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HSDPA posts

Rogers' Rocket Hub disguises 3G data and voice as mild-mannered home modem

by Ross Miller posted Oct 3rd 2009 at 7:10AM

Good news for Canadians who can't seem to get a decent internet plan for home. Rogers has unveiled a 3G station for residential use dubbed the Rocket Hub, and with it a number of jet propulsion-related puns that we'll be taking painstaking measures to avoid. It boasts 7.2Mbps HSPA, WiFi and ethernet out, and voice calls over UMTS. Makes sense since it's riding an Ericsson W3x core. The Upfront cost of hardware hasn't been disclosed yet, but plans start at $35 Canadian. Launch date (okay, we couldn't resist) is sometime later this month.

Huawei set to launch 56Mbps HSPA+ service in 2010

by Donald Melanson posted Sep 21st 2009 at 1:14PM

Remember last week? When 21Mbps HSPA+ was something to stand up and cheer about, and you were even happy to settle for HSPA 7.2 if you could? Well, it's time trade in those good feelings for some jealousy and bitterness once again, buckaroo, 'cause Hauwei has now announced that it's set to more than double HSPA+ speeds to a jaw-dropping 56Mbps. That impressive feat has reportedly already been demonstrated by the company in Beijing, and Huawei will apparently begin a full rollout sometime next year. What's more, Huawei says that its carrier partners will be able to upgrade to the increased bandwidth via a simple software upgrade, which should both lower the cost and speed up the rollout -- just not around here.

HTC Hero approved by Global Certification Forum, rocking GSM and HSPA

by Ross Miller posted Jun 21st 2009 at 3:28PM

We're unfortunately light on details here, but The Unwired is reporting that HTC's Hero has been approved by the Global Certification Forum, listed here as "HERO100," with support for quadband GSM/GPRS/EDGE and dualband UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA at 1800/2100 MHz. With the company's touted London event just around the corner -- this Wednesday, to be exact -- we wouldn't be surprised to see the phone and its oft-rumored "Rosie" Android UI take center stage, in possibly two variations. Other than frequency bands and the associative name, the GCF isn't giving us anything else to work with, so for now just sit back and hope this uncertainty is cleared up sooner rather than later.

Samsung B7610 Louvre rematerializes, spec'd and caught on camera

by Ross Miller posted Jun 12th 2009 at 7:27PM

It's been some time since we've heard a word about Samsung's enigmatic QWERTY slider, the B7610 Louvre. Now it looks like we've got on our hands a new, decidedly more clear pic of the phone care of GPSAndCo, along with a list of technical details. According to the site, we're looking at a quad-band Windows Mobile 6.1 device (upgradable to 6.5) with 7.2Mbps HSDPA, 3.5-inch WVGA AMOLED touchscreen, 5 megapixel camera, 802.11b/g, Bluetooth 2.0, FM radio, miniUSB, 1GB built-in memory, and a microSDHC slot. Still not official, but should this pan out, Orange and SFR business customers can look to it sometime in July with the price lining up somewhere between €250 and €500.

[Via WMPoweruser]

Engadget Labs: The best mobile data carrier in America

by Darren Murph posted May 26th 2009 at 4:41PM

When T-Mobile finally decided to join the 3G data card bandwagon earlier this year, we figured it prudent to grab a few sticks from the likes of T-Mob, Sprint, Verizon Wireless and AT&T in order to see which carrier provides the most bang for the buck in the mobile data arena. And trust us, it's about more than just uplink and downlink rates in 2G / 3G regions these days -- it's about figuring out which operator provides the coverage you need at the price you can afford, all while dodging those precarious overage charges and finding yourself out of luck when traveling overseas. Join us after the break as we delve into the deep, murky realm that is mobile broadband, and prepare to have your every preconceived notion about this stuff utterly destroyed.

Gallery: Mobile Data Card Shootout

Continue reading Engadget Labs: The best mobile data carrier in America

Palm Eos: super-thin, 3G, and headed to AT&T?

by Joshua Topolsky posted Apr 30th 2009 at 12:52PM

Liked that blurry photo of a new Palm webOS phone we saw earlier? Well how about some specs, a name, and a better look at this thing? Enter the device above, apparently dubbed the Palm Eos (codenamed Castle... where have we seen that before?), which it seems will be the company's proper follow-up to the Centro -- a quadband GSM / HSDPA phone notably rocking the 850 / 1900 AT&T and Rogers-friendly frequencies. The phone will supposedly be an astounding 10.6mm thin, will measure just 55mm x 111mm (about 2.1 by 4.3-inches), weigh 100 grams, and will tout a 2.63-inch, 320 x 400 capacitive display. Of course, the info we've got right now can't be verified, and since there are a couple of minor question marks here (like barely rounded corners in the OS), you should take it all with a grain of salt... as usual. Needless to say, we're working on getting more details (and some confirmation), so stay tuned!

