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Merlin XU870 meet Verizon; Verizon, Merlin XU870
There's no doubt that The Network gives its customers plenty of options, especially when it comes to traveling across the pond -- and the latest addition to its ExpressCard lineup is no exception. Enter the Merlin XU870, which rocks triband 850 / 1900 / 2100MHz HSDPA and quadband EDGE and GPRS support. Yes, that's right, this is a GSM piece meant exclusively for Verizon's global roamers. The XU870 is expected to support Windows, Apple, and Linux operating systems and is expected to cost $370 with no contract, $299 with a one year contract and $249 on a two year indentured service contract on Verizon's GlobalAccess plans. You should be able to buy this around April 12.[Thanks, HTC Kid]
Novatel XU870 HSDPA ExpressCard previewed
Lucky Sascha Segan over at PC Magazine managed to get his hands on one of those new XU870 HSDPA ExpressCards from Novatel and put it through its paces on the Cingular BroadbandConnect network in New York City. Turns out that sexy combination of ExpressCard/34 and HSDPA will make all your dreams come true, and Sascha seemed plenty impressed with performance. The card bested Novatel's own U730 HSDPA PC Card in 15 out of 16 downloads, averaging between 736Kbps and 1.06Mbps, with three transfers managing to break the 1Mbps mark. Since Cingular caps upload speeds at 128Kbps, both cards were identical there, but the XU870 managed to keep an HSDPA signal in two tests where the U730 and LG CU500 phone had to settle for EDGE coverage. Other little details were nice as well, such as an easy to remove SIM card for swapping with your phone, a nice little fold-up antenna, multi-color LED light signal indicator, and a port for adding an external antenna to boost reception even more. With UMTS, HSDPA and EDGE compatibility, along with operation in the 850, 900, 1800, 1900 and 2100MHz bands, this thing will be plenty functional at home or abroad. All we're lacking is an official release from a certain #1 US carrier.
Novatel's XU870 HSDPA ExpressCard
It's not exactly a mystery as to which US carrier would be interested in picking up an HSDPA ExpressCard, but now that we're finally starting to see these 3G devices announced (by Novatel, anyway), our appetites are whetted and we're sitting on our hands awaiting carrier announcements. Novatel's Merlin XU870, when snagged by Cingular (or T-Mobile Europe, or Vodafone, etc.) will serve as your basic tri-band HSDPA / UMTS / EDGE / GPRS device capable of 3.6mbps speeds out of the box, and future upgradeable to 7.2mbps (via software update as new HSDPA revisions roll out). In other words, please get us a few of these immediately, thanks.
