 version going for zilch on contract.

T-Mobile webConnect Rocket 2.0 USB WWAN modem now on sale originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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