Showing posts with label Novatel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Novatel. Show all posts
Monday, June 22, 2009
We’ve been singularly cellularly obsessed here at SlashGear over the past seven days, and it’ll come as no surprise that the run-up to the iPhone 3G S has occupied much of our attention. The new Apple smartphone may not look much different to its predecessor, but if our hands-on first impressions are anything to go by, Cupertino have done their best to make the user-experience as polished as the casing. Still, it’s not just shiny Apple hardware that’s caught our eye this week; Novatel Wireless’ GSM MiFi 2352 piqued our interest when we talked to the company themselves on Monday, and then proceeded to impress us considerably in our full review.
Elsewhere, Nokia’s long-awaited N97 finally reached North American customers’ hands, ours included, and you can find our unboxing and first-impressions here. It’s a decent smartphone, and understandably the flagship of Nokia’s line, but can it hold up in the face of iPhone’s upgraded OS 3.0 software? We’ll have our full review this coming week.
If it’s a QWERTY keyboard you’re after, but you prefer your phones berry-flavored, then the news that both Verizon and Sprint would be offering the BlackBerry Tour 9630 in the near future will probably come as some relief. 3G, GPS, for all the specs check out the official RIM video. Finally, Samsung took the wraps off of the Omnia Pro B7610, complete with a glorious OLED touchscreen display and slide out ‘board.
It’s not all been smartphones, though. SlashGear sat in front of a small screen, in the shape of Fujitsu-Siemen’s Amilo Mini Ui 3520 netbook, and a big screen (albeit a virtual one) with the Q-London 3D 80″ Video Eyewear. Oh, and in the name of extreme destruction, we watched Lenovo’s ThinkPad T400s go head to head with a 26,000lb DOW truck. If you want to see whether a slender ultraportable notebook can cope with getting comfortable between rubber and gravel, check out the video.
Finally, Microsoft confirmed that the Zune HD PMP will use NVIDIA’s Tegra chipset, making us even more keen to see what this potential-iPod-killer (yes, we know, a cliché if ever there was one) brings to the table. And for your high-definition home entertainment, PopcornHour delivered their C200 Blu-ray ready media-streamer. If you’ve ever looked at your media collection and wished there was a set-top box that could handle it all without breaking a sweat, this is the gadget for you.
Elsewhere, Nokia’s long-awaited N97 finally reached North American customers’ hands, ours included, and you can find our unboxing and first-impressions here. It’s a decent smartphone, and understandably the flagship of Nokia’s line, but can it hold up in the face of iPhone’s upgraded OS 3.0 software? We’ll have our full review this coming week.
If it’s a QWERTY keyboard you’re after, but you prefer your phones berry-flavored, then the news that both Verizon and Sprint would be offering the BlackBerry Tour 9630 in the near future will probably come as some relief. 3G, GPS, for all the specs check out the official RIM video. Finally, Samsung took the wraps off of the Omnia Pro B7610, complete with a glorious OLED touchscreen display and slide out ‘board.
It’s not all been smartphones, though. SlashGear sat in front of a small screen, in the shape of Fujitsu-Siemen’s Amilo Mini Ui 3520 netbook, and a big screen (albeit a virtual one) with the Q-London 3D 80″ Video Eyewear. Oh, and in the name of extreme destruction, we watched Lenovo’s ThinkPad T400s go head to head with a 26,000lb DOW truck. If you want to see whether a slender ultraportable notebook can cope with getting comfortable between rubber and gravel, check out the video.
Finally, Microsoft confirmed that the Zune HD PMP will use NVIDIA’s Tegra chipset, making us even more keen to see what this potential-iPod-killer (yes, we know, a cliché if ever there was one) brings to the table. And for your high-definition home entertainment, PopcornHour delivered their C200 Blu-ray ready media-streamer. If you’ve ever looked at your media collection and wished there was a set-top box that could handle it all without breaking a sweat, this is the gadget for you.
Novatel Wireless’ MiFi intelligent personal hotspot was one of our top 5 gadgets from ShowStoppers back in April, and had floored us a few months earlier in Barcelona. Having released their CDMA EVDO Rev.A MiFi 2200 on Verizon and Sprint to very positive reaction, the company is now launching its GSM 3G HSPA model, the MiFi 2352. As well as the ability to share a single mobile broadband connection among up to five WiFi users, the MiFi 2352 brings a few new tricks to the table; check out the full SlashGear review after the cut.
