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ZTE's Evolution handset sports dual alphabet support
Here's a bizarre one. ZTE's latest mobile not only sports a sleek, black enclosure and 3G connectivity, but also includes a "dual level, multilingual Fastap keypad based on Digit Wireless' Fastap Keypad Global Language Platform." As you'd expect, both English-speaking individuals and those proficient in Romanized Ukrainian and Russian should have no trouble entering text messages, as the keypad clearly sports both Cyrillic and Latin-based letters. Although the minutiae of this here device has yet to be unveiled, we do know that it'll be distributed by PEOPLEnet -- the first national provider of 3G communications in Ukraine -- and while nothing was written in stone, ZTE also suggested that the Evolution could be used by "international operators for authoritative certificates and assurances to overseas markets." Click on through for a more detailed shot of the bilingual mobile.[Via Slashphone]
Mexico City looking into citywide WiFi
Mexico has already dipped its feet into the wide world of expansive internet access before, but now Mayor Marcelo Ebrard is looking into hooking the 8.7 million residents of Mexico City up with citywide WiFi. The plan seems to focus on connecting "schools, government offices, and the city's thousands of surveillance cameras," but wide open wireless internet would certainly elicit smiles from anyone actually able to take advantage of it. Interestingly, it was said that the city government is "giving this project the highest priority," which presumably means that the backlog of free Xbox consoles must be runnin' thin. No word just yet on when the city can look forward to unlimited WiFi, but considering that Mr. Ebrard just signed an agreement with China's ZTE to get things moving, we'd say things are well on their way.
Sprint fills in a few more WiMAX deets
Ever since Sprint promised to blanket 100 million people with WiMAX by the end of 2008, we've been wondering just who exactly those people would be. Well, in addition to a few other specifics, Sprint is finally coming clean about nineteen of those markets. The promised cities are as follows: Motorola is prepping service for Chicago, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Indianapolis, Kansas City and Minneapolis; Samsung will develop Baltimore, Boston, Philadelphia, Providence and Washington D.C.; and Nokia will work on Austin, Dallas, Denver, Fort Worth, Portland, Salt Lake City, San Antonio and Seattle. There'll be more location info to come, but that should get us started nicely. Sprint is still promising the limited initial launch by the end of 2007, and that 100 million target for the 2008, but also has an April '08 goal for launching a "number" of markets. Today Sprint is also announcing that Samsung, ZTE and ZyXEL will be building WiMAX modems of the PC card, ExpressCard, USB and built-in varieties, and Sprint is also launching a new "WiMAX Device and Chipset Ecosystem" program for getting as many manufacturers on board as possible. Sprint says they'll be showing off Mobile WiMAX at its CTIA booth this week, so we'll be sure and peep what they've got.
ZTE's F908 clamshell with DVB-H
If there are two things we can't get enough of in this world, it's mobile TV and OLED displays behind mirrored acrylic covers; put the two features together, and you've got yourself a little slice of heaven. On that note we present ZTE's new F908, a clamshell out of China that seems to do both with poise. In this case, the mobile TV tech in question is DVB-H backed up by a pivoting display that should make viewing a more pleasurable experience, while a 3.6Mbps HSDPA radio keeps data flowing at a nice clip; of course, we don't expect to see the F908 around these parts any time soon, but if you happen to be on the other side of the world, keep an eye out for 'er.[Via Engadget Chinese]
