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KnightHawk 3G network-in-a-box breaks soldiers' backs, helps them get online anywhere
While it's easy enough to envision soldiers scaling battlegrounds with portable hotspots in tow, it's a useless solution for warriors deployed to remote areas that have patchy service to begin with. Enter the KnightHawk 3G, a rugged network-in-a-box that cooks up connectivity in otherwise uncovered areas. The self-contained WCDMA network runs over the 2100MHz spectrum, promising download speeds as fast as 14.4mbps and max upload rates of 5.76mbps. It has capacity for up to 60 simultaneous voice calls and can handle 14 HSPA connections at a time. And it'll help keep our troops in top shape -- you can't tell from the photos, but that thing weighs 45 pounds. %Gallery-121824%
Patent spar between ZTE, Ericsson escalates to courtroom showdown
Like nostrils, tensions are flaring between two powerhouses in the wireless industry. Ericsson and ZTE have chosen to trade off the role of both plaintiff and defendant, since each company is suing the other for several patent infringements. It's hard to say who the guilty party really is -- with the number of accusations flying around, it's possible everyone is at fault somehow. All we know is that Ericsson challenged its rival company to a throwdown once attempts to reach a licensing agreement failed two weeks ago. ZTE accepted the challenge and raised the stakes by filing a lawsuit of its own. It's not exactly clear what got the quarelling pair's feathers all ruffled, though it reportedly involves 4G / WCDMA / GSM network technology employed in each other's handsets. That sure narrows it down, doesn't it? At least we have a good idea of what's up for grabs: as is oftentimes the case in these types of tumultuous proceedings, the loser has to stop selling the products and services in question and fork over some cash for damages caused to the winner. Why oh why can't we all just get along? [Thanks, Alex]
China Unicom launches WoPhone Linux platform, because the world can't get enough of Tux
Another day, another Linux mobile platform launched. The latest flavor hails all the way from China Unicom -- Apple's sole iPhone partner in China thanks to its WCDMA network -- who's just announced the WoPhone platform to, ironically, "break up the foreign smartphone platform monopoly." Of course, this isn't the first time that a Chinese carrier has pushed out its own OS -- TD-SCDMA operator China Mobile already has OPhone, though it's really just a bastardized Android; whereas China Unicom claims that WoPhone's an entirely new OS built around the Linux core. That said, some of WoPhone's UI elements do look awfully familiar. While we don't expect to see this new OS trickling out to the rest of the world any time soon, a big handful of manufacturers -- namely Motorola, Samsung, HTC, TCL, K-Touch, ZTE, Huawei, etc. -- and cloud service partners were present at yesterday's launch event to show off the first batch of devices, including the K-Touch U2 pictured above. Head over to ifeng for more hands-on pics.
Acer's 4.8-inch phoneblet will head to a US carrier this year
You'll remember last month that Acer released a total of three Android tablets, including one 4.8-inch phone / tablet hybrid. Well, Acer's brought the phoneblet -- yes, we're calling it that -- it to CES, and while it wouldn't power on, we did notice that the back of the device was marked with a "WCDMA: US band sticker". Acer confirmed for us that the "100 percent phone, 100 percent tablet" will be heading to the US in April with Froyo or Honeycomb and that carrier partnerships are in the works. Obviously, this WCDMA unit would be destined for AT&T or T-Mobile, however an Acer's spokesperson also hinted that it could be coming to Verizon like the Iconia Tab A500. The metal device felt really nice in hand, but we couldn't turn on the unique 1024 x 480-resolution, 21:9 aspect ratio display. We're imaging that its 1GHz Snapdragon processor will provide a pretty snappy experience, but it looks like we'll be waiting a few more months to check out the entire package. %Gallery-113449%
Samsung Galaxy Tab gets video preview in Korea
It sees like we can't let a day pass without talking about Samsung's upcoming Froyo tablet. This time there's a whole video preview, courtesy of some of our Korean brethren. Android 2.2, WCDMA 3G, 802.11n WiFi, a 16:10 screen ratio, a front-facing camera "dedicated to video calling," SDHC memory expandability, and a DMB tuner for those TV-crazy Koreans are all listed on the spec sheet, but you'll be wanting to see the Galaxy Tab's UI in motion. It really looks silky smooth and should give the iPad cause for concern. Speaking of the iPad, there's a size comparison against Apple's slate and Samsung's own Galaxy S handset as well -- all yours after the break. Update: Fast-loading video embedded after the break. [Thanks, Eric]
SmartQ T7 and T7-3G Android 2.1 tablets announced and priced in China
Don't worry, it's not déjà vu -- these SmartQ T7 tablets may appear just like their Ubuntu-riding R7 sibling, but they offer Android 2.1, an integrated 3G option, a speedier 720MHz CPU, and a colossal 4,700mAh battery -- 1,400mAh more than before! If that's woken you from the slumber brought on by yet another boilerplate tablet, SmartQ's also boasting support for a similarly impressive range of video codecs, meaning you can grab any RMVB, AVI, MKV and WMV files (even at 1080p) from your various, ahem, sources, and just play them back on the 7-inch LCD (probably at 800 x 600 like the R7) as they are. If you're cool with just WiFi connectivity, then go for the ¥1,480 ($219) T7; if 3G is a must, be prepared to dole out ¥1,880 ($278) and ¥1,980 ($292) for the EVDO and WCDMA flavors of the T7-3G, respectively. And if you're hanging out with China Mobile, price for the TD-SCDMA version's to be confirmed later.