For the full rundown of what’s in the MiFi box, check out our video unboxing. Basically, in its SIM-free form as you see here, Novatel Wireless supply a global power-adapter with various plug inserts, a USB to microUSB cable, rechargeable 1,530mAh battery and a small printed Getting Started guide. The MiFi 2352 supports various connection speeds, from quadband (850/900/1800/1900MHz) GPRS/EDGE up to triband (900/1900/2100MHz) UMTS HSUPA/HSDPA. Network-depending, you can theoretically see up to 7.2Mbps downlink rates and up to 5.76Mbps uplink rates.
There’s no driver disc, because there needn’t be any drivers. As standard Novatel require no connection manager – the software Verizon supply with their CDMA MiFi is their own decision; Sprint’s version uses no such app – presuming you’re using the 2352’s WiFi connection. Setup is as speedy as dropping in your SIM, holding down the single button until the lights begin blinking, and then waiting for the MiFi to start spitting out a wireless connection. The default SSID is a sensible “MiFi_2352″ and by navigating to “http://www.mifi” you access the device’s locally-hosted homepage showing the number of connected clients (up to 5 are supported simultaneously), connection details and battery status.
Since sharing a capped HSPA data connection via an unsecured WiFi network seems a recipe for overage charges or disconnection, the first step for most users will be accessing the admin pages and setting up WEP, WPA or WPA2 encryption. Thankfully that’s straightforward with the MiFi’s basic but speedy UI; there are also options for MAC filtering and recording various logs of WiFi connections and modem events. The MiFi can be loaded with up to six “internet profiles”, each with corresponding settings to a different SIM; that way, if you regularly switch between carriers (say, if traveling) then it’s simple to flick between the presets.
As on a full-sized router, there’s also port filtering support, the ability to set custom permitted applications, port forwarding, a switchable DHCP server and VPN pass-through support. Unlike a normal router there’s also an optional power management setting which can shut the MiFi down after between 2 or 60 minutes of idle time. Once you’ve made all the tweaks you want, you can backup the settings to a connected computer.
For the full rundown of what’s in the MiFi box, check out our video unboxing. Basically, in its SIM-free form as you see here, Novatel Wireless supply a global power-adapter with various plug inserts, a USB to microUSB cable, rechargeable 1,530mAh battery and a small printed Getting Started guide. The MiFi 2352 supports various connection speeds, from quadband (850/900/1800/1900MHz) GPRS/EDGE up to triband (900/1900/2100MHz) UMTS HSUPA/HSDPA. Network-depending, you can theoretically see up to 7.2Mbps downlink rates and up to 5.76Mbps uplink rates.
There’s no driver disc, because there needn’t be any drivers. As standard Novatel require no connection manager – the software Verizon supply with their CDMA MiFi is their own decision; Sprint’s version uses no such app – presuming you’re using the 2352’s WiFi connection. Setup is as speedy as dropping in your SIM, holding down the single button until the lights begin blinking, and then waiting for the MiFi to start spitting out a wireless connection. The default SSID is a sensible “MiFi_2352″ and by navigating to “http://www.mifi” you access the device’s locally-hosted homepage showing the number of connected clients (up to 5 are supported simultaneously), connection details and battery status.
Since sharing a capped HSPA data connection via an unsecured WiFi network seems a recipe for overage charges or disconnection, the first step for most users will be accessing the admin pages and setting up WEP, WPA or WPA2 encryption. Thankfully that’s straightforward with the MiFi’s basic but speedy UI; there are also options for MAC filtering and recording various logs of WiFi connections and modem events. The MiFi can be loaded with up to six “internet profiles”, each with corresponding settings to a different SIM; that way, if you regularly switch between carriers (say, if traveling) then it’s simple to flick between the presets.
