HTC Aria Social Networking Smartphone

Need a friend on the cellular networks? Don’t get a dog. Get FriendStream. It let’s you stay in touch over Facebook, Twitter and Flickr. You’ll be connecting with the HTC Aria, one of the newest and hottest Android smartphones.

It starts with a single block of jet black aluminum that forms the smooth and seamless case of the Aria. Small enough to fit in your shirt pocket. Powerful enough to use for both business and personal needs. Its large 3.2 inch touchscreen features pinch-to-zoom, which automatically reflows text for easy reading as you zoom in and out of websites.

Yes, this is an Android smartphone. It runs Google’s Android 2.1 operating system and HTC Sense user interface. You can create and save multiple customized home screen layouts. You’ll be able to access thousands of apps and widgets on the Android Market. The Aria comes to you preloaded with Google Maps, Gmail, Google Talk, search and YouTube video access. Being on the AT&T 3G network, you’ll be able to surf and talk at the same time. That’s not true on all cellular networks.

The HTC Aria is set-up for messaging. The Email client accesses and syncs your corporate Email, Push Gmail and POP/IMAP regular email accounts. Or use your Web-based email account. There’s an HTML Web browser that gives you PC-like viewing and navigating of the Web with pinch and zoom capability. Multimedia messaging lets you send and receive picture and video messages. You’ll take some nice ones with the built-in 5 Megapixel autofocus digital camera that doubles as a camcorder.

The Aria is loaded with connectivity. It works on the worldwide GSM standard networks at 850, 900, 1800 and 1900 MHz. It also supports UMTS on 850 and 1900 MHz. You’ll be downloading at 3G speed over the AT&T HSDPA network. Want even more speed or to save your data plan? Use the WiFI capability with AT&T HotSpot support.

Mind you, this is a small phone that weighs-in at just 3.9 ounces. Dimensions are 4.1 x 2.3 x 0.5 inches. Yet it sports 384 MB of RAM and expandable to 32 GB using plug-in microSD memory cards.

Like Music? you can stream stereo music to and from A2DP compatible Bluetooth devices. The MP3 player supports AAC, MP3 and WAV formats. It’s also a high performance streaming multimedia phone. Watch full length TV shows with AT&T Mobile TV and stream music and videos.

Does this sound like the kind of high performance phone you’ve been looking for but not sure you can afford? Relax. You can get the HTC Aria for AT&T for FREE when you order it with new cellular service online.

Of course, there are many more free and low cost cell phones available to you right now. Check out the current specials and see what meets your needs. You’ll probably have a hard time picking just one.

T-Mobile 3G Aircard For PC and Mac

Would you like to be able to connect your laptop computer to the T-Mobile 3G mobile data network? How about free access to T-Mobile HotSpots? Ah, what you need is the T-Mobile webConnect USB Laptop Stick.

This "stick" is a wireless modem aircard with a swiveling USB connector. It plugs into a USB port on your PC or Macintosh computer. For PCs you'll need to be running Windows XP or Vista. For Macs, it's OS X 10.3.9 or higher.

An advantage of this aircard is that it gives you access to the Internet just about anywhere you can get a T-Mobile cellular signal. That's much of the U.S., although you should check the coverage maps to make sure you'll get a strong signal where you expect to be. In strong 3G signal areas, you'll be connected at speeds comparable to DSL or Cable Modems using the HSDPA protocol. In weaker areas, you'll still get EDGE 2G connectivity for broadband or near-broadband speeds.

You'll also be connected to T-Mobile WiFi HotSpots with unlimited free access. Normally you have to pay a fee to connect to these in Starbucks coffee shops, Borders Books, FedEX Kinko's Office and Print Centers and various airports and major airline clubs. But buy this aircard and data service plan and you'll get the HotSpots thrown in free.

Note that the built-in T-Mobile Connection Manager finds you the best connection for where you are, be it 2G, 3G or WiFi, and makes the connection. That greatly expands your ability to operate at broadband speeds just about everywhere.

But there's even more. The webConnect USB Laptop Stick features a built-in microSD slot that supports up to 8 GB memory cards. Use this instead of another portable flash memory drive when you are on the go.

