Hasta La Gadget!

T-Mobile‘s 42Mbps HSPA+ coverage is expanding and expanding, and ZTE is helping to bring it back down to earth. The company has launched two new wireless devices especially for the T-Mo’s 42Mbps service, the first being the Rocket 3.0, a USB modem that’s due this spring. The second is the simply titled 4G Mobile Hotspot, the same we got a little quality time with earlier, which beams out WiFi connectivity for up to five devices at one time. If you can’t handle all that speed, ZTE also has the Jet 2.0 and Rocket 4G, both of which top out at 21Mbps. All should be available in the next few weeks, and all should help you get your bits on from anywhere.

ZTE gets tight with T-Mobile, launches Rocket 3.0 modem and 4G Mobile Hotspot for HSPA+ originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Mar 2011 10:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  MobileBurn  | Email this | Comments

If you’ve been paying even a slight bit of attention to carriers over the past year and change, you’d know that a number of ’em are resorting to citywide WiFi networks in order to relieve some of the stress being placed on their 3G networks. It’s definitely a viable solution for a problem that requires oodles to time (and far too many signatures) to plant new cell sites, but there’s a looming issue: compatibility. Naturally, the Wi-Fi Alliance is all over it, today launching an initiative to transform the user experience in hotspots. The Wi-Fi Certified hotspot testbed will address authentication and provision of service for public WiFi networks, essentially acting to “facilitate the seamless handoff of cellular traffic from smartphones, tablets and other portable electronics to WiFi, helping service providers manage demands on constrained licensed spectrum.” We’re told that the program will allow devices to “discover and automatically choose networks based upon user preferences, operator policies and network optimization,” and in many cases, they’ll be automatically granted access to the network based upon credential mechanisms, such as SIM cards. Hard to say what this will mean for limits and structuring, but we’re bound to find out more as the 1H 2012 target launch date draws nearer. Full release is after the break, per usual.

Continue reading Wi-Fi Alliance launches hotspot certification program, aims to ease cell-to-WiFi handoff woes

Wi-Fi Alliance launches hotspot certification program, aims to ease cell-to-WiFi handoff woes originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Mar 2011 08:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Continue reading Motorola Xoom WiFi hitting Canada next month (update: $599, available for pre-order)

Motorola Xoom WiFi hitting Canada next month (update: $599, available for pre-order) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Mar 2011 14:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Motorola  | Email this | Comments

Whether or not you agree with their tactics, lots of companies are finding it quite lucrative business to spend more time in the courts than in the research labs. CSIRO got some tasty settlements back in 2009, while just a few months ago Wi-LAN received “a significant amount” in a settlement from Intel. Now it’s Mosaid’s turn, a Kanata, Ontario-based company that bills itself as “one of the world’s leading intellectual property (IP) companies, focused on the licensing and development of semiconductor and communications technologies.” Indeed it just licensed some of those properties to LG on the 15th, but the very next day it filed suit against a 17 defendants for infringing on six of the company’s patents, relating to network discovery, multiplexing, and other wireless techniques. Among those companies is RIM; which has its Torch, Style, Curve, Pearl, Bold, Storm handsets called out; and Asus, which has a long line of motherboards, routers, and other products said to be in jeopardy. As ever it’s hard to draw the line between the patent trolls and the legitimately infringed, but that the lawsuit was filed in litigation-friendly Marshall, Texas doesn’t leave us with a particularly good feeling.

Continue reading Mosaid gets into WiFi patent game, sues 17 companies including Dell, Canon, Asus, and RIM

Mosaid gets into WiFi patent game, sues 17 companies including Dell, Canon, Asus, and RIM originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Mar 2011 13:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink electronista  |  Mosaid  | Email this | Comments

At about $200 on-contract, Dell’s Streak 7 is one of the cheaper ways to get yourself into an Android tablet — or at least into one made by a manufacturer you’ve actually heard of before. But, that “on-contract” bit means of course the 3G-equipped handheld will be considerably more expensive in the long-run — or $450 up-front if you skip the contract. Here’s one that isn’t. Early this AM we got word that a Wi-Fi only version of the tablet had been certified and, now, here it is up on Amazon for pre-order. No release date is available but the price is: $379.99. That’s about $70 less than the 3G model and $20 less than the 3G-free Galaxy Tab is expected to retail for. Is that cheap enough to make up for its flaws? That, dear reader, is a question you must answer for yourself.

Dell Streak 7 gets certified in Wi-Fi-only form, shows up on Amazon for pre-order originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Mar 2011 07:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Streak Smart, AndroidOS.in  |  Wi-Fi Alliance, Amazon  | Email this | Comments