Vegas -- Engadget Mobile

vegas posts

CLEAR WiMAX goes live in Las Vegas, Samsung Mondi ships to take advantage

by Darren Murph posted Jul 21st 2009 @ 10:06AM

Looking for one more excuse to stay inside and avoid that sweltering Las Vegas heat this summer? Good news, gamblers -- Clearwire's CLEAR WiMAX service has officially gone live across 638 square miles in the greater Las Vegas area. By the books, that's serving right around 1.7 million residents, not including the influx of tourists from other WiMAX-equipped cities that will undoubtedly take advantage. To coincide with the launch, Samsung has also announced that its QWERTY-packin', DivX-friendly Mondi -- which we toyed with back at CTIA -- will be available in Vegas-area Best Buy and Clearwire outlets starting August 1st. Said MID arrives with 4G support, WiFi, GPS, 3 megapixel camera, a QWERTY keypad, a 4.3-inch touchscreen, Opera 9.5 and a customizable set of widgets on top of Windows Mobile. The device is supposedly available now through Samsung's website and "select Samsung authorized distributors," but we're having no lucky hunting one down at present time.

Read - CLEAR in Las Vegas
Read - Samsung Mondi shipping

Gallery: CLEAR WiMAX goes live in Las Vegas, Samsung Mondi ships to take advantage

Clearwire sneaks WiMAX into Las Vegas, won't admit it until Summer

by Ross Miller posted Jun 10th 2009 @ 3:51AM

Clearwire's been slowly planting its WiMAX seeds around the country, and with nary a peep, it's rolled out the service into the Las Vegas area, designated by the image above. According to a company rep, the "official" launch -- including new store openings and a marketing blitz -- will begin this summer, but for now, it's operational and ready for those in the know. Portland and Atlanta vacationers, you can now watch your online bank account dwindle faster than you ever could before.

[Via Fierce Wireless; thanks, Zachery]

Read - Clearwire Goes Soft in Vegas
Read - Clear coverage map

T-Mobile's HTC Touch wannabe, the Vairy Touch, gets handled

by Chris Ziegler posted May 7th 2009 @ 4:05AM

Yeah, it may be a dead ringer for the original HTC Touch, but the ZTE-sourced Orange Vegas / T-Mobile Vairy Touch has at least one thing going for it: it's dirt cheap. Mobil.vz's quick take of the full touchscreen handset points out that it runs just 1,500 koruny (about $75) and slaps a totally original user interface on a totally familiar body. Touchscreen accuracy is apparently quite good, though it takes quite a bit of pressure to activate -- an all-too-common problem with low-end resistive displays -- and the stylus sucks, but the browser's surprisingly good and the whole package is tiny and light. The reviewer ends up seeming almost bummed that the phone isn't offered by any Czech carriers, so we suppose it could be a decent choice for what it is -- just don't expect to see a WinMo startup screen when you flip the switch.

Keepin' it real fake, part CCI: dirty Vegas plays Orange UK

by Chris Ziegler posted Apr 24th 2009 @ 12:28PM

Attention, Orange and the random supplier who's manufacturing these ripoffs: the world has moved on from the original HTC Touch's design language. Hell, we've actually moved on twice now; once to the Touch Diamond, and once to the Touch Diamond2. On that note, we're not sure what's possessing a Western European carrier to release a cheesy rip of a such a well-known late model phone -- whose manufacturer Orange has a great relationship with, no less -- other than the fact that they're looking to give entry-level customers a really inexpensive way to get into the touchscreen game. Indeed, the prepaid device will apparently run just £48.50 (about $71) when it launches, but in return, you're only getting a 1.3 megapixel camera, presumably EDGE data, and the mocking of everyone you've ever known -- including your own mother, who we understand uses an actual HTC Touch.

[Via mobile-review]

Update: If T-Mobile UK is more your style, turns out they're offering the very same device as the Vairy Touch. Thanks, everyone!

Card counting iPhone app frowned upon in Vegas

by Darren Murph posted Feb 17th 2009 @ 4:47PM

Usually, it's Apple who has the problem with a potential app. Now, it's The Man taking issue with one that Cupertino deemed fit for distribution. Nevada gaming officials have been tipped off a card counting application that can be installed on the iPhone and iPod touch, which would obviously give Blackjack gamers an upper-hand over the system. According to control board member Randy Sayre, using a device to "aid in the counting of cards is considered a felony under Nevada laws governing cheating," and considering that the program can even be used in "stealth mode," it could be easy to miss unless you're really on the lookout. Of course, it's up to individual casinos to determine their policies on cellphones, but if you were planning to counter this recession by racking up on ten straight 21s this weekend, you might want to seriously consider the consequences first.

[Via TUAW]

T-Mobile 3G is live in Vegas, baby

by Joshua Fruhlinger posted Aug 6th 2008 @ 10:17AM

That's right, kids, T-Mobile launched 3G data in Vegas this morning. The 1700MHz AWS 3G network went live for phones that can hit the UMTS 3G data stream, and if your phone is one of those, you may want to look for the pretty little icon and start doing some Intertron browsing. T-Mobile still expects to hit another 20 markets this year (along with some new handsets), so if you're not in Sin City, be patient -- 3G is coming.

Motorola VE20 "Vegas" for Sprint is cheaper, less exciting than actual Vegas

by Chris Ziegler posted Jul 8th 2008 @ 9:50AM

Anyone looking to relive the original RAZR's glory years without making the monumental leap up to the RAZR 2 might keep a close eye on Sprint over the next little while. The FCC has revealed the VE20 "Vegas," a flip that smacks of the V3's design cues while taking an ever-so-cautious approach to updating the styling and making sure that the package still stays firmly planted beneath the V9 in the food chain (or at least that's what the abundance of plastic would lead us to believe, but with Motorola, who the hell knows). It'll do EV-DO, a 2 megapixel camera, and touch-sensitive external controls on a fairly generous secondary display whenever it gets around to launching -- just don't expect the excitement, expense, or debauchery of an actual weekend in Sin City.

[Via phoneArena]

Hiwire boasts about Vegas trial's 24 channels

by Chris Ziegler posted Jul 18th 2007 @ 6:17PM

It's been a few months since we've heard anything about these guys, but it seems that Hiwire is still going full throttle in its efforts to compete with Modeo and the MediaFLO juggernaut to win the hearts and minds of American mobile TV watchers-to-be. Following a joint trial with T-Mobile late last year, Hiwire's back for more action in Sin City (sans carrier this time, it seems) rocking a full 24-channel lineup on its swath of 700MHz bandwidth, besting Verizon's MediaFLO-based offering by a healthy sixteen. There's still no word on when -- if ever -- Hiwire's going to go commercial with this thing, but it's good to hear they're still kicking around nonetheless.