As if you weren't already feeling cheated by your data plan, Samsung comes along and launches a few Mobile WiMax MITs (Mobile Intelligent Terminal) devices in S.Korea: their SPH-M8100 WinMo 6.0 cellphone and SPH-P9000 (pictured) all-out convergence thingamajig. That's right, 12Mbps or about 2-3 Mbps when traveling up 120-KPH (75-MPH). While the Mobile WiMax (or WiBro as it's hailed in its Korean home) service isn't country-wide yet, Korea Telecom's offering does cover the 10M+ people scooting about Seoul and its southern suburbs including 17 universities and 4 subway lines. How S.Korea pulled a 19 ranking on the technology superpower list still has us scratching our heads.

The Samsung SPH-P9000 Deluxe MIT is just that: deluxe. We had the chance to go hands-on with this Korea-only device during one of those rare opportunities only CES can provide. With a mini Mobile WiMax network setup here at the show, we had the opportunity to test that (supposed) ultra-fast access for ourselves. More on that in a bit. Based on the pictures previously published, we had our doubts as to the rigidity of the unit. So we were easily impressed by the fact that it actually felt solid in our hands. However, without constant tender loving care, we're pretty sure we'd snap a hinge under sustained use. The keyboard is small, the touchpad is small, the power switch and screen are small -- everything that requires interaction is just really, really small. Still, it's usable and maybe with prolonged used, we'd get comfortable with it -- we doubt it though. Anyway, what you're really wondering about is the Mobile WiMax speed right? Well, sorry to say, it was slow. Like 56kbps dial-up slow. But this is day 3 of the show and well, everything is just a bit slower today. Besides, it's just on a demonstration network, Las Vegas is a long way from South Korea. All in all, it's an impressive piece of engineering that we can live without.

Ultra-portable XP devices have been getting a whole lot of interesting lately. Now Samsung just upped the ante with this -- the SPH-P9000 Deluxe MITs -- at the Mobile WiMax Summit 2006 in South Korea. Measuring in at chubby 143 × 94.3 × 29.75-mm / 580-g (5.6 × 3.7 × 1.17-inches / 1.28-pounds) when folded, this Windows XP device unfolds (dare we say) origami-like to reveal a 1GHz Transmeta CPU and both Mobile WiMAX (AKA, WiBro which is already launched in Korea) and EV-DO for data connectivity. No WiFi apparently, this all about Mobile WiMAX kids, with Internet speeds of 2-3 Mbps even when travelling up 120-KPH (75-MPH). The SPH-P9000 packs a 5-inch 854x480 (WVGA) LCD, 30GB disk, 1.3 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, and apparently ships with both an internal 2980mAh and 7200mAh external extended-battery. People who have played with a prototype on display at the show complained about the screen being too small (in DMB-cellphone crazed Korea!?) and of excessive heating. Well, they can at least work on the latter before the scheduled Korean launch in the first half of 2007. No pricing yet but we've got plenty more pics after the break.

[Via AVING and The Korea Herald]