May 29th, 2009

Hands-on: Verizon Wireless HP Mini 1151NR netbook (Updated 2x)

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 10:26 am

Categories: EV-DO, Hardware, Netbook, Verizon

Tags: Hewlett-Packard Co., Verizon Communications Inc., Netbook, Netbooks, Nettops & MIDs, Hardware, Jason D. O'Grady

First scooped in February then confirmed in March Verizon Wireless’ first netbook — the HP Mini 1151NR — began shipping on 17 May 2009 (the same day as VZW’s MiFi personal hotspot).

Priced at $199 with a 2-year contract (after MIR) the 1151NR’s price is subsidized by monthly data fees are either $40 or $60 per month.

Although it’s sold by VZW, the 1151NR netbook is a HP Mini 1000 that comes bundled with an internal Verizon Wireless 3G/EVDO Rev. A card. The built-in EVDO is the defining feature in the 1151NR and it’s easy to get online with Verizon’s Mobile Broadband using the pre-installed VZAccess software.

Specs-wise:

• Intel Atom N270, 1.6 GHz
• 1 GB of RAM
• 80 GB Hard Drive
• 10.1″ Flush Glass (1024 x 576)
• Integrated Webcam VGA (640 x 480x 30 fps)
• 3-cell Battery, 30 W AC Adapter
• 10.3″ (depth) x 6.6″ (width) x 1″ (height)
• 2.4 lb
• Windows XP Home Edition

Full specs are on the HP Web site.

Oh, about that last spec, I’m not much of a Windows person, so my next step will be to see how well ithe HP Mini 1151NR runs Mac OS X. According to Boing Boing’s OS X compatibility chart the HP Mini 1000-series can be hackintoshed although the lack of sound support and the question-mark in the Ethernet column give me pause. Here’s another good HP/hackintosh link, if you’re thinking of doing it yourself

Photos comparing the Dell Vostro A90 and HP Mini 1151NR after the break…

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January 7th, 2009

Finding bandwidth in San Francisco

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 11:48 am

Categories: 3G, AT&T, EV-DO, WiFi

Tags: Apple iPhone, Bandwidth, Network, AT&T Corp., Phone Call, 3G, Cellular Phones, Wireless, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology

One thing that’s been driving me nuts here at Macworld Expo in San Francisco is the horrible state of affairs with bandwidth and the AT&T 3G cloud. Phone calls are hit or miss on AT&T’s cell network. About half of my calls don’t connect, fail in the middle or otherwise have weird silent dropouts throughout the call.

Data connections on AT&T are brutally slow and the iPhone’s 3G icon will randomly switch the evil EDGE “E” for no good reason. I thought SF was supposed to be wired? SpeedTest.net won’t even load on Mobile Safari on EDGE and my iPhone can’t hold a 3G connection to save its life. Previously, the fix for no 3G was to reboot the iPhone, now even that doesn’t work.

People, can you please get off the 3G network so that I can have a little bandwidth?

Even worse: A quick check of SpeedTest.net reveals that I am currently getting a miserable 750 kbps (down) and a pitiful 150 kbps (up) with my Verizon USB727 EVDO card connected to my MacBook Pro. I know it’s not WiFi, but still.

So, is it just a timing thing? Are all the iPhone toting Macheads simply oversaturating AT&T’s 3G network? Didn’t AT&T just ramp the 3G network just recently? Maybe there’s some other reason for the horrible bandwidth in SF this week, I’m just not sure what it is.

One thing I am sure of: iPhone users are definitely having a poor experience here in San Francisco, at least this week.

Can you hear me now?

November 24th, 2008

Holiday Gift Guide 2008: Mid-range Apples that won't break the bank

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 11:29 am

Categories: Accessory, Battery, EV-DO, Holiday Gift Guide, Review, iPhone, iPod touch

Tags: Bank, Apple iPhone, Battery, Apple Inc., Apple iPhone 3G, Chumby, Novatel USB727, FastMac U-Charge Battery Charger, 3G, Engineering

If you’ve got a couple extra bucks in your budget this year there are a couple of middle priced (US$100-300) gifts that up that I want to recommend. If this isn’t quite your price range, feel free to check out my list of Mac-related gift ideas under $100 in Bargain Apples. From 3G cards to touchscreen Internet appliances, this list has something for you.

Apple iPhone 3G 16GB (Black)

What can you say that hasn’t already been said about the iPhone? It’s a do everything, communication/entertainment device with a touchscreen and a dead simple interface. Since the App Store opened there’s now over 5,000 applications to choose from making the iPhone pretty much unstoppable.

The only caveat is the network, make sure that AT&T has acceptable coverage (both phone and 3G) in your area before signing on the two-year line. If you can live with AT&T the iPhone 3G is hard to live without. So while it’s not perfect, it’s pretty darned close and getting better with every update.

