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With the great wireless race of the early 21st century going on in the US, just getting 3G, both EVDO and UMTS/HSPA, adopted across the nation is proving to be slow going. While Europe and Asia have had some awesome phones with 3G and mobile TV to name a few features for quite some time, over here in the States we have been focused on buying the cheapest phone. Either that, or the RAZR which has been bought to death.

Now that the 700MHz spectrum auction has been finished and Verizon Wireless has been declared the victor, they are already making plans for the future of their spectrum. They have decided to go the LTE (Long Term Evolution) route as their “4G Network,” which can bring download speeds of up to 170Mbps or 325Mbps depending on the tower configuration. This also means that Verizon can switch to an all IP-network, essentially using VoIP to have voice conversations. Plus, this means they will have oodles and oodles of bandwidth at their expense for whatever they decide.

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Sprint Nextel has announced the planned roll-out of their Xohm WiMAX will be delayed. According to a company spokesperson we can now expect it “later in the year” but rumor has it that it will come sometime this summer. Sprint was also quick to make it clear that the delay was not due to anything technical, claiming that:

“We want to make sure the launch meets our expectation,”

This delay can not be good news for the recently announced Nokia N810 WiMAX Edition. As far as the Cloudbook Max announcement, we were initially put off by their availability which came as it was “expected to be available in a year,” it now seems that is no longer an issue. Of course those in Chicago, D.C., and Baltimore will still be able to enjoy the service while everyone else waits, thanks to the soft launches that Sprint had in those areas.

Via [cellular-news]

In a little twist from the usual Eee PC coverage, where for the most part we have seen praise towards anything related to the Eee, this time we have found a little frustration which comes courtesy of the Eee PC 2G Surf edition. The frustration has lead to the return of the notebook and given us a list of ”10 reasons not to buy the Asus Eee PC 2G Surf.”

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A new version of the Asus Eee PC has been announced, this new model will be available in Japan only and is Linux-free. The new model will instead be running Windows XP Home Edition and will be called the 4G-X. Specs are similar to the standard 4G that we currently have and include the 7-inch 800 x 480 display, 900Mz Intel Celeron M processor, 512MB of RAM, three USB ports, SD card reader, ethernet port, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g and a 0.3-megapixel webcam.

There are some other goodies included though, the 4G-X is also bundled with a 4G SDHC card, optical mouse and free access to the NTT WiFine hotspot network. The 4G-X will go on sale beginning Friday and retail for ¥50,000, which is around $468 US.

No word if or when this Windows XP version will hit the states, but don’t forget its a fairly simple process to switch your Eee over to Windows, that is provided you can follow some simple instructions.

Read [The Register]

Third generation cellular wireless technology is still in its infancy and the CEO of Sprint could not spot talking about the next generation. Don’t get me wrong, 20 Mbps download speeds, compared to 3G’s 400-700 Kbps is nothing to cry about, but isn’t it a little early? I guess Gary Forsee doesn’t think so.

Sprint has spent billions of dollars building its 3G network, which is based on EV-DO, technology. The company started offering the service only a year ago, and has spent the latter half of 2005 and the first half of 2006 expanding the network. WiMax seems to be the front runner for the next gen wireless highway, delivering speeds equal to your in-home cable or DSL connection--but straight to your handset. 4G is required for mobile TV and streaming of other large content over networks both quickly and without crashing the servers.

All three of the big U.S. cell phone carriers--Cingular Wireless, Sprint Nextel and Verizon Wireless--already offer mobile video today, but only about 1 percent to 2 percent of the cell phone market is using the service. Sprint isn’t the only mobile carrier investing in new network technologies to handle broadcast TV on mobile phones. Verizon Wireless has already agreed to work with Qualcomm, which is developing a network especially for mobile TV using a technology it calls MediaFlo.

Read [News.com]

Just as we’re moving to all 3G networks, Sprint Nextel is already planning out their 4G future.  Because of the company being one of the largest holders of 2.5GHz spectrum, we’re all awaiting plans of what they’re going to do with it.  Lately, Sprint has been testing out various technologies that could be in their future including WiMAX and UMTS TD-CDMA.  According to MobileMag, Sprint’s 2.5GHz network will cost upwards of $4 billion to roll out nationwide.  When they release their plans, you’ll be the first to know.

Via [MobileMag]