Update: Oh boy -- looks like we just got the full spec list. And yes, it's definitely coming to AT&T (if it's really coming).

4GB storage
Price: $349 (pre-rebate)
Camera: 2 megapixel fixed focus digital camera and flash / video capture
Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.1 w/ A2DP and EDR, USB 2.0 via micro USB
Removable 1150 mAh battery (4 hours 3G talk time)
Messaging: SMS, MMS (picture and video only), integrated IM client
Contact sync with AT&T Address Book
MediaNet
Cellular Video
Email: POP3, IMAP4, and EAS support
A-GPS
Audio: WAV, MP3, AAC, AAC+ ringtones
Video Playback: MPEG4, H.264, H.263

Asus' EeePC 1003HAG equips WWAN, ventures forth on NTT DoCoMo's FOMA network

by Ross Miller posted Apr 28th 2009 at 2:44AM

Following in the footsteps of past Eee PC's like the 901, ASUS' Japanese-bound 1003HAG boasts an internal wireless WAN module and supports NTT DoCoMo's FOMA network with 7.2Mbps on the downlink. For a more local connection, there's 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR. As for the rest of the hardware, it's pretty much netbook status quo: a 1-inch WSVGA screen, Intel Atom N280, 1GB RAM, integrated graphics, 160GB HDD, and an apparent 4.3-hour battery life. Price is 69,800 yen (US $722) and launch date is May 16th -- that should give you plenty of time to figure out if you want the black, white, or pink version.

[Via Engadget Japan]

UMID M1 unboxed ahead of Australian launch

by Ross Miller posted Apr 27th 2009 at 9:08PM

Still no US release in sight, but UMID's M1 has now set the course for the land down under in the not-too-distant future. Pocketables has managed to get its hands on a non-HSDPA retail version to take it through the unboxing and review motions. The pictures are a good reminder at just how tiny this thing is, especially compared to the jacket pocket fave Vaio P. Unfortunately, it's also got a rather awkward set of adapters for USB and what appears to be headphones, as seen in the picture above. Australian retailer Justek's got the unit available for pre-order now, but you might want to glance at that $930 to $1426 price range before you impulsively hit the "pre-order now" button.

Read - Unboxing
Read - Product page

Mobile data card growth slows dramatically in Q4 2008

by Darren Murph posted Apr 14th 2009 at 10:02AM

Who woulda thunk it? A global recession leads to belt tightening, and belt tightening leads to fewer mobile data card sales. According to a new report from ComScore, that's exactly what happened at the tail end of last year, where WWAN card growth slowed to just 5 percent compared to 28 percent in Q4 2007. Still, carriers can't grumble too loudly -- after all, at least it grew. In fact, PC data card adoption rose 63 percent overall in 2008, and if any of these 4G services can see rollouts of significance, we suspect 2009 will show equally positive numbers. The reality is that mobile data is still priced far too high for the average Joe or Jane to stomach; most mobile broadband plans run upwards of $50 per month and require a two-year contract to get a free or cheap card, and unless one is planning to be on the road an awful lot, buying in just doesn't make sense when times are tough. In other words, cut us a break on these mobile data rates, operators -- it's what Uncle Sam would want.

[Via mocoNews]

Gigabyte posts specs for ThinNote S1024 and Booktop M1022

by Darren Murph posted Apr 7th 2009 at 12:09PM

It's all coming together, folks. Merely hours after Gigabyte hosted up a product portal for its T1028 TouchNote, the same occurrence has just went down for the ThinNote S1024 and Booktop M1022. Both rigs were initially introduced last month at CeBIT, and now you can pretty much bank on 'em shipping stateside within the next little while. As for the M1022, you'll find it bundled with a vertical docking station and packing an N270 or N280 processor, Windows XP Home, 1GB of RAM, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, WiFi, optional WiMAX / HSDPA and a 6-cell battery. The S1024 netbook contains most of the same hardware, but you'll have to handcraft your own stand if that you're thing.