What are the hottest cell phone deals available right now, including free cell phones? Use the Cell Phone Plan Finder to check out the top phones and associated wireless service plans.

AT&T HSUPA Aircards Have the Edge Over EDGE

AT&T, like the other major wireless carriers, has been on a determined program to upgrade its cellular data capabilities. Broadband is the service in demand for everything from Web browsing to streaming mobile video. Wireless is the broadband service in demand. Everyone wants to be connected to the Internet 24/7 wherever they happen to be. AT&T is only too happy to scratch that itch.

If you've been dutifully plodding along with your wireline broadband connection at work and/or home and get by with a basic cell phone for staying in touch verbally, then you may have missed the latest initiatives in the mobile broadband revolution. Even if you venture out with your trusty laptop to enjoy a hot cup of joe and relax with your favorite websites at a nearby WiFi hotspot, you may not be getting all the mobility you could have.

WiFi hotspots have been the rage for years, with free WiFi now expected in restaurants and hotels. What's really helped establish this technology is standardized interfaces built into nearly every laptop, notebook and netbook computer. Many smartphones are also WiFi enabled. WiFi has given everyone the idea that the Internet needn't be a tether to your desk. But WiFi has some real limitations.

This is what the much heralded WiMAX is supposed to address. Think of WiMAX as a WiFi hotspot that covers a town. Sounds pretty good, right? But WiMAX has been in development for years and is only now starting its years and years of nation-wide buildout.

In the meantime, the established mobile communications providers - the cell phone carriers - have been thinking that they've already established their turf and have the transmitting towers in place to provide near-universal wireless coverage. The one thing they've been lacking is a really fast Internet service to go along with their mobile telephone service.

This is the system that AT&T has been building out. It's been done in stages with connectivity similar to a dial-up ISP being launched first. Next came true broadband with a service called EDGE or Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution. EDGE gives you bandwidth similar to entry level DSL services at around 384 Kbps. That's not bad for email or general Web surfing, but most users are now spoiled with higher speeds and bandwidth-intensive applications like streaming video.

To gain more bandwidth, AT&T has been upgrading to a faster technology called HSPA or High Speed Packet Access. HSPA comes in two flavors. HSDPA is High Speed Downlink Packet Access. It is focused on a large download bandwidth of of up to 3.6 Mbps with a relatively small upload bandwidth. HSUPA offers a true broadband upload channel with download speeds up to 2 Mbps. I say "up to" because the performance you experience will vary with signal strength and how many other users are trying to access the network at the same time you are connected.

How do you get connected to the AT&T 3G BroadbandConnect and Nationwide EDGE networks? You'll need a wireless modem, such as the Option Quicksilver USB Modem, that plugs into a USB connector on your mobile computer. This particular aircard, as wireless modems are called, works with both types of networks. The Nationwide EDGE network is available in 13,000 cities. The faster 3G BroadbandConnect network based on HSPA (including HSUPA and HSDPA technologies) is now available in 260 U.S. metro areas.

The Quicksilver modem works with both PCs and Macs and is available free with your Wireless Data Plan order. The plan runs $60 a month and includes 5 GB of data per month. That's way more than most people will use on a mobile computer.

Sierra Wireless also offers a USB modem called the Sierra Wireless Mercury USB Modem for AT&T. It is also available free of charge with a data plan service order. The Sierra Wireless modem includes a built-in GPS receiver that can be used with location based services and a microSD slot for expandable memory.

If you prefer an aircard that plugs into a PCMCIA slot on your laptop, there are several to choose from. A free one is the Option GT Ultra PCMCIA PC/Mac Card which has a retractable butterfly antenna. Others available for a small cost include the Sierra Wireless AC881 PC/Mac PCMCIA Card, and the Option GT Ultra ExpressCard PC/Mac Card that fits into the ExpressCard/34 (mm) slots on some computers. Pick the card and interface that works best with your computers.

What are the hottest cell phone deals available right now, including free cell phones? Use the Cell Phone Plan Finder to check out the top phones and associated wireless service plans.

