Filed under: Peripherals, T-Mobile, HSDPA, UMTS

T-Mobile has just released a PC card for UK subscribers that will allow them to hop on the company’s HSDPA network when it goes live, and will also work immediately to access UMTS-speed data services. The purchase of a “web’n'walk” card, which has a quad-band radio for international — including US — use, also includes twelve free months of WiFi access at any of T-Mob’s UK Hotspots. Customers subscribing to 18 or 24 month data contracts at 17 pounds/month will receive the card for free, but need to keep an eye on their usage, as the fine print states that T-Mobile will warn, and possibly even shut off, customers who download more than 2GB of data in a given billing period.

[Via CoolSmartPhone]

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Filed under: Handsets, Multimedia, Samsung, Vodafone, GSM, HSDPA, UMTS

Slashphone’s got the inside dirt on a new feature-filled Samsung clamshell coming to Vodaphone Germany, whose claim to fame is surely its ability to hop on Voda’s high-speed HSDPA network. You get more than zippy web browsing with the SGH-ZV50 — which gets its design from another Sammy handset, the V7400 — however, as this clamshell also sports a two megapixel camera, 40MB of internal memory plus microSD slot, and a set of dedicated music controls on the front of the flip. Exclusively available to Vodafone customers, the ZV50 will probably be most popular in Hanover, Dorf, Munich, and Frankfort, which is where the company currently offers 5GB of HSDPA usage per month for what appears to be 49 euros. No pricing or launch date for the handset itself, but Slashphone tells us that it will be in stores “very soon.”

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Filed under: Multimedia, Software, Windows Mobile

If citizen journalists have been waiting on live broadcasts from 3G Windows Mobile phones to DVB-H receivers to begin their revolution of fair, balanced, and cute-cat-centric news, the time has come. ComVu, in conjunction with Modeo, has just announced their PocketCaster software for Windows Mobile 5.0 that uses Windows Media codecs to transmit live video to DVB-H users. Modeo hopes to provide those users, with their DVB-H smartphone and networks already in the works. Details are sparse, but we're guessing that video will have to make a stop at a central location before it gets sent out over the DVB-H infrastructure, so there's always the chance that someone might try to cut out the thirty minutes of feline napping in our latest documentary epic -- but we can feel the tides of power shifting.

[Via The Web To Go]

Filed under: Laptops, Wireless

With most manufacturers concentrating on making smartphones ever-smaller, it's refreshing to see Fujitsu-Siemens flip the script and release what may be the world's biggest Windows-powered handset, eschewing CE for XP in the process. Actually, F-S is marketing the six-pound Lifebook E8210 as a laptop, what with its 15.4-inch, 1,680 x 1,050 display, 2GB of RAM, and full-size keyboard, but any data-centric device that can make cellphone calls (thanks to the built in HSDPA-compatible 3G card) is a smartphone in our book. Whatever you wanna call it, the E8210 impresses on many fronts, says Trusted Reviews, who give the 2.16GHz, Core Duo T2600-powered model nine out of ten stars, highlighting its connectivity (802.11/a/b/g, Bluetooth, HSDPA/UMTS/EDGE/GPRS, PCMCIA/ExpressCard slot, four USB, and even serial, parallel, and D-SUB ports), security (fingerprint reader and Smartcard), and benchmark performance. The only downsides here seem to be the lack of a 3G CDMA option and the ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 graphics, which definitely makes this Lifebook anathema to gamers -- but at over $3,500, the E8210 is clearly being targeted at corporate, and not LAN party, deployment.

Filed under: Handsets, Cingular, GSM, EDGE, HSDPA, UMTS

Filed under: Handhelds, Laptops, Tablet PCs

What do you get when you mix one part OQO, one part Sidekick, and add a touch of UMPC? Apparently you get Averatec's new AHI concept device, that's what. Expected to be launched this fall for as little or as much as €500 or €900 ($600 or $1,090 US) depending on options, Averatec's aiming to launch their device with XP, a touchscreen (which we assume will take advantage of Microsoft's Touch Pack UMPC suite), WiFi, GPS, 3G data, and a six hour battery life in a 7.3 x 3.5 x 1.3-inch 24 ounce package. So yeah, basically this device might single-handedly solve just about every complaint the UMPC community (and we) have: price, battery life, keyboard, and wireless data. We'll believe it when we see it though, so keep your eyes out for Averatec this fall.