Dell Mini 3T1 and Mini 3iX 3G phones spotted with Chinese mobile regulator
If we need another reason to be envious of Chinese residents, it'd be the premium treatment that they're getting from Dell these days. Spotted on Chinese mobile regulator TENAA's website are two 3G phones from seemingly different design departments -- the never-before-seen Mini 3T1 (pictured) is a "TD-SCDMA / GSM dual-mode cellphone" that "supports HSDPA," dons a 2-megapixel camera on the back plus a front-facing one, and we're betting on Ophone for the OS; the second device is the familiar Mini 3iX (an exotic cousin of AT&T's Aero) that will sport the same old WCDMA radio and WAPI (the Chinese equivalent of WiFi). No word on availability of either handsets in China yet, but hey, who cares when the Streak is on the horizon? Update: on the same website we also dug up the Mini 3iW -- essentially the Mini 3i (so just 2G and no WiFi) but with the additional WAPI radio.%Gallery-90276%
Dell Mini 5 / Streak prototype impressions
Dell's puzzled the world for quite some time with its outlandish Mini 5 / Streak -- at first glance it's just another Android-based MID, but a quick fiddle with it reveals the full-fledged 3G phone inside. So will it fit in a pocket? Can we carry it around like a normal phone? Is this the future form factor that will bring the ultimate balance between portability and practicality? With such heavy dose of curiosity, we eventually traveled all the way to Shenzhen literally just to grab this prototype. Now, before you read on, do bear in mind that some of its features -- especially the OS -- may not make it to the final design when it comes out later this year, nor do we know what stage this prototype was at. We good? OK. Let's start with the basics: the main specs on our unit include Android 1.6 (which will definitely be obsolete for the final product), five-inch 800 x 480 capacitive touchscreen, Snapdragon QSD8250 chipset (with CPU clocked at 1GHz), Bluetooth, WiFi, GPS and WCDMA radio. Sadly, we have no info on whether the Mini 5 will have other cellular radio options, but it wouldn't hurt to send Dell a petition regarding this matter. For those who want the dimensions and weight in numbers, it's about 152mm x 78mm x 10mm at 8 ounces (including the battery, which lasts for almost a day for normal usage on 3G). Memory-wise there's 405MB RAM and 1.63GB of internal storage -- a slight let-down for the latter, so let's hope the retail unit will be given a more generous dose of silicon. You can add a microSD card next to the battery on the back, but it appears that the mysterious second card slot we saw in the earlier teardown only gave us false hope -- we couldn't find a way to get to it without prying open the housing. Connection to your computer relies on a proprietary port -- similar but slightly larger than the iPod's -- to USB cable, which may suggest that we will see some more peripherals made for the Mini 5 and its future siblings. %Gallery-85458%
Bell confirms HSPA launch on November 4
One-half of the worst-kept secret in all of Canada over much of the last year -- the HSPA networks being prepped by Bell and Telus -- is finally launching in just two short days' time. Bell has announced that its shiny new 21Mbps airwaves will be available to the public at large starting November 4, along with a host of devices ready to take full advantage of it; perhaps most impressive, though, is that they'll be covering fully 93 percent of the country's population out of the gate, which should make the new network a viable option immediately for would-be switchers. Your move, Rogers. [Thanks, Shawny]
Nokia vs. Apple: the in-depth analysis
There's just something about Apple that makes people go crazy whenever the company's lawyers do even the simplest things -- whether it's filing routine trademark oppositions, getting patents granted, or, uh, defending allegations that the company is in league with the Mafia, Steve and friends just seem to inspire some strong reactions whenever they end up in the courtroom. So of course things got a little wild last Thursday when Nokia announced it was suing Apple over ten patents related to GSM, UMTS (what you know as 3G) and WiFi -- the pundit class immediately set upon the idea that the lawsuit was some sort of reaction to Nokia's diminishing cellphone marketshare and the perceived dominance of the iPhone, perhaps best exemplified by John Gruber's flippant "If you can't beat 'em, sue 'em." Nokia can't compete against Apple, so obviously it's abusing the hopelessly-broken patent system get a little payback, Espoo-style -- right? Well, wrong. As usual, the race to hype this dispute as a bitter standoff between two tech giants desperate to destroy one another has all but ignored the reality of how patents -- especially wireless patents -- are licensed, what Nokia's actually asking for, and how it might go about getting it. And as you know, we just don't do things that way, so we've asked our old friend Mathew Gavronski, a patent attorney in the Chicago office of Michael Best & Friedrich, to help us sort things out and figure out what's really going on here -- read on for more.
