Hands-on with Novatel's MiFi 3G hotspot

We've talked about the svelte silver -- and a black version is in the works -- MiFi card and of course CES gave us a chance to put one to work. And, well, what can we say, it works as advertised. While we've not had a chance to speedtest it, hide it in the darkest corners of the temporary Engadget Mansion or otherwise abuse it, we know we want. Launch is expected sometime midway through 2009 on some US CDMA carrier with two GSM / HSDPA variants coming shortly after. Short video of it doing its blinky thing after the break.

[Byrdman @ Jan 6th 2009 9:39PM]

haha engadget mansion

[Adam @ Jan 6th 2009 9:40PM]

Holy CES Blogging Batman!

[Fanfoot @ Jan 6th 2009 9:43PM]

I love this thing!

(not sure why exactly)

No need to plug it in wasting one your precious USB ports! Course you might have to plug it in anyway to keep it charged up... still, kinda cool. Kinda now. Kinda Charlie.

[david @ Jan 6th 2009 9:43PM]

why not just use your jailbroken iphone.

Seems like some people don't mind paying their phone comapny over and over and over.

[Sam Zebian @ Jan 6th 2009 9:50PM]

too bad PDAnet decided to stop working on my jailbroken iphone, idk why. It never show up in my ad-hoc network on my pc, even after the latest update to pdanet which was supposed to fix the issue. Anyone else know why this is happening to me, it worked perfectly before (months ago) and just stopped working.

Also, this device is better in a way that it allows you to connect devices without using an ad-hoc network, so i can do something like sync my zune's channels over 3g, but I wouldn't be willing to pay the extra $$$ to my isp if my iphone was working! and $60 a month for data is fucking ridiculous from these carriers, wtf, i can get it for $30 on my phone, why $60 on a laptop???!! Makes no sense with the 5gb cap, I won't be using any faster or more bandwidth than on a phone!

[sr @ Jan 6th 2009 10:02PM]

^^^Your problem is that you have a joke of a phone. It's meant for babies, not for tech aware individuals, jailbroken or not.

[Kevlar @ Jan 6th 2009 10:27PM]

^^ Your problem is that you can't appreciate all devices for their individual strengths and merits, and spend way too much time getting your panties in a tussle over it.

[Steve Miller @ Jan 7th 2009 11:03AM]

@Kevlar

Amen.

[Ondra Soukup @ Jan 7th 2009 1:41PM]

Ok, it goes like this.
Create ad-hod network on your laptop/pc/whatever, take the iPhone, connect to the network (it will appear as any other WiFi in the Settings) and then lunch PDAnet.
Works for me like that, no problems - it just runs down the battery even if you're charging the phone, :]

no need to thank me, I know I'm awesome...

-- ondra

[Chris @ Jan 6th 2009 9:57PM]

Why not use WMwifiRouter for a whole lot less per month? Simplicity I guess.

[sr @ Jan 6th 2009 10:00PM]

Big deal, my phone is smaller than that and does the same thing. Ever heard of JoikuSpot?

[shotta @ Jan 6th 2009 10:12PM]

I wish they had JoikuSpot for the iPhone.

[HAGADGET @ Jan 6th 2009 10:52PM]

Old news...

[Rand @ Jan 6th 2009 11:07PM]

I'd definitely buy one. There are times when traveling when no WiFi is available and I and the GF want to surf the web at the same time.

[linderman @ Jan 7th 2009 1:14AM]

Can't wait to start selling these...even better, can't wait to purchase one to replace my Verizon USB727!

I want to see this thing in Las Vegas on Thursday...CES, here I come!!!

[[e-mail] @ Jan 7th 2009 1:33AM]

CDMA first? Bah... Its time for sprint to die. This will definitely be replacing my current 3G router which is overly and requires a USB/wall power source :( I wonder how long (if at all) a charge will last on a 7.2mbps network as it already chews through my notebook battery pretty quick.

[Sam @ Jan 7th 2009 1:35AM]

Stupid auto-complete... Hopefully a moderator can remove that for me (please).

Fortunately that is an old email address as I think it may get a few unsolicited emails :-P

[Ilja @ Jan 7th 2009 3:47AM]

How does this thing work ??? It just picks up 3G stream without a sim-card ? and let you use it for free ?

[Ondra Soukup @ Jan 7th 2009 1:48PM]

good joke. no.

text understanding fail...big time

[LocalToast @ Jan 7th 2009 2:33PM]

What exactly does this do? :S