Price: $199 (8GB) $299 (16GB)

[Read the review] [Compare to the competition]

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August 6th, 2008

Useful: Cradlepoint PHS300 Personal Hotspot

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 9:37 am

Categories: 3G, Accessory, EV-DO

Tags: Card, HotSpot, Mobile Broadband, Cradlepoint PHS300, Wireless, Jason D. O'Grady

The Cradlepoint PHS300 (US$179) creates a personal hotspot with a mobile broadband card like the many EV-DO data cards from carriers like Verizon.

I recently got a chance to test a PHS300 on a trip to Bonnaroo in Manchester, TN. Several of us were traveling to the weekend festival with iPhones and wireless notebooks via RV and we weren’t sure if there was going to be Internet access in and around the camping areas. Sure enough, there wasn’t Internet access, but there was a strong enough 3G/EVDO signal for my Verizon UM150 Broadband Access card (which I reviewed on 7 May 2008) to connect to.

Since I had configured it at home all I had to do was connect the VZW UM150 card to the Cradlepoint PHS300 access point and everyone was able to connect to its Wi-Fi signal and share the EVDO connection. It was excellent and super convenient. The PHS300 unit itself has an internal rechargeable Lithium Ion battery that only lasts for about 2 hours in my testing, so it’s best to connect the included AC adapter to steady power – if that’s an option.

The PHS300 includes a built-in firewall keeps you in control of your bandwidth, and WEP/WPA security allows you and your colleagues to work in a fully secure environment. The created hotspot is automatically password-protected preventing anyone in the area from hopping on your connection.

Supported modems, handsets & data cards can be found on the PHS300 support page and more questions are answered on the Frequently Asked Questions page.

May 12th, 2008

Electrical outages make you appreciate mobile technology

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 3:19 pm

Categories: EV-DO, MacBook Air

Tags: Mobile, Apple MacBook, Modems, Notebooks, RSS, Hardware, Components, Notebooks & Tablets, Internet, Jason D. O'Grady

I awoke this morning to the crackle and thunderous crash of a 100-year-old oak tree snapping and falling in my next-door neighbor’s yard (iPhone picture above). We’re lucky that no people or property were damaged, but the tree fell on a power line knocking out service for my entire street. The local electric utility has said that 45,000 customers in my area ares without service due to heavy wind storms – so it may not be fixed any time soon. And Comcast isn’t even picking up the telephone.

Electricity is the backbone of a wired technology and it’s kind of weird to wake up without lights, being able to open the refrigerator and my trusty RSS reader. However I was able to get online quickly thanks to my MacBook Air and Verizon UM150 EVDO modem (which I reviewed on 07 May 2008). The problem is that my MBA had only half a charge so I’m now at the local public library charging my batteries so that I can be productive tonight.

The electric utility is telling me that power might not be restored until tomorrow, so it looks like I may be eating chinese food tonight by candlelight and the warm glow of my MacBook Air –at least until the battery runs out.

May 7th, 2008

Review: Verizon UM150 USB EV-DO modem

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 9:29 pm

Categories: Accessory, EV-DO

Tags: EVDO, Verizon Communications Inc., UM150, 3GStore, VZW BroadbandAccess Network, UM150 EV-DO Modem, Modems, Cellular Phones, Hardware, Components

While Wi-Fi hot spots may be proliferating, they’re not always reliable and don’t help you much when you’re in between coverage areas. Neither do the usurious rates carriers are charging for Wi-Fi these days. When you’re in business and need Internet access while traveling there’s no substitute for an EV-DO card. Granted, the service is tad expensive, but if you need to access the Internet to make a living, an EV-DO card and service more than pays for itself.

I’m currently testing the Verizon Wireless UM150 USB Modem which is a re-badged EV-DO modem manufactured by Pantech. (For the uninitiated EV-DO Rev. A increases the maximum burst rate from 2.45 Mbit/s to 3.1 Mbit/s and adds other improvements over the older EV-DO Rev. 0). Measuring 3.5 inches long and 1.2 inches wide (the pull-out antenna adds another 2.5-inches) it’s not tiny, but surprisingly it fit into the tiny recessed USB port in the MacBook Air. The UM150 has a hinge that swivels on two axes allowing it to fit into most notebook USB ports without being obtrusive.

The package also comes with a and a Y–shaped extension cable which is useful for stealing extra USB power from a second port and convenient if your USB port is in a bad location. The UM150 also features a built–in microSD memory slot with 4GB+ capacity that doubles as a mass storage device, a nice feature if you use microSD.

	Image Gallery: Verizon Wireless UM150 EV-DO modem.