India's 3G spectrum auction finally on for December, for real this time
After stone-cold blowing past its original planned start window in January, India has announced that its huge 3G spectrum auction will finally kick off on December 7 of this year. Interestingly, operators MTNL and BSNL have both already begun their respective 3G rollouts, but they're not getting out of paying fair market prices: when the auction concludes, they'll need to pay the equivalent of the high bidder's price to keep their own slices of the airwaves. After the WCDMA 3G auction wraps up, both EV-DO and WiMAX auctions kick off two days later, which means the world's second most populous country is about to get a whole heck of a lot more high-speed wireless data -- or the promise of it, anyhow. [Warning: PDF link]
Nokia Mural doesn't play nice with 3G, yanked from AT&T shelves
A North American Nokia with 3G that doesn't work on 3G, needs to be recalled and replaced... something about this story sounds familiar, doesn't it? Unlike the curious case of the 5800 XpressMusic, though, the Mural is a branded phone operated directly through AT&T -- so the fact that it was accidentally released without being able to connect to 3G is especially shady. It's a hardware problem which means a firmware update isn't going to magically make this particular quirk go away; replacement phones are expected next week, but if Mural owners prefer, they're welcome to come into an AT&T store and take a different device in its stead.
HTC Mega materializes again, brings along spec list
HTC's Mega certainly isn't the most exciting of the company's upcoming products to leak lately, but it's looking likely that it'll have one of the nicer price tags on it for a Window Mobile 6.5 device. Another screenshot has surfaced that matches up with one we saw earlier and shows off more of the sides and back. Along with it comes a new list of specs -- not too shabby, but nothing too exciting, either. According to ai.rs blog, it has WCDMA/HSPA and quad-band GSM support, a 3.2 megapixel camera, microSD slot, 802.11b/g, Bluetooth 2.0, AGPS, and still the 2.8-inch QVGA screen and 528MHz Qualcomm processor we heard about previously. If you're already playing with the Mega's TouchFLO 2D-infused ROM, consider this supplementary material for getting a more thorough idea of what the actual phone will look like when it does come out -- whenever that is.
HTC Hero and Click coming to China under Dopod brand
HTC has been on a global Android-pimping mission with its Hero device, and it looks like Chinese subsidiary Dopod gets the honor of announcing three new handsets for the Middle Kingdom. Unlike others, the Hero retains its WiFi capabilities by playing nice with China's custom WLAN security protocol and is expected in late August on China Unicom for 5,600 Yuan ($820) along with the few-frills Click for 3,400 Yuan ($500). The carrier has opted to strip Google Maps from the Hero (though it's still downloadable), and to soften the blow it will likely offer a snazzy red version of the phone. China Mobile will have to settle for an as-yet unspecified TD-SCDMA handset and the already announced Magic, both of which will likely be sporting the OMS flavor of Android. We're not sure we'd classify the Hero's price tag as reasonable -- but really, can you put a dollar figure on being the first big-name Android release in the world's largest wireless market?
China Unicom's iPhone gets regulatory approval, pictured
Still having doubts that an iPhone will ever come to China via legitimate means? Have a gander at this. According to the listing after the break, which was discovered on China's State Radio Regulatory Commission (SRRC; basically the Chinese version of the FCC) website, we're looking at a GSM / WCDMA cellphone complete with Bluetooth, an internal model number A1324, a little-known manufacturer called "Apple Inc." and an approval date of May 7th, 2009. We're also told that the certificate expires in five years, which should give China Unicom plenty of time to capitalize on its reported three-year deal to offer the phone in mainland China. So, all we need now is what's we've needed for years: a handwritten note from El Jobs himself saying that this whole thing is more than some sick charade.[Image courtesy of Sina, thanks Joe]Update: Looks like this may be the first live look at a China Unicom iPhone 3G, complete with no WiFi to speak of.
China Unicom finally bringing iPhone to world's most populous country?