T-Mobile G1 Google Android Phone Gets Vocal

You've been thinking about a smartphone upgrade for your next cell phone, but which one? Can't decide if you want a touchscreen phone like the Apple iPhone, the BlackBerry Bold, or the Samsung Delve? Or perhaps you'd really rather have a hidden full QWERTY keyboard for those heavy texting times. How about a trackball for navigation like the BlackBerry Pearl? Then there's the matter of connectivity. You'd really like 3G, but you know it isn't always available. Sure would be nice to have WiFi capability to surf the Web fast when you need that broadband capability.

How can you decide what to buy when you want it all? Well, why not get it all with the HTC-built G1 for T-Mobile? Yes, this is the famous "Android Phone" that marked Google's entry into the mobile wireless field. It runs on the T-Mobile network for quad band cellphone service. Plus it has an excellent array of data capabilities. Within the T-Mobile G3 network footprint, the G1 uses HSDPA for up to 7.2 Mbps download speeds. Outside the range of those towers, it defaults to the T-Mobile EDGE network for up to 120 Kbps download speed. That's still good enough for email, text messaging and casual Web browsing. Want even faster speed? The G1 has built-in WiFi b/g capability for broadband performance up to 24 Mbps through you wireless router or at a WiFi hotspot.

But how about the user interface? Once again, the T-Mobile G1 has it all. With the phone closed in its normal configuration, you can use the 3.2 inch color touchscreen, just like you would on those other advanced smartphones. But slide out the hidden keyboard and you have a small computer form factor with a full QWERTY keyboard just below the large landscape mode display. There's even a little trackball off to the side in landscape mode or below the display in the portrait mode. Don't worry about how to switch modes. The G1's accelerometer knows how you are holding the phone and will adjust the display accordingly.

The Google Android operating system running on a 528 MHz Qualcomm MSM7201A processor provides easy access to Google applications such as Google, Gmail, YouTube, Maps, Calendar and Google Talk. Now there's a software upgrade that will be pushed over the air to G1 users to add Google's Voice Search application. It gives text search results to voice queries and can tap into the A-GPS capability in the phone to help you find the nearest gas station, restaurant or other area of interest. That's coming in the next couple of weeks.

The G1 can easily be called a multimedia phone. It sports a 3.2 Megapixel auto-focus camera/camcorder, an MP3 player, expandable memory up to 8 GB, multimedia messaging, and support for streaming video and music.

Does this PDA smartphone look like just the one you've been wanting? If so, check the 3G coverage available in your area, learn more and order your T-Mobile G1 w/Google in Bronze or G1 Black with T-Mobile wireless service. You'll get a special discount price by ordering online plus free shipping. Order a shared minutes "family" plan and get TWO G1s on the same service.

Have a different phone in mind or just want to see all of what's available? Compare cellphones, smartphones and aircards now.

HSUPA Joins HSDPA for Cellular Broadband

AT&T is nearly finished building out its upgraded cellular broadband network called HSPA or High Speed Packet Access. Just in time, too. The new BlackBerry Bold and the rumored iPhone upgrade will make good use of the higher data bandwidths that are now online at the cell towers. While most of the attention has focused on the download link, AT&T has quietly been upgrading the upload link also. What does this tell us about the next generation of mobile applications?

HSPA is part of the alphabet soup that is mobile technology. It's a network upgrade to the first installation of high speed cellular data for GSM networks. EDGE or Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution was good for jump starting applications such as video and music downloads, email, and Web browsing. But with speeds at the low end of what is available from DSL, around 230 Kbps, EDGE starts to feel noticeably poky for general Web browsing and streaming video. The HS in HSPA implies something much faster.

There are actually two pieces to the HSPA puzzle. HSDPA is the first and most important for most users. HSDPA stands for High Speed Download Packet Access. The download link has a maximum capacity of 14.4 Mbps or somewhere between 1 and 7 Mbps in practice. It's a huge improvement from EDGE and similar to Cable broadband speeds. Like most data links designed around Internet access, the uplink speed is much less. For HSDPA, it's 384 kbps maximum. That's perfectly acceptable if most of what you do is request Web pages, corporate data packages, software upgrades, email, music and video. The uplink requests are relatively small and infrequent. The big data blast is on the download link.

