There’s a new player in the eBook readers business. Asus has confirmed that it will launch new eReaders in March 2010. The company confirmed that these devices will come with features like WiFi, 3G and WiMAX connectivity. Why would we need WiMAX in an eBook reader anyway? We don’t have all the specs but it looks like Asus plans to launch two eBooks, a 6- and a 9-inch model. Asus will test those readers in Taiwan before they become available in Europe and the U.S. Unfortunately it’s too early for pricing details so you’ll just have to wait a while for them. Of course you could pick a Nook or a Kindle in the mean time and get your reading on.

via cens

The Japanese company NEC has presented one of the worlds smallest WiMAX routers with WiFi that have been produced until this day, at least according to “them”.

Also known as Aterm WM3300R, this router can go to speeds such as 40Mbps on downstream, and 10Mbps for upstream. While the main purpose of this small sized device is to use WiFi, you can use it on your computer thanks to a USB adapter.As for the lithium-ion battery, it can last 2.5 hours, but it can easily be recharged.

The NEC Aterm WM3300R will cost approximately $270 and will become available in April 2010.

Korean customers will be able to select two new handsets from KT in the near future. One is the LG Lilac, but the most interesting one is the Samsung Prism, a WiMAX-enabled phone which could find its way to Sprint soon.

The Prism will offer WCDMA, WiFi and WiMAX connectivity which means you’ll definitely be able to enjoy decent data speeds. We’ll be waiting for more details about the Prism once KT, or Sprint, will announce it.

The LG Liliac is the other phone coming from KT, and although it’s not WiMAX enabled it will do just fine in a 3G network. Just like the Prism, the Liliac remains secret for now, but we’ll be waiting for more specs to emerge soon.

via WMPowerUser

Don’t act so surprised, after all this was bound to happen sooner or later. Sprint counts on its WiMAX network to bring 4G speeds to its customers so we should get used to see various phones in the near future coming out with WiMAX capabilities. Naturally future Android phones will be WiMAX-enabled too. Sprint has just started its Android adventure and the carrier should definitely be interested in launching even more Android phones in the following years.

According to various analysts, Sprint is going to work with Samsung on WiMAX Android phones and the manufacturer should have the first Android phone capable of both 3G and 4G connectivity by the time Clearwire reaches 100 million subscribers. That should happen by the end of 2010 at which point we should assume that Sprint and Clearwire will have brought WiMAX to most U.S. markets.

via pcworld

If you’re looking for 4G speeds than ClearWire is the way to go for now. The company has deployed WiMAX in ten new markets, most of them around Texas. WiMAX is now available in eight Texan markets: Abilene, Amarillo, Corpus Christi, Killeen/Temple, Lubbock, Midland/Odessa, Waco and Wichita Falls but it’s also available in Boise, Idaho or Bellingham, Washington.

If you live in any of those areas then get ready to grab some WiMAX equipment as there’s plenty of gear to choose from. In case your city doesn’t have WiMAX coverage just yet then keep following us as we’ll bring you all the updates from ClearWire soon.

via Press

If you’re getting ready to go back to school to the Northern Michigan University then you’re in for a pleasant surprise. NMU has decided to partner up with Motorola in order to offer campus-wide WiMAX connectivity. Like that’s not enough for a nice gesture, the university will also offer 3,000 ThinkPads which are, of course, WiMAX ready. That means 1 in 3 students will get a brand new laptop from the university capable of high speed connectivity while in campus. If you won’t be getting one of those ThinkPads then don’t be sad! Laptop and desktop WiMAX adapters will be available to anyone else. The network will have a radius of some 30 miles so you’ll have plenty of WiMAX coverage. And so will other local schools and municipal offices.

via Motorola

Sprint has recently come forth to announce that their 4G network, also known as WiMAX, has gone live in Las Vegas, NV, Portland, OR and Atlanta, GA.

While most handsets have yet to support 4G connectivity, Sprint ships various broadband mobile packages including plans that start at $69.99 for unlimited trasnfer.

Now common Sprint, let’s see some WiMAX enabled phones!

Although a little late, it looks like Sprint’s WiMAX plans for 2009 have been leaked. The carrier should definitely be interested in launching its 4G network in as many markets as fast as possible. 2010 is almost here and we all know that’s the year when other carriers will embrace LTE as their chosen 4G technology. Verizon is rumored to be working hard on deploying its LTE network in the first quarter of 2010 therefore Sprint has to be working even harder to cover as much ground as possible. When the time comes to make a choice, what 4G network will you select? Is it going to be the already deployed WiMAX network from Sprint or the upcoming LTE networking coming from Verizon? Keep in mind that this roadmap hasn’t been confirmed so far by Sprint, so WiMAX might not be available in your region by the end of the year.

via engadget

Time Warner Cable seems more and more interested in WiMAX and the company will deploy WiMAX networks in four U.S. markets by the end of the year. For now we only know two locations: Charlotte, NC and Dallas, TX. And Time Warner should definitely hurry up as Clearwire is working hard on WiMAX deployment too and Comcast has already started WiMAX trials in Portland and Oregon with Atlanta, Chicago and Philadelphia to follow soon.

Prices haven’t been announced so far but you can expect to pay anywhere from $20 to $50 per month. What do you think? Ready for some 4G action?

via pcworld

What’s a Mondi? Well it’s a MID which was just launched by Samsung. One of the most important features of the device is the WiMAX support. And we’ve just seen that Clearwire has just launched the WiMAX service in Las Vegas today while other markets will follow soon. That only means we should get ready for more WiMAX-ready gadgets coming from Samsung and not only.