Is it really happening? Is the world's most thickly settled nation finally getting the iPhone in earnest? If a bold (albeit woolly) report from China's own national news agency is to be believed, China Unicom has just locked down a deal that'll grant it exclusive rights to sell Apple's heralded smartphone in mainland China for three whole years. Unfortunately, most of the nitty-gritty details are absent, but we are led to believe that this will be the first-ever iPhone sold with any branding at all outside of logos splashed on at Cupertino. The "Wo" icon you see just below the speaker signifies that this here device is ready to rock on the carrier's 3G network, though we still can't say with any amount of certainty if said image is fully legitimate. We're also waiting to hear whether it'll be the iPhone 3G or 3GS (or both) that's sold, and we're particular curious as to whether or not these handsets will include WiFi modules. In related news, it does sound as if China Unicom bent over backwards a bit to make this all come together, with the article stating that it signed on to move between one and two million units per year regardless of how many consumers actually show up to buy one. If you'll recall, an eerily similar agreement has Russian operators in a world of financial hurt, but we get the feeling the reception in China will be quite a bit warmer. At any rate, it's noted that Unicom will be snapping up the devices from Apple at a cost of around 3,000 Chinese yuan apiece ($439), with end users being asked to pay an undisclosed lesser amount on contract. If all goes well, the units could hit Chinese shops as early as September, though only time will tell how everything shakes out. Oh, and considering that Apple can hardly keep up with iPhone 3GS demand as it is, we suspect it'll want to wait a few months anyway before stressing its supply channels further. Update: A China Unicom spokeswoman has now been quoted as saying that "we have made progress but there are still some problems to be resolved." Really? Another round of this?
IAC Prodigy e-reader does EV-DO, HSPA, WiMAX and WiFi
While you might say Amazon's Kindle is lucky to have a single CDMA / EV-DO radio built-in, IAC would likely venture to disagree. Over at Computex, said firm was showcasing its Prodigy e-reader, which just so happens to pack every major wireless radio we can think of. EV-DO Rev. A? Check. WCDMA / HSPA? Check. WiMAX? Oh, definitely. 802.11b/g WiFi? For sure, dudes. And the fun doesn't stop there -- it's packing a 6-inch 800 x 600 e-paper touchscreen, 256MB of NAND Flash memory, 128MB of DDR memory, 2GB of NAND storage and a Marvell PXA310 processor. If all goes well, this little bugger will ship in Q4 over in Taiwan, but it'll be a cold day in Hades before it arrives on US soil. Video's after the break.
China Unicom gets rolling with 3G trials
Following China Telecom and China Mobile, China Unicom has now become the last of the big three Chinese operators to begin trials of its 3G network -- christened "Wo" -- with some 55 test markets lighting up this week. Happily, the trials are purely UMTS / HSPA, which means you won't need a pesky, proprietary TD-SCDMA handset to take advantage; unfortunately, though, regular commercial service won't begin until the end of the year. In the meantime, Unicom is expecting an expansion in the September time frame that would see the high-speed service expand to some 284 cities.
ASUS P565 apparently available, unboxed
Lazarus be praised! The last time we heard about ASUS' P565 was back in February, when we mourned its sad and supposed demise. Turns out that's not the case, as we've now got a hands-on with the GPS / PDA phone from Polish site ASUSPDA, who claims (at least via machine translation) that it's been on sale for several months. The plethora of product / unboxing / interface pics look mighty legit, and as for the impressions, the reviewer seems very quite fond of it. Compliments are given for its general performance and design, though he does note the Glide interface isn't as seamless as you'd expect with a 816MHz processor inside. If you're interested in finding out for yourself, it looks like you can order the GSM / WCDMA-enabled device from Qbit for around $566.[Thanks, Jackob]Read - UnboxingRead - Product page
Small carriers, spectrum owners band together for 3G and beyond
In the wireless biz, simple economics ensure that the little guys have a harder time of everything, including the all-important matter of getting decent handset selections from manufacturers. That's just the tip of the iceberg, though -- beyond the lack of hot hardware, rural carriers are struggling to find a way to pay for network upgrades that'll get them in line with what the rest of the world's up to. Some 28 companies so far have banded together as NextGen Mobile, a consortium designed to share the cost of network upgrades and give smaller operators a unified voice for approaching manufacturers and demanding what it calls the "next 'it' handset." Though members haven't yet been identified, everyone involved in NextGen is GSM-based and either has or intends to deploy UMTS -- and down the road, LTE. We're probably not looking at a team that's going to be challenging Verizon or AT&T for market dominance here, but if it means more people are going to have access to high-speed data faster, we're down.[Via Phone Scoop]