[Via The Reg, thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Filed under: Peripherals, EV-DO

We've still yet to hear of any solid 3G ExpressCard device releases as yet (we were kind of hoping CTIA would have yielded at least one or two), but Om seems to have the scoop on a Novatel EV-DO ExpressCard 34 launch for May -- whose most obvious application right now is, of course in Apple MacBook Pros. Granted, we wouldn't be in this predicament if Apple had just followed through with internal integrated 3G like so many other laptop manufacturers, but hey, you've got what we've got, and we'll takes what we can gets. There's no way of knowing, however, when the cards will hit the market with Sprint or Verizon even if Novatel launches their card in May, so stay tuned.

[Via TUAW, image via EVDOinfo]

Filed under: Cellphones, Laptops, Peripherals, Wireless

We've still yet to hear of any solid 3G ExpressCard device releases as yet (we were kind of hoping CTIA would have yielded at least one or two), but Om seems to have the scoop on a Novatel EV-DO ExpressCard 34 launch for May -- whose most obvious application right now is, of course in Apple MacBook Pros. Granted, we wouldn't be in this predicament if Apple had just followed through with internal integrated 3G like so many other laptop manufacturers, but hey, you've got what we've got, and we'll takes what we can gets. There's no way of knowing, however, when the cards will hit the market with Sprint or Verizon even if Novatel launches their card in May, so stay tuned.

[Via TUAW, image via EVDOinfo]

Filed under: Handsets, GSM, EV-DO, UMTS, CDMA

In a move sure to excite both business travelers and wandering geeks, Qualcomm announced earlier this week that it expects to ship chips for high-speed world phones by the end of this year. Handsets with the new Qualcomm chipsets will be able to access both EV-DO services on CDMA networks as well as W-CDMA-powered GSM UMTS networks, effectively allowing for 3G connections almost anywhere in the world. Even customers not willing to shell out the big bucks that these first models will cost will still benefit from the new chips, as prices on current-gen 2G and 2.5G world phones will drop accordingly as a result of their new mid-tier market status.

Filed under: Handsets, Kyocera, CDMA

src="http://www.engadget.com/media/2006/04/7264_large.jpg" alt="" />Just over a year ago, href="http://engadget.com/2005/03/15/kyocera-and-boingo-teaming-up-on-wifi-cellphones/">Kyocera dropped the
press-bomb related to partnering with Boingo to develop 3G cellphones with built-in WiFi. Now they’re showing off a
BREW-based WiFi/CDMA prototype at CTIA which allows public WiFi roaming, on the Boingo WiFi network, natch-urally. No
doubt you might be wondering what Boingo, a WiFi hotspot consolidator, brings to the table. Well, that’d be software,
which can automatically choose whether the 3G connection or access to one of Boingo’s 30-odd-thousand global WiFi
hotspots is the best option "for a given time and circumstance." Hey great, but why limit the software to
just this handset, when there are so many WiFi enabled
phones coming to market?

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Filed under: Peripherals, Motorola, EV-DO, CDMA

Looks like Moto's jumping in the 3G WiFi router arena too soon enough, only their new NC800 isn't kind enough to the user to be carrier-independent and have a PC card slot for your choice of wireless broadband. No, the NC800 is straight up EV-DO Rel. 0, and comes also with your usual 802.11b/g, Ethernet ports, and firewall. Nothing special or out of the ordinary, in other words, but maybe if they get the price down to something reasonable they'll be able to snag a few customers.

Filed under: Handsets, Samsung, GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS

In the event 6.9, 9.9, and 12.9mm choices aren’t enough for you in Samsung’s fashion- and feature-conscious “Ultra Edition” lineup, fear not: a pair of new 3G choices add some beef that might be more to your liking. First up is the Ultra Edition 11.8 (alias “Z620″), a bright magnesium-clad flip that offers a 2-megapixel camera, 138MB of internal memory plus microSD expansion, and a QVGA display. If sliders are your cup of tea, the Ultra Edition 13.5 re-ups the cam to 3 megapixels, adds another 12MB of memory for a total of 150MB and retains the 11.8′s expansion slot. Look for both models to drop in December.

[Via Slashphone]

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Filed under: Multimedia, MVNOs

Mobile ESPN might not have attracted quite the following they’d have hoped for so far, but that’s certainly not to say they won’t keep on keepin’ on. In a deal with potentially broad-reaching implications for 3G data, MVNOs, and mobile entertainment in general, the sports-oriented carrier has announced plans to broadcast live college football games to their handsets, with as many as 25 planned for the 2006 season. Details are slim for the picking — including the all-important question of pricing — but if they can get this feature out the door for little or no additional cost on top of their basic service plans, we can definitely see this winning a few converts (not to mention flooding Sprint’s EV-DO pipes in the process).