AT&T has pretty much completed its upgrade to HSDPA and now in the process of adding the second piece of the HSPA service, HSUPA or High Speed Uplink Packet Access. What HSUPA does in increase the uplink capacity from 384 kbps to a range of 500 to 800 kbps out of a maximum theoretical value of 5.76 Mbps. That complements AT&T download speeds of 1.4 Mbps.

Why bother upgrading the uplink? You don't need it for casual Web browsing, but it does have value for uploading larger files or running real-time applications such as mobile video conferencing. It also speeds things like posting to blogs, updating Web sites, or sending photos with high resolutions or video clips. Our impression that the nature of mobile services is changing is confirmed by wireless network upgrades such as HSUPA.

HSPA gives AT&T a fully functional 3G network, just in time to start working on further upgrades to 4G. HSPA has an evolutionary path called HSPA+ that increases downlink speeds to 42 Mbps and uplink speeds to 22 Mbps. Whether that path will be fully exploited remains to be seen, as AT&T is also committed to another technology called LTE or Long Term Evolution that ramps up the data bandwidth to 300 Mbps on the downlink and 75 Mbps on the uplink. This technology won't be fully deployed for at least a few years, giving us time to come up with HD video and other applications that can make good use of these incredible 4G speeds.

BlackBerry's Bold Move to HSDPA

Research In Motion, the maker of BlackBerry wireless devices, is introducing a new model called "Bold." Some of its bold features include a higher resolution display, 1 GB on-board storage memory, 624 MHz processor, and 2 Megapixel digital camera. But its boldest move is in its wireless connectivity. It has blown past the common EDGE data services in support of tri-band HSDPA plus Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g. No longer is email going to be enough for enterprise users. Now it's desktop-style Web browsing and streaming video.

A related story that's buzzing in the media is that the Apple iPhone is selling out in places without apparent restocking. The best guesses are that Apple wants to unload current stock before the arrival of the new improved iPhone with, you guessed it, HSDPA cellular broadband.

So, what is HSDPA and why is it the big news instead of cool looking phone designs? HSDPA implementation is a move toward a faster mobile Internet to support higher bandwidth applications. Not mentioned as much is that it is also a way to nip WiMAX in the bud before it takes over as the mobile broadband standard. Within the last week, Sprint and Clearwire's struggling WiMAX effort got bankrolled by a consortium that includes Intel, Google, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks.

AT&T certainly can't sit still if it intends to be a wireless powerhouse. Indeed, it has been upgrading its cellular network from EDGE technology that barely qualifies as broadband with download speeds of around 100 to 200 kbps. The replacement is HSDPA which stands for High Speed Download Packet Access. HSDPA tops out at 14,400 kbps or over 14 Mbps. That's faster than most Cable broadband services and even many business wireline Internet connections.

The BlackBerry Bold, the Apple iPhone and other smartphones have included Wi-Fi access capability as a way to access the Internet and company networks in areas where cellular service is spotty. A better reason is to get decent access speeds when you just can't stand the poky performance of over the air data services. With the upgrade to HSDPA, it's likely that the WiFi capability is going to get less of a workout. The availability of broadband on the go is just too appealing.

HSDPA is a data transmission technology unique to GSM cellular networks. In the U.S., AT&T is the major network using GSM. But the "G" in GSM means global. People don't just buy GSM phones because they like AT&T service. They also like the ability to use their phones overseas, especially on business travel. T-Mobile is the other major network using GSM in the U.S.

The other two major carriers, Sprint and Verizon, are based on CDMA instead of GSM. They are both digital cellular services, but are technically incompatible. Your phone is either CDMA or GSM, but unlikely to work on both. Sprint and Verizon have been aggressive about rolling out their own wireless broadband data services known as EVDO. The Rev A version of EVDO has a download burst speed of 3.1 Mbps, with an upgrade to speeds similar to HSDPA in the upcoming Rev B.