As on a full-sized router, there’s also port filtering support, the ability to set custom permitted applications, port forwarding, a switchable DHCP server and VPN pass-through support. Unlike a normal router there’s also an optional power management setting which can shut the MiFi down after between 2 or 60 minutes of idle time. Once you’ve made all the tweaks you want, you can backup the settings to a connected computer.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Novatel Wireless’ MiFi 2352 is the third of the company’s “Intelligent Mobile Hotspots” that we’ve unboxed here on SlashGear, but unlike Verizon’s and Sprint’s the 2352 is a GSM/UMTS device rather than EVDO Rev.A. Launching today on Telefonica Espana [pdf link], the MiFi 2352 features 7.2Mbps HSDPA and 5.76Mbps HSUPA, sharing that connection out for up to five WiFi b/g clients. We caught up with Novatel in London today, to find out what else makes the MiFi 2352 special; you can also see the first video unboxing of the portable 3G router after the cut.
As with the Sprint and Verizon models, the concept behind the MiFi 2352 is simple: pay for one 3G mobile broadband connection, and share it between your various WiFi-enabled devices. The MiFi 2352 supports triband HSPA (900/1900/2100MHz) and quadband GPRS/EDGE (850/900/1800/1900MHz) together with A-GPS, WiFi b/g and WEP/WPA/WPA2 security. There’s also a microSDHC slot, which you can use to share files between the WiFi clients.
Novatel are particularly proud of the MiFi’s ability to quickly serve up a landing page. The complexity of that page depends on the carrier: Sprint and Verizon have used the default setup system (and Verizon also use a connection manager, though Sprint’s MiFi does without) whereas Telefonica have gone one step further and created a new landing page with full microSDHC access, shortcuts to the carrier’s support pages and widgets. Right now the widgets include geotagging and geosearch, but Novatel talked about cloud-based storage back at CES and it seems likely that an enabling widget for that will arrive soon enough.
As with the Sprint and Verizon models, the concept behind the MiFi 2352 is simple: pay for one 3G mobile broadband connection, and share it between your various WiFi-enabled devices. The MiFi 2352 supports triband HSPA (900/1900/2100MHz) and quadband GPRS/EDGE (850/900/1800/1900MHz) together with A-GPS, WiFi b/g and WEP/WPA/WPA2 security. There’s also a microSDHC slot, which you can use to share files between the WiFi clients.
Novatel are particularly proud of the MiFi’s ability to quickly serve up a landing page. The complexity of that page depends on the carrier: Sprint and Verizon have used the default setup system (and Verizon also use a connection manager, though Sprint’s MiFi does without) whereas Telefonica have gone one step further and created a new landing page with full microSDHC access, shortcuts to the carrier’s support pages and widgets. Right now the widgets include geotagging and geosearch, but Novatel talked about cloud-based storage back at CES and it seems likely that an enabling widget for that will arrive soon enough.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Virgin Mobile USA have announced a pay-as-you-go mobile broadband service, which will be exclusively available through Best Buy Mobile. Broadband2Go uses a Novatel Wireless EVDO Rev.A USB modem, and offers contract-free data from as little as $10; however, there are limits over how that data access can be used.
The USB modem itself will be priced at $149.99 when it goes on sale from late June. On top of that, you can buy 100MB of data use for $10, 250MB for $20, 500MB for $40 and 1GB for $60; all but the 100MB package expire after 30 days, with the cheapest offering needing to be used within 10 days. Virgin Mobile have designed a new monitoring site, which can be used to track data use, when your package will expire, and to buy more access.
Compatible with Macs and PCs, the dongle also includes a microSD slot happy with up to 16GB cards. Virgin Mobile USA use Sprint’s data network, so anywhere they have coverage you should be good to go. This is really a deal for anyone unwilling or unable to sign a data contract: for the money, regular users will get a better deal committing to two years.
The USB modem itself will be priced at $149.99 when it goes on sale from late June. On top of that, you can buy 100MB of data use for $10, 250MB for $20, 500MB for $40 and 1GB for $60; all but the 100MB package expire after 30 days, with the cheapest offering needing to be used within 10 days. Virgin Mobile have designed a new monitoring site, which can be used to track data use, when your package will expire, and to buy more access.
Compatible with Macs and PCs, the dongle also includes a microSD slot happy with up to 16GB cards. Virgin Mobile USA use Sprint’s data network, so anywhere they have coverage you should be good to go. This is really a deal for anyone unwilling or unable to sign a data contract: for the money, regular users will get a better deal committing to two years.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