[Via Moco News]

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Filed under: Handsets, Samsung, GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS

We’re always willing to sacrifice a couple millimeters to add 3G data to our handset, particularly when said handset clocks in at a positively anorexic 6.9mm thick. Samsung’s hoping its European customers agree, taking their paper-thin X820, adding UMTS, and rechristening it the SGH-Z370. Besides the addition of some wicked fast data, the Z370 throws in a microSD slot for good measure, all while adding a mere 1.5mm to the thickness of the phone — that still leaves it a good 2.6mm thinner than a SLVR, for the record. We don’t expect the Z370 to come in an American flavor, but for what it’s worth, it did just hop the FCC fence this week.

[Thanks, TC]

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Filed under: Handsets, Reviews, HTC, Windows Mobile, GSM, GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA, UMTS

Windows Mobile users that think they might dig the Hermes, but would like to see HTC dial down the keyboard factor and dial up the… uh, cute factor, are about to find their soulmate in the Trinity. The device (shown here in its self-branded P3600 incarnation) ends up getting a lot of love in this review, earning props for its Swiss Army Knife-like connectivity options, quality of construction, and chassis design. Performance proves to be on par with its Hermes sibling, though battery life was inexplicably worse — despite having more juice on board. The reviewer chalks up the discrepancy to the review unit being a prototype, which seems fair enough. The lack of a keyboard may ultimately doom the Trinity to niche markets, but with HSDPA, Bluetooth 2.0, and 802.11g all packed into an unusually great looking device, we might just be willing to go back to character recognition.

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Filed under: Handsets, HTC, Windows Mobile, GSM, GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA, UMTS

Amidst a flurry of recent product announcements (and leaks) out of the HTC camp, their king-of-the-hill Universal (pictured) kinda got lost in all the hubbub. What’s next for the psuedo-laptop of the Windows Mobile world? MoDaCo is reporting that the “Omni” will serve as the Hermes to the Universal’s Wizard (if you will) by taking the Universal form factor, tacking on an HSDPA radio, and swapping out the Intel processor for a speedier Samsung core. As an added bonus, the Omni should be a bit slimmer than the model it replaces and rock Windows Mobile 5 AKU3, giving hope that the device will have VGA out capability. If HTC can finalize the specs in short order, we could allegedly see this thing as early as the end of this year, though 1H 2007 seems the more likely target.

[Via Pocket PC Thoughts]

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Filed under: Handsets, HTC, Windows Mobile, GSM, GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA, UMTS

If our thumbs are a little cramped today, it’s from incessantly trying to turn on this mockup (yeah, we found out a little late) of HTC’s curvy Trinity at CTIA. Technically, we suppose this particular example lacks any sort of connectivity, but its production siblings manage to pack the trifecta of Bluetooth 2.0, HSDPA, and 802.11g all into one of HTC’s best looking packages to date. That “BRAND” placeholder in the upper left got us to wondering: just how much would it lay us out to do a run of Engadget-branded pieces? If we have to ask, we’re guessing we can’t afford it.

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Filed under: T-Mobile

According to an article published late yesterday in eWeek, T-Mobile is expected to hold a press conference on Friday where the company will supposedly announce its first foray into UMTS, finally catching up with its rivals on the 3G bandwagon. However, assuming these rumors are true, T-Mobile will allegedly announce UMTS and/or HSDPA on the 1700MHz and 2100MHz bands — part of the spectrum that it snatched up just a few weeks ago. But despite a relatively quick announcement, Phil Redman, a Gartner analyst, says that it will take T-Mobile a year and half to roll out UMTS service nationally. Even still, given that a small number of Engadget editors are T-Mobile subscribers, we can’t wait to really feel the difference between the existence we’re ekeing out on EDGE and that new UMTS or HSDPA über-hotness.

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Filed under: T-Mobile, HSDPA, UMTS

It’s going to be sometime mid 2007 when T-Mobile gets their much anticipated 3G network off the ground; thankfully, it looks like they’re moving right along, having announced both Nokia and Ericsson to be the providers of their UMTS network. Now even though the parent company of T-Mobile USA, Deutsche Telekom isn’t releasing any financial details of the contracts, first estimates are $2.66 billion to be spent over the next two or three years on its next-generation network. Having dropped a load of fat cash on thier precious towers, T-Mobile hopes to reach around 20% of the US market and grow its customer base upwards to 35 million by 2015.

[Thanks, TJ]

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