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Posts with tag hsdpa

T-Mobile clears everything up: 3G rollout (with data) is on in NYC


Great news, T-Mobile USA fans -- the roller coaster ride is finally over. After we thought T-Mobile's 3G network was but moments away from launching, we soon found that data may be left out. Oddly enough, a few reports hailing from the Big Apple claimed that data actually was included. At long last, the carrier is coming clean and announcing its official 3G rollout in the States. Unfortunately, the UMTS / HSDPA network is initially launching in New York City alone, but the good news is that data will be included and the operator expects the high-speed data network to "be available in cities where a majority of its subscribers currently use data services" by the year's end. Yeah, it's safe to celebrate now, we promise it's not a(nother) false alarm. Full release posted after the jump.

Nokia outs HSDPA 5320 and 5220 XpressMusic candybars, wake us when it's the Tube


While we patiently wait for Nokia's current, "no major new products" fiscal quarter to expire, we'll have to trudge through releases like these 5320 (left) and 5220 (your other left) candybars. As members of the XpressMusic range the devices themselves are fine. Unfortunately, fine isn't going to win back that 1% lost market share. The 3G HSDPA 5320 (€220 / $351) features dedicated music and N-Gage gaming keys, a 3.5-mm headphone jack, up to 24-hours of play time, up to 8GB of expandable storage, and a "Say and Play" voice controlled playlist; speak the name of the artist or song you want and the phone will play it. The (€160 / $255) 5220 removes the HSDPA but adds a lanyard... hoorah!? Expect both to land in Europe sometime in Q3 2008.

Super 3G hits 250Mbps downlink in NTT DoCoMo field test


Just think -- this time next year, we'll all look back at this milestone and wonder how on Earth we thought it was impressive. For now, however, we wouldn't blame you for high-fiving everyone around, as NTT DoCoMo has stretched the boundaries again with a recent Super 3G field test. Reportedly, the outfit was able to record "a downlink transmission rate of 250Mbps over a high-speed wireless network in an outdoor test of an experimental Super 3G system," and while it's not quite the 300Mbps we'd heard about before, you won't find us kvetching. If all goes to plan, the firm is hoping to "complete development of the technologies required for the eventual launch of a Super 3G network" by 2009, but who knows how long we Americans will have to wait to indulge after that.

Rogers slated to get Novatel X950D and MC950D data cards

Rogers seems set to sponge as much cake as they can out of your overtaxed mobile pockets with the announcement of two new HSPA data devices, the Novatel X950D and MC950D. We've seen the USB-friendly MC950D pop up before, but as a refresh: it rocks 7.2 Mbps triple-band HSPA, supports most popular OSes, quad-band GPRS / EDGE, and may well still be the world's smallest HSPA USB modem. The X950D, however, will be making its worldwide debut on the friendly Canadian provider's network, and we're sure a goodly pile of Canadians will be whooping it up at this news. Sporting triple-band HSPA, Mac and Windows-friendly, quad-band GPRS / EDGE, Novatel's newest express port product also features backwards compatibility with a handy PCMCIA adapter. Pricing on both is apparently the same: $49.99 on a three-year contract. Of course, with data rates what they are, that $50 is definitely gonna get you in a whole heap of trouble if you don't mind your bits.

Gigabyte intros HSDPA devices for Euro market


As expected (sort of), Gigabyte's GSmart division came packing at MWC this year with a small army of WinMo handsets ready to battle -- and this time, they're taking the war to Europe. The headliner is the MS808, featuring HSDPA and GPS alongside support for a healthy majority of the world's digital TV standards: DVB-T, DVB-H, T-DMB, and ISDB-T. Unfortunately, it doesn't actually feature the cool skeleton view currently showing up on GSmart's website, but you get the idea. Also being shown are the MS800, MS820, and MS804 -- the last of which looks suspiciously like the O2 Xda Denim -- all with the same integrated HSDPA and GPS as the MS808, but lacking the television tunerfest. Separately, Gigabyte announced that its phalanx of new handsets will feature Garmin's Mobile XT software and are all cocked and loaded to be unleashed on an unsuspecting (or at this point, suspecting, we suppose) European market in the near future, leaving the glut of Windows Mobile Professional hardware packed with more choice, more confusion, and arguably less differentiation than ever. There are worse problems to have, we suppose.

Read - GSmart Unveils 3.5G Mobile TV and GPS PDA Phones at Mobile World Congress 2008
Read - GSmart introduces 3.5G GPS PDA phones with GARMIN Mobile XT to European market

AT&T offers **free Option GT Ultra and GT Ultra Express HSUPA cards (**must sell soul)


Check it data fans, AT&T just announced a pair of new HSUPA LaptopConnect cards from Option. The GT Ultra goes type II PCMCIA while the GT Ultra Express is, you guessed it, destined for ExpressCard34 slots. Both cards are tri-band UMTS/HSPA 850/1900/2100MHz and quad-band GPRS/EDGE capable for BroadbandConnect speeds of about 600Kbps to 1.4Mbps on the way down or 500Kbps to 800Kbps back up the tubes. Those bands should get your suit connected in some 140 countries spanning the US, Europe, Japan and Korea. The cards are Mac and PC compatible and will set you back $50 0$ (for a limited time starting tomorrow) plus a two year contract of at least $60 per month. After you mail-in the appropriate rebate forms of course... which you'll probably forget to do.