Besides that WiMAX connectivity the Mondi will offer you WiFi connectivity, a full QWERTY keyboard, multimedia features, GPS navigation, turn by turn directions, Opera 9.5 and a 4.3-inch touchscreen.

The device will be available starting with August 1 in various Clearwire and Best Buy stores but we have no prices for you at this time.

via Press

If you’re heading to Las Vegas this time of year then you should know that the CLEAR WiMAX service is now available in the greater Las Vegas area. Clearwire has deployed the new network and that means that over 1.7 million people living in about 638 square miles can now use the service. So if you have a device capable of taking advantage of WiMAX speeds then you absolutely need to pack it with you. And since you are leaving for Las Vegas, make sure you don’t gamble your WiMAX mobile device.

via clearwire

LaVie Light Lui Mobile

NEC have announced a new netbook, the LaVie Light Lui Mobile. It is an Atom N280 device with the regular 10.1-inch 1024 x 600 display. There is not much to distinguish this from the range of other Atom netbooks. Storage is 160GB while RAM is 1GB, and there is both Bluetooth 2.1+EDR and WiFi b/g. A 1.3-megapixel webcam and microphone are integrated, and battery life is approximated at up to 8.5hrs.

If you happen to wake up in Portland tomorrow then you might notice Comcast’s new service. The company is going to launch the High-Speed 2go WiMax service and anyone interested in it should try it.

Looking for prices? Well the Fast Pack Metro service costs $49.99 per month for one year and it will offer you access to Comcast’s 12Mbps home Internet service, a free WiFi router and access to Sprint’s 4G 4Mbps WiMax network. In case you’re ready to pay $20 per month more, you can upgrade to the Fast Pack Nationwide service which will offer you nationwide 3G mobile Internet access too. And if you’re a Triple Play customer then the WiMax service alone is available for $30 per month. The service will roll out in Atlanta, Chicago and Philadelphia by the end of the year so all you have to do is wait!

via Press

I guess Sprint is finally ready to offer Android devices to its subscribers. And we hear that among the handsets considered the HTC Hero and an unknown yet Samsung Android phone with 4G support.

The Hero is in testing right now and Sprint could launch it by the end of the year. What’s more interesting is a Samsung Android phone which will have WiMAX support besides the regular CDMA connectivity. Is that going to be the first 4G Android phone? We have no clear details just yet but we’re hoping someone will clear the air soon!

via phonenews

As we said before it looks like Sprint’s exclusivity deal for the Palm Pre will last only about six months. After that Verizon and AT&T will probably start selling it too so Sprint needs another great and, more importantly, exclusive phone for its subscribers.

SmarTrend, a market analysis firm, says that Sprint is getting ready to launch a mystery phone which will be capable of connecting to any type of network weather it’s CDMA, WiFi or WiMax. In other words Sprint will be working on a phone ready to make the transition from 3G to 4G. We should know more about the phone later this year or in 2010 and we’re curios to see which manufacturer is working for Sprint this time. Is it Palm again?

We have got a few more specs and a video to show Samsung’s upcoming WiMAX tablet, the SWD-M100 Mondi, thanks to Phonescoop, who had a chance to play around with the device recently at the CTIA 2009. Now we know that it runs on Windows Mobile 6.1, has a 3-megapixel camera, the QWERTY keypad which we already knew, a pretty big touchscreen display, Bluetooth, WiFi, and of course WiMax. Enjoy the video below:

Samsung wants a piece of all that WiMAX action and who can blame them. Sprint is going to increase the number of WiMAX-ready markets in the USA and people are going to need appropriate devices to handle the new speed.

Samsung is working on the first handheld WiMAX device for the USA, the SWD-M100 Mondi. It seems that Samsung thinks it’s going to do a better job at building a WiMAX tablet than Nokia and since it has plenty of experience at building laptops and cell phones it might actually be right. We have no official news about the Mondi since Samsung hasn’t released any official announcement yet.

via phonescoop

Sprint seems ready to take its WiMAX network to the next level. If you want fast mobile broadband you should either move to Baltimore where the service is active or wait for 2009 and to 2010 for WiMAX to arrive in your city. This year Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Ft. Worth, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Portland and Seattle will get the 4G upgrade while next year Boston, Houston, New York, San Francisco and Washington D.C. will receive the WiMAX. And according to Sprint “several new 4G devices planned for 2009 and 2010, including a single-mode 4G data card, embedded laptops, a small-office-home-office broadband modem and a tri-mode phone.”

Sprint doesn’t seem ready to bet all its money on WiMAX and the carrier will also develop an LTE network. At least that’s what we can assume after hearing John Polivka, speaking for Sprint recently. He has not confirmed nor denied the fact that Sprint is working on LTE besides WiMAX. What he did say is that

as a prudent technology development organization, [Sprint
] is always collecting competitive information about various technologies / equipment to monitor and asses the competitive landscape and any potential impacts to Sprint’s plans.

Is Sprint covering all the bases or what? Everyone else likes LTE so we should assume we’re going to have lots of 4G LTE phones in the future.

via gigaom

Even if Nokia is more interested in LTE than WiMAX, Clearwire will continue its WiMAX network expansion. Together with Sprint, Clearwire will launch the “Clear” WiMAX service in Las Vegas, Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Baltimore, Seattle, Honolulu and Charlotte in 2009. New York, Boston, Washington D.C, Houston and the San Francisco Bay Area will get the 4G network by next year. WiMAX should arrive in more than 80 markets by 2010 so get ready to embrace it!

In the mean time all WiMAX subscribers will receive a 3G/4G modem this summer. That way they will be able to connect both to Sprint’s EV-DO Rev A and to Clearwire’s 4G WiMAX network.

via Clearwire