GadgetReview

Sprint might be taking their sweet time rolling out their WiMax service, but that doesn’t mean they’ve got apprehensions about launching gear associated with the high speed wireless service.

Announced today, the Sprint Personal Hotspot PHS300S and the Cradlepoint MBR-1000 Broadband Router both accept 3G and 4G USB dongles and turn the single user broadband service into a WiFi hotspot.  The PHS300S can facilitate up to 4 users while the MBR-1000 allows up to 32 separate devices to jump aboard.

Both devices are available now for $159.99 and $249.99 respectively.

Full release after the ‘leap’ …Continue reading: Sprint Kicks Out Two New 3G & 4G WiFi Hotspot Routers, Sprint Personal Hotspot PHS300S and the Cradlepoint MBR-1000 Broadband Router

WiMax’s fate hasn’t been sealed just yet, but based on its success so far, or lack there of, I’d say that’s it demise is only a matter of time.  But contrary to popular belief Sprint is plugging ahead with their WiMax rollout, that is assuming this leaked roadmap is accurate.  Next on the list is Portland, OR, which is already seeing street team marketing in full affect, so big yellow will have some catching up to do.  As far as the remaining roll out schedule, I’m just surprised to see the list devoid of any major metropolitan coasts cities.

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How the Samsung Mondi Wimax enabled MID will be a success is anyone’s guess, but Samsung, via Lets Talk is now selling the device for a cool $450.  To refresh your memory, the Mondi is Samsung’s foray into the Wimax world and offers not only blazing fast connectivity speeds, but a 4.3-inch touchscreen, 4GB of storage, GPS, 3 megapixel camera, HDMI output, Bluetooth, DivX playback, Bluetooth, WiFi and a Windows Mobile 6.1 OS.   Unfortunately, Wimax is currently only available in select markets (Baltimore, Portland, Ore., Atlanta and Las Vegas) throughout the US.  If you prefer a hands on before purchase, the device is also set to go on sale August 1st at Best Buy and Clearwire stores in the aforementioned locals.

[via Sidecutreports]

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Samsung, whom is making it a habit of leaking out imagery of upcoming products but providing little to no detail, finally firmed up some details about their Wimax dedicated device, the Mondi MID.  Packed inside is a 4.3-inch touchscreen display, Windows Mobile 6.1, 4GB of RAM, slide out QWERTY keyboard, 3MP camera, GPS, Bluetooth 2.0 +EDR and an HDMI out (this one seems odd).    Anyway, there is still no word on a price or street date, but since CTIA is in full swing I’m sure they’ll drop that info in the days to come.

[TFTS]

Clear Wimax has hit Portland like a kamikaze swarm of locusts in a hijacked crop dusting plane.  I recently heard a horror story testimonial of how a subscriber in Seattle last year was told by a customer service rep that they should sublet the rest of their service contract on Craig’s List if they wanted out.  Plus they said that the service was so slow it was unusable.  That was a year ago so I’m sure things have changed for the better.

Recently confirmed for a sometime in April release is the ClearWire manufactured WiMax Wifi Portable Wireless Router. The router will house up to eight 802.11 b/g-compatible devices at speeds of 4Mbs for the hot price of $139.  Bloop.  That is not taking into account your normal service fees.  As I have posted before, Oregon’s 10% unemployment rate will have a great impact on the success or failure of this service.

[Engadget]

Wooops.  Samsung slipped up today and showed off what is probably the first Wimax dedicated MID, the SWD-M100 Mondi.  Resembling the Nokia N810, the Mondi appears to have both a touchscreen and slide out keyboard – that should satisfy both ends of the spectrum – and a front facing camera for late night nefarious video chats.  Pontification appoints the Mondi to Clear’s Wimax network first, but no one really knows.

[Phonescoop]

A couple weeks back I posted on the huge Clear marketing truck driving around the streets of Portland.  As of last week, Comcast, who has invested a billion dollars in the Seattle based Clearwire, has announced they will start bundling the WiMax service.  Portland will be the first city to get the bundle come mid year.  As one of Clear’s major financial backers, Comcast will buy the WiMax service wholesale and then resell under the Comcast name.  No word on pricing and exact availability.  Doesn’t that make it harder for Clear to succeed on its own?  Hopefully I can get on a promotion when it comes out!

[OregonLive]

Clear WiMax is making a huge push here Portland, Oregon.  As the Oregon unemployment rate rises to 9.9%, Clear is hoping you’ll make the switch to save some coin.  In my opinion, it would be great to have around town and at the airport, but I need faster speeds at home for online gaming and downloading, etc.  If Clear’s speeds were higher for the price or I had the money for both it might be a different story ,but until then…enjoy the pictures of this Clear truck driving down MLK Blvd in North Portland.

Check out the pics below and you’ll ‘clearly’ see what they have going on.  Unfortunately, I was driving and what I couldn’t capture at the time was a women sitting in the front area of the mobile living room on her laptop.  Get it?

WiMax isn’t exactly breaking world records when it comes to adoption rates.   A new product from the minds of Clearwire might change that soon.  The idea, which we’ve seen before (Novatel MiFi and Huawei D100), utilizes a portable WiFi router that can accept a WiMax USB dongle.  In other words, products such as the iPhone or laptops that don’t have a WiMax chip will be able to sit within a certain proximity of the device and achieve super fast download speeds over WiFi, that is assuming WiMax escapes the confines of Baltimore.

The above product image is not final, but expect the device to cost around $125 and launch in Oregon this February.

[Sidecutreports]

WiMax may have officially launched but its far from ubiquitous. Still, though, you don’t wanna miss out on the opportunity to experience blazing fast wireless speeds virtually anywhere you go on your laptop. So what do you go with hardware wise?

Sprint’s latest USB broadband dongle, the U300, is the first of it’s type to feature both 3G and WiMax connectivity. You’ll have to throw down an extra $20/month to access to both networks ($60 for just 3G) but you’ll be ready for the future.

[Laptopmag]