RIM has upgraded the color display on the BlackBerry Bold to be a half-VGA with resolution of 480x320 pixels. This is similar to the resolution of the iPhone, but not physically as large. Instead, the Bold uses the lower portion of its stylish case for a full QWERTY keyboard. But the high resolution display and high speed wireless data connection underscore that the importance of text is going to be increasingly augmented by streaming video in the corporate environment.

What are the hottest cell phone deals available right now, including free cell phones? Use the Cell Phone Plan Finder to check out the top phones and associated wireless service plans.

Is LTE too LATE?

Mobile wireless standards seem to be a hodge podge of alphabet soup technologies. There's 1xRTT, EVDO Revs 0, A, B & C, GPRS, UMTS, HSDPA, EDGE, and LTE. Why so many? For the same reason that there was Pentium I, II, III and IV, just to mention a very few of the CPUs that came and went in the last quarter century. While PC designs have achieved a certain level of maturity, wireless broadband is still scrambling up the learning curve. The latest that has mobile content providers drooling is called LTE. But is LTE really the next big thing or is it too LITE or too LATE?

The acronym LTE stands for Long Term Evolution. But evolution of what? GSM data networks, that's what. Even beyond GSM networks. It's intended to be worldwide standard for mobile communications created by the the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), a collaborative project among telecommunications organizations. In the long run, or should we say long term, LTE will supersede a potpourri of other standards including GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA, HSUPA & HSPA+. Some of these are familiar. Others you may have never heard of. If LTE evolves fast enough to kill off these lower species, you may never get familiar with them.

Perhaps the most familiar of this group is EDGE or Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution. This is the wireless broadband standard implemented in the Apple iPhone. AT&T is the largest GSM carrier in the United States. It's a well established technology, but just barely qualifies as broadband. Download speeds are up to 237 Kbps, typically half that. This is why iPhone users are screaming for 3G.

HSDPA or High Speed Downlink Packet Access would be the next upgrade. This standard picks up where EDGE leaves off and ramps broadband speeds up to a theoretical maximum of 14.4 Mbps. Quite an increase. In practical use, the download speed you'd experience is likely to be half that or less. Still, Mbps instead of Kbps. Who could ask for more?

At some point, you'll be the one asking for more. We're use to stifled bandwidth and especially stifled mobile bandwidth. That's why we've settled for "mobile" browsers, text messaging, and email. The nice thing about the iPhone is that if you run out of patience waiting for pages to load, you can always get a coffee or some lunch and use the restaurant's free WiFi to get some decent bandwidth. But then it's time to hit the road again and there goes your Internet experience.

Deploying HSDPA and its upgrades will support today's applications. You'll be able to get mobile performance that feels similar to WiFi hotspots. But carriers will still be playing catch-up as customers become enamored with new high bandwidth applications, such as HDTV, and wonder why they still feel stifled.

Carriers such as AT&T with plans to deploy LTE networks hope to get ahead of the curve. That's what the "long" in long term evolution implies. Imagine having 300 Mbps download speeds at your command. That's along with 75 Mbps upload. True, that's likely to be the performance you'd get right under the tower with nobody else on the channel and no breezes blowing. But still, it's 300 Mbps.

Interestingly, the real powerhouse wireless technology being touted for mobile applications has a maximum download speed of about the same 75 Mbps that LTE offers on the upload channel. That's WiMAX. WiMAX is on its way and we might see Sprint's network in operation this year. That is, if the money holds out.

LTE offers another intriguing characteristic. It has low delay times or latency. How low? How about 10 msec? You're lucky to get under 100 msec on wireline Internet services. The high speed link coupled with low latency characteristics makes LTE a good candidate for lots of new applications, especially real time applications. That suggests not only VoIP telephony but high resolution video conferencing as well. Also real time gaming, television and video on demand, medical imaging and engineering file transfers.

I think it's clear that LTE is certainly not LITE when it comes to performance. It's not too LATE either. WiMAX is taking its good old time rolling out and EVDO Rev C, which might also be a competitor, is also nowhere to be seen. That leaves a nice window of opportunity for LTE just as higher bandwidths are starting to become necessary for more demanding applications.