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March 16th, 2007

Novatel V740 Rev. A EV-DO ExpressCard/34

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 7:07 am

Categories: EV-DO, ExpressCard

Tags:

Wouldn't you know that almost immediately after I post my review of the Verizon Wireless V640 EV-DO Express Card/34 from Novatel, they announce the successor? Moore's Law at it's finest.

The new Novatel V740 is a Rev. A ExpressCard which is faster than the Rev. 0 V640 card. According to Wikipedia:

EV-DO Rev. A is becoming the successor to the first revision of the standard, EV-DO Rev. 0… Rev. A offers fast packet establishment on both the forward and reverse links along with air interface enhancements that reduce latency and improve data rates. In addition to the increase in the maximum downlink rate from 2.45 Mbps to 3.1 Mbps, Rev. A has a significant improvement in the maximum uplink data rate, from 153 kbps to 1.8 Mb/s. This improvement assumes early acknowledgment of the first subpacket, typical data rates therefore average below 1 Mbps

3Gstore.com is selling the V740 Rev A ExpressCard for US$110 with a new two year service plan. The monthly fee is US$60 per month for existing Verizon cell phone customers and US$80 per month for new customers.

Look for a review in the coming weeks. 

March 15th, 2007

Novatel V640 EVDO card and why you want one (updated)

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 8:38 am

Categories: EV-DO, ExpressCard, Hardware, MacBook Pro, Verizon

Tags:

I've been using a Novatel V640 EVDO ExpressCard/34 for a while now on the Verizon network and it's fantastic. It allows you to get online anywhere where there's high-speed EVDO coverage and it fits in the skinny (34mm, hence the name) ExpressCard/34 slot found in the MacBook Pro.

The V640 was announced in August 2006 by Verizon Wireless and Novatel Wireless and is a WWAN PCI ExpressCard/34. The V640 is only for use with Verizon Wireless’ BroadbandAccess service and enables owners of notebooks with ExpressCard/34 (and ExpressCard/54) slots to wirelessly connect to the Internet at broadband speeds via Verizon Wireless’ national high-speed 3G Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO) network.

The little card is an amazing piece of kit offering download speeds that rival my clunky DSL connection at home and even the pokey "high speed" connections at a lot of hotels. I used this little wonder to live blog the Stevenote address at Macworld Expo in January and although I had a little trouble with the software, all was cured with a quick update to the latest version of VZAccess Manager (v.3.1.3 currently). Be sure to update to the latest version of the software. You should also install Apple's WWAN Support Update 1.0 for Intel based Macs while you're at it.

VZAccess Manager is an OS application for managing your connection on Verizon’s BroadbandAccess network. The software offers information about your data usage and is useful for keeping tabs on the amount of data transferred to and from your computer.

Although their BroadbandAccess service is marketed as "unlimited" Verizon has been known to cancel user accounts for transferring more than 5GB of data per month. EVDOForums.com has posts from several Verizon customers that had their EV-DO accounts canceled for that very reason.

When I asked Verizon Wireless about their usage policy and the conflict between marketing a product as "unlimited" access and the phantom 5GB download cap, their Executive Director of Corporate Communications replied "we have a BroadbandAccess plan that is UNLIMITED FOR certain types of use, not just "Unlimited." Right. 

Anyway, bandwidth caps notwithstanding the V640 is still an amazing card. Business users will love being able to get online in seconds in most major metros without having to hunt around for an open WiFi hotspot or pay for an expensive T-Mobile hotspot account. It's great to be able to keep in touch with the office and clients whether you're in the airport or in the back of car doing 70MPH down Interstate 95. Granted the service isn't cheap (US$60 per month with a VZW mobile phone account) nothing beats being able to get online with your MacBook Pro in most major metros, especially now that spring is almost here.

Verizon Wireless sells the ExpressCard V640 for US$179 with a two year contract. The "unlimited" broadband service costs US$59.95 per month if you have cell phone service with Verizon.

UPDATE: Verizon today announced the V740 Rev A ExpressCard/34 that replaces the Novatel V640 Rev 0 ExpressCard/34. MacBook Pro users can use the included VZAccess Software or use the latest Apple WWAN Update. Rev A is superior to Rev 0 EVDO in terms of speed, according to Wikipedia:

EV-DO Rev. A is becoming the successor to the first revision of the standard, EV-DO Rev. 0… Rev. A offers fast packet establishment on both the forward and reverse links along with air interface enhancements that reduce latency and improve data rates. In addition to the increase in the maximum downlink rate from 2.45 Mbps to 3.1 Mbps, Rev. A has a significant improvement in the maximum uplink data rate, from 153 kbps to 1.8 Mb/s. This improvement assumes early acknowledgment of the first subpacket, typical data rates therefore average below 1 Mbps