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Huawei brings out Ascend P1 2600 mAh XL for battery junkies, throws in E5151 hotspot
Huawei's presence at Mobile Asia Expo this year has a distinct flavor of RAZR Maxx about it. The Ascend P1 is getting a fresh 2600 mAh XL variant that does exactly what it says on the tin: throw almost 56 percent more battery power at the previously skinny Android 4.0 device. Along with this and a TD-SCDMA variant of the P1 for China Mobile fans, the other standout is the (not yet pictured) Mobile WiFi E5151, which brings a rare Ethernet jack to the 3G hotspot world for hoping onto the Internet in a more traditional form. It's radio silence on the E5151's release, but those in Huawei's native China can look forward to buying the lengthily-titled Ascend P1 2600 mAh XL in the summer -- just don't assume it will cross the ocean anytime soon.
Clearwire's Rover service goes live, offers $5/day 4G service
Looks like the prepaid wireless data market is starting to heat up: Clearwire just launched its Rover service, which offers 4G wireless data for as little as $5 a day -- with two free days included when you first sign up. That's not bad if you just need a quick hit here or there, although you need to pony up $150 for that Rover Puck WiFi hotspot we saw at the FCC last month or $100 for a USB stick, and anything more than a day quickly becomes less of a deal at $20/week and $50/month. Oh, and it's 4G-only, so if you're not living or working in a WiMAX city you're out of luck. Still, those prices aren't terribly out of line with the competition, although we might be more inclined to choose Virgin's $40/mo prepaid MiFi and settle for 3G speeds while getting more coverage. Decisions, decisions -- what a wonderful problem to have. PR after the break.
Vodafone launches R201 mobile WiFi hotspot in the UK, Three shrugs
Vodafone's no stranger to the mobile broadband scene, but until now, British road warriors have had to rely on Three for a mobile WiFi hotspot solution. Enter the R201 modem -- just as we heard in our exclusive leak last month, said device from Huawei can host a party of up to five WiFi devices, and it'll do HSDPA 7.2 Mbps plus HSUPA 5.76 Mbps for up to four hours on a single charge. Sadly, there's no pay-and-go option just yet, so buyers will have to live under Vodafone's roof for 18 months with a choice of three room sizes: £15 ($23.51), £20 ($31.34) or £25 ($39.18) for 3GB, 4GB and 5GB (with free device) of monthly bandwidth, respectively. It sure is a fair bit of investment here, so before you hit the buy button, be sure to keep an eye out for our forthcoming review later this week.
