Sprint have announced two 4G Mobile Broadband Routers, aimed at personal and business users, for both WiMAX and EVDO Rev.A connectivity. The Sprint Personal Hotspot PHS300S supports up to four simultaneous WiFi connections, while the Cradlepoint MBR-1000 Broadband Router supports up to 32; each rely on one of the carrier’s USB modems for their 3G/4G connection.
Time Warner Cable announced today that they are still on track for bringing mobile WiMAX to the masses very soon.
The CEO of the company, Glenn Britt, noted that more details would be released in the near future, but the fall was shaping up to be the time for release for this mobile network.
The first cities lined up to receive mobile WiMAX will be Dallas and Charlotte. This new move is intended to appeal to current customers that are moving away from VoIP services and toward wireless-only lifestyles.
It seems a long time since we played with a non-functional prototype of Samsung’s Mondi WiMAX MID back at Mobile World Congress in February. Only last week the Windows Mobile 6.1 handheld saw its official launch, to take advantage of Clearwire’s slowly spreading CLEAR WiMAX network, so imagine our surprise when a Mondi dropped, unannounced, through the SlashGear letterbox. After the cut, check out our walkthrough video and an initial hands-on gallery, together with some early feedback in advance of our full review.
Well another week has come and gone as time steadily marches on and like every other week here on SlashGear, it has been a busy one. Poor old Toshiba took the old adage “if you can’t beat them, join them” seriously on Monday and announced that it would be launching its own Blu-ray player by the end of 2009. That had to be hard to swallow for the execs who bet it all on HD DVD only to be defeated by Blu-ray. Also on Monday the slick HP Mini 5101 netbooks tipped up starting from $399. I’m not convinced we need another netbook on the market right now personally.
If our review of Toshiba’s Portégé R600 this week tempted you into the company’s ultraportable range, but you prefer an added shot of WiMAX goodness, then you’ll be wanting to head over to Japan to pick up the company’s latest wireless-integrated model. The Japanese version of the R600, the Dynabook SS, will see its RX2/T9JMAJ WiMAX version (complete with a 128GB SSD) launch today, July 24th; Toshiba first announced the notebook back in June.
Samsung’s Mondi may be tricky to find for retail right now, but an early unit has dropped over at PC World for them to try out. Taking advantage of Clearwire’s CLEAR WiMAX network, the Mondi MID has a slide-out keyboard, 4.3-inch 800 x 480 touchscreen and runs Windows Mobile 6.1; unfortunately, reviewer Ginny Mies found that while the screen is “gorgeous” the keyboard is too flush to be comfortable and the OS does its usual job of making things sluggish.
Samsung have officially released their Mondi MID, the Windows Mobile based WiMAX handheld, to coincide with Clearwire’s CLEAR WiMAX service rolling out in Las Vegas. That takes the number of WiMAX markets to three, with Clearwire claiming around 1.7m residents have now been covered with the new service rollout.
NEC have announced that they will be supporting Moblin-based mobile devices and in-car PNDs with WiMAX functionality. The company already develops WiMAX mobile broadband modules and has recently unveiled a battery-powered WiMAX router; this new announcement will see Intel’s open-source Moblin OS get native support for the high-speed wireless technology.
It looks like bandwidth-loving Japanese buyers will be able to pick up Sony’s VAIO P WiMAX edition from the end of July, according to an advert over at the company’s customization site. First announced back in June, the WiMAX VAIO P will be available for pre-order from July 27th, with availability expected just three days later.
NEC have announced a new netbook, the LaVie Light Lui Mobile, an Atom N280 machine with the usual 10.1-inch 1024 x 600 display. There’s nothing much to differentiate this from the sea of other Atom netbooks, frankly; the best you’ll get is NEC’s own Lui Remote Desktop system, basically a branded VNC client.
SlashGear Japan