RIM promises HSDPA BlackBerry, hints at touchscreen models


While rumors of a touchscreen BlackBerry are nothing new -- and hey, we've even got ourselves a patent to go on nowadays -- it's still encouraging to hear promising hints from the likes of RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie. When asked if RIM would release a touchscreen version of the BlackBerry, Balsillie sounded optimistic. "For sure we're looking at all kinds of different device packaging and presentation," he said. "I think getting religious on packaging is not the way to go, it's really user preference-oriented." Whether that means we'll be seeing an iPhone look-alike, or something completely different in the near future is yet to be seen, but at least we do have word that HSDPA is showing up in a BlackBerry near you before long: "Certainly going to HSDPA is something that's very important to us in the near term," said Balsillie.

Hands-on with Sony Ericsson's world-beating XPERIA X1


When we saw the XPERIA X1 announced yesterday we pretty much flipped our collective geeky lids, this handset is the stuff mobile dreams are made of. There is nothing to gripe about here and while our play date was short-lived -- and very supervised -- we did get a chance to peek at the rather unfinished UI, fit and finish, and did we mention the frickin' screen on this phone? Wah! It's like paper. This handset just can't come soon enough -- for those of you not listening earlier, that'll be late Q2 -- but until then you'll just have to live with pics.

AT&T's 2008 plans include 80 new cities with 3G, HSUPA network

Kind of makes those New Years resolutions of yours seem a bit silly now, but AT&T has some high hopes for 2008. While it mulls its own 700MHz options and leaves the C block to the likes of Verizon, the company plans to build out its 3G network into 80 more cities, which boosts the number to 350 "leading" markets in the US, a rollout AT&T has been sluggish to compete with Verizon and Sprint on. AT&T also pledges to complete its HSUPA network by the middle of the year for speedier uploads. AT&T's not giving many specifics on its future network plans, just that existing infrastructure improvements pave the way for HSPA+ and LTE in the "years to come." Let's hope those years come fast, these HD downloads we keep hearing about are liable to set a few cell towers on fire by year's end.

Samsung's G810 smartphone does Symbian, HSDPA, the dishes


Nokia really ought to keep on eye in the rear view mirror these days, as its Korean competitor is slowly creeping up from the back with entries like its latest media-oriented smartphone, the G810 -- a successor to the G800. The phone breaks from Samsung's fascination with Windows Mobile and goes the Symbian route, also touting HSDPA data, a 2.6-inch QVGA display, a 5-megapixel camera, GPS functions, WiFi, 150MB of memory (plus a microSD slot), and Bluetooth 2.0. The new handset is expected to be introduced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next week, and will likely retail for around €580. If you've been brushing up on your Czech, hit the read link for more in-depth info -- otherwise, you might want to stick to the via.

[Via Unwired View]

Polymer Vision's Readius e-ink phone coming mid-2008 to Italy


It seemed obvious back in mid-December of last year that Polymer Vision wasn't going to nail its timetable for production versions of the 3G-equipped, e-ink wonder known as the Readius. Now word is that the company will have a commercial version of the phone / e-book reader available sometime in mid-2008 in Italy via Telecom Italia -- provided that everything goes according to its diabolical plans. If you'll recall, the device features a foldable, grayscale, 5-inch QVGA display, and boasts a slew of features, including HSDPA, a 400MHz ARM CPU, and a battery life up to "six times longer" than current mobile phones. We'll admit we're intrigued, but don't make us wait too long over here, okay?

Rogers pushes Samsung Blackjack II out the door as Rogers "Jack"


We hardly like the name -- How about something a little catchier Ted? -- but Rogers' Jack will make up for it with a pile of features and some pretty decent pricing. We've been all over this guy before and this is indeed the same handset but with Rogers branding -- oh, and we're still not seeing WiFi. Pricing is set from $199, on a 3-year stint, $374 on two years, and $399 for a one year contract. Availability is listed as sold out so if you want to get your mitts on one, better line up, like right now.

Option intros iCON 225 USB modem for HSDPA


First generation 3G USB modems were monstrous, unsightly bricks, but like everything else in modern electronics, the wonders of miniaturization are starting to take effect. Option's joining the party with its iCON 225, a 63 x 26 x 13mm stick that Option says responds "to the growing market demand for very small yet high-performance wireless solutions" -- in other words, yeah, we like 'em tiny. HSUPA sadly doesn't make the cut here, but the iCON 225 does include support for a mighty 7.2Mbps of downstream data when hooked up to an HSDPA network that supports such blazingly fast speeds. The modem's already shipping to carriers, so look for it to start showing up in retail channels very shortly.

[Via Electronista]

DT501HS PC Card handles DVB-H and HSDPA

If you've ever wondered just how much functionality could be crammed into a single PC Card, it seems that Onda and Siano are out to give you an answer. Deemed the "world's first combined DVB-H / HSDPA card" for Italy's TIM, the DT501HS enables users to suck down mobile TV and internet content in one fell swoop, but we've no idea if / when this thing will be made available on any other carrier(s). Notably, this device relies on Siano's wee PCB-mounted SMS8021 antenna, which means that you won't find any external protrusions here. As for pricing, we weren't able to locate any hard figures, but those parked in Italy should be able to snap one up anytime now in TIM stores.

[Image courtesy of Cellular]

AT&T launches 3G in Hawaii, last reason not to live there eliminated

We don't typically report on Verizon launching EV-DO in some random market here or AT&T launching HSDPA in some other random market over there, but we figured this was a story worth picking up on. AT&T has now launched its 3G network services on the beautiful island of Oahu, striking down just one more reason why any human being might consider not living (or visiting) there. Then again, it could be argued that tropical islands should have as little connectivity as possible, so this may end up being more of a curse than a blessing after all. Bottom line: we might recommend "forgetting" your GT Max at home if you're trying to relax, k?




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