3G is so Monday. Today, NXP Semiconductors is getting down with the "world's fastest high-bandwidth cellular soft modem," which will obviously be aimed at smartphones, MIDs and other handhelds thirsting for WWAN. Notably, the PNX6910 supports multi-mode LTE / HSPA / UMTS / EDGE / GPRS / GSM capability, and it's reportedly capable of achieving data transfer rates of 150Mbits down and 50Mbits up. To put things in perspective, NXP suggests that users could download an "entire HD movie in less than 7 minutes," though we're not sure what constitutes an "entire movie." Oh, and before you get too excited in here, you should probably know that the chip won't even be available until Q2 2009 at the earliest.

3GSM's "3G For All" campaign lives on in the hearts and minds of companies around the globe that are looking to capitalize on developing nations' nascent 3G networks, and this little gem is a pretty good start. Purple Labs, a purveyor of mobile Linux software stacks, has teamed up with NXP Semiconductors to announce the "Purple Magic" reference design, a flip phone that features 3G data, video calling, media playback, Bluetooth, and a Java virtual machine for a purely theoretical retail price of under $100. Though there's no telling who'll pick up the platform -- or when, for that matter -- it's good to see that companies have their eyes on the prize and have the technology and know-how to get high speed devices pumped out for pretty dirt cheap. Look for the Purple Magic to make its public debut at MWC later this month.

[Via MobileTechNews]

Chances are, you had forgotten all about Sony and NXP's little initiative to cooperate on a NFC (near-field communications) standard, but the two seem to have finally worked out all the kinks and are ready to move forward. The joint venture, dubbed Moversa, will seek to "drive global adoption of contactless smart card applications in mobile phones," and it's already planning to develop, produce and market a Universal Secure Access Module (U-SAM) that "incorporates both MIFARE and FeliCa operating systems and applications." Essentially, the duo is hoping to accelerate the adoption of integrated contactless support, which would enable users to make payments (among other things) easily via their handset. If you're curious about availability, we're hearing that samples should be shipped out in mid-2008, but commercial deployments aren't scheduled to happen until the end of next year.

[Via Yahoo / Reuters]

We knew NXP and T3G were working on an automatic handover between TD-SCDMA and GSM, and now both firms are buddying up with Samsung to gloat about the unveiling of the "world's first" TD-SCDMA HSDPA / GSM multi-mode handset. The celebrated mobile is being dubbed the Samsung SGH-T578H, which is equipped with a software-defined modem capable of achieving data transfer rates of 2.8Mbps. TD-SCDMA network deployments have already been completed in ten major cities in China, and it should be upgraded to support Release 5 (HSDPA) of the TD-SCDMA standard in time for users to enjoy streaming content from the Beijing Olympics. Regrettably, there's no mention as to when the aforementioned mobile will be released, but we're sure this trio won't let it go unnoticed should that day come.

[Via MobileTechNews, image courtesy of 163]

It sounds like the days of dropped calls and endless frustration when leaving TD-SCDMA coverage and entering a GSM realm are nearing an end, as Beijing's T3G Technology and NXP Semiconductors have introduced the "world's first voice automatic handover of multi-mode TD-SCDMA and GSM/GPRS/EDGE in a handset." Just as it sounds, the technology will provide bi-directional on-the-fly, automatic handovers between TD-SCDMA and GSM networks, and any equipped mobile can "automatically scan for available networks" and switch over when necessary "without any adverse effects." Apparently, the two firms have already validated the claims on a number of Chinese network environments, but we've no idea how soon this peace making creation will get rolled out to the masses.

Using cellphones to pay for stuff via NFC (near-field communications) is certainly nothing new; Sony, for one, has been doing it for years with its FeliCa system in Japan. Regardless of how dominant FeliCa or NXP's Mifare are, though, standardization is always a welcome move in an industry that hasn't quite taken off yet on a global scale. Sony and NXP have committed to putting their noggins together to come up with a unified standard for NFC payments that will ultimately support both FeliCa and Mifare-based equipment, while also bringing together two of the most widely-deployed systems to date. Given that both Sony and NXP parent Philips are members of the NFC Forum, we have hope that this announcement lines up nicely with that group's efforts, too, rather than going against the grain with a parallel effort. Not to say we'd put that kind of buffoonery past Sony, of course.