[Via iTechNews]

Read - ThinNote S1024
Read - Booktop M1022

LG's GD900 with (multi-touch?) transparent keypad gets S-Class UI

by Thomas Ricker posted Mar 30th 2009 at 4:15AM

The recent glut of telephony news can mean only one thing: CTIA Wireless 2009 is getting ready to kick off in Vegas baby, Las Vegas. In the runup we have LG upping the hype on its 13.4mm-thick GD900 handset first outed in Barcelona at February's MWC show. This time, however, the 7.2Mbps HSDPA slider with world's first transparent glass (not plastic as originally assumed) keypad will be functional, running LG's new S-Class UI on the 3-inch display. We know that the GD900 features vibrational haptic feedback and that the transparent keypad seems to double as a touch-sensitive mouse pad (like that on your laptop) when surfing the internet or navigating the UI -- it also seems to support gestures like writing "M" to launch the MP3 music player and multi-touch such as pinch to zoom on photographs. The GD900 will launch in Europe and Asia sometime in May. No US release announced so we'll have to make the most of our time with it this week in order to clear up all the mysteries presented by the Korean press release. One more pic showing an apparent finger-swipe rotating the UI after the break.

[Via Akihabara News and Engadget Korea]

Continue reading LG's GD900 with (multi-touch?) transparent keypad gets S-Class UI

Orange becoming first in Europe with LG's G910 Watch Phone

by Darren Murph posted Feb 16th 2009 at 1:06PM

We knew production was destined to start in 2009, and lo and behold, Orange has committed to selling the thing. You heard right -- sometime "later this year," LG's G910 Watch Phone will be available across the operator's European footprint, though there's nary a mention of pricing. For those who've forgotten, this timepiece will support Bluetooth headset pairing, 3G HSDPA, video calling, multimedia playback and touch input, and it'll also make you the coolest cat in the office. And that's a Billy Mays guarantee.

Sony bringing Gobi WWAN module to VAIO Z, TT and P

by Darren Murph posted Feb 16th 2009 at 12:24PM

Hey, you! VAIO P modder! Hold up on that HSDPA hack just a minute -- er, on second thought, you should probably proceed, 'cause Sony isn't about to take back your current machine when this Gobi-equipped model ships. Quite curiously, Sony has announced here in Barcelona that its VAIO Z, VAIO TT and VAIO P laptops will soon be embedded with Qualcomm's Gobi, which provides both EV-DO Rev. A and HSDPA support on a single module. As it stands, Sony's US model VAIO P only supports Verizon Wireless' mobile broadband network, which should leave a pretty bitter taste in the mouths of early adopters. There's no mention at all of when Sony plans to start shipping these oh-so-connected machines (nor if they'll be coming to US shores), but we're hoping it's sooner rather than later.

Update: In order to address some understandable confusion with this release, Sony has provided the following response: "All of the P Series shipped to date come equipped with Gobi mobile broadband technology and the instant-mode option, but certain feature deployment varies region by region. As such, the mobile broadband feature is exclusively supported by the Verizon Wireless network for all US customers." In other words, all existing VAIO P units (even US models) have the Gobi chip -- it's up to you to hack away that Verizon lock and get down to business, though.

Huawei announces i-Mo 3G modem with WiFi

by Laura June posted Feb 13th 2009 at 11:08AM

Here's a peek at a tiny modem making its debut at MWC next week. The Huawei i-Mo HSPA modem is, indeed very small -- the company says about the size of a key chain -- and it boasts both an HSDPA / HSUPA USB modem as well as WiFi, plus it's got a MicroSD slot for storage. We don't know about pricing or availability for this little guy yet, but it will probably be offered through carriers, and should show up sometime in the fourth quarter of 2009. Hooray!

Sony VAIO P gets HSDPA WWAN at last... via a mod, naturally

by Darren Murph posted Feb 13th 2009 at 12:11AM

Right, so integrated WWAN is awesome. But what's not awesome is Sony's decision to lock you down to Verizon Wireless on its ritzy new VAIO P. We've seen one team of investigators hack away in search of a SIM slot to no avail, but we should've known tnkgrl was the real lady for the job. Once again proving just how awesome she is, tnkgrl has not only modified the VAIO P to accept an AT&T SIM card, but she's managed to get it working, host up the pictures to prove it and even provide a how-to guide enabling seasoned hackers to follow suit. Hit the read link for all the requisite details, but be sure you've got lots of spare time to give before taking this one on.