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The Nepalese mobile provider Ncell has recently installed a 3G internet connection at the base camp of Mount Everest, allowing adventurous hikers to browse the web from thousands of feet up the highest mountain in the world. According to Reuters, Ncell managed to make a video call from 17,388 feet.

Internet both luxury and life saver

To some people, if it didn’t appear on Facebook, it didn’t happen. To those who take that mantra seriously, climbing Mount Everest could be a problem, as there would be no way of proving to your friends that you were in the middle of a great adventure. Well, those days are in the past, thanks to the good people at Ncell, who have successfully installed a 3G internet connection at the bottom of Mount Everest.

With the giant mountain being twenty-nine thousand feet high, it’s still uncertain as to whether a clear connection can be achieved at the peak. However, with the temperatures way below freezing, there won’t be many people updating their Twitter accounts on the summit. Mount Everest’s internet connection could prove to save lives in the future, as in the past expensive satellite phones were the only way for hikers to stay in touch with their families or get help.

First of its kind

Ncell is a partnership between Scandinavian mobile providers TeliaSonera and local investors, and TelieSonera chief, Lars Nyberg, explained the importance of this installation. ‘This achievement is as mighty as the altitude as 3G high speed internet will bring faster, more affordable telecommunication services to the people living in the Khumbu Valley, trekkers, and climbers alike,’ Nyberg said last week.

Ncell chief Pasi Koistinen launched the new 3G service by announcing the success of the world’s highest video call: ‘Today we made the (world’s) highest video call from Mount Everest, – a VoIP call made from an astounding 5,300 meters (17,388 feet).’

So if you do plan to climb the highest mountain in the world, be sure to remember the essentials: food, water, oxygen and a notebook computer, as Mount Everest is now online.

A black and silver mobile phone, LG KP170 Jaguar 4 is on the Orange network. It is equipped with a VGA camera for use while travelling. It also has a built-in MP3 player to playback your favourite songs. The mobile phone has Bluetooth as well as the ability to send images and sounds. With a built-in camera and coloured screen, the phone does not have a built-in FM radio or downloadable arcade style games. However, the LG phone has a stand-by time of 400 hours and has games included within the phone. The phone does not feature a Handsfree Speakerphone and no ThreeG Video Calling. It does not have Triband but it offers talk time up to 9 hours and has a vibrate alert. Also, it does not have Quadband and no voice dialling.

The mobile phone has VGA camera with video recording and 4MG internal memory. The sleek and stylish phone has polyphonic and MP3 ringtones. A practical and efficient phone, the LG KP170 Jaguar 4 has Bluetooth which enhances its connectivity and helps download content from other phones. A stylish and practical phone, LG KP170 Jaguar 4 will certainly make life easier with its host of helpful features. The built-in camera allows video recording as well as capturing still photos. A phone with a robust body and sleek looks, the mobile phone is sure to attract attention. The mobile phone’s MP3 player allows playing favourite songs to entertain you and a long battery life. This means that the user has a recharge the phone less often. All in all, a highly recommended mobile phone, it allows the user to stay entertained with its games.

Recently launched, Asus T91 is a convertible netbook from the company’s Eee PC line; a one of its kind computer that comes with a swiveltouch screen. It has an 8.9 inch touch screen that can be folded back to be used as a tablet or in a traditional net book form factor. Designed to be extremely slim, it weighs only 960gm and measures 28.4mm at its thickest point. Extremely compact and miniaturist in dimensions, the net book is powered by the Z520 Atom CPU and 1GB RAM. It has 6GB Solid State Drive, 16GB SD Card and a 30GB Portable Hard Disk Drive with 20GB Eee Storage, which is ample space for all your media, music, files and other items. It has wireless connectivity (draft-N) and Bluetooth 2.1 that expand its connectivity options. Its other features include a 0.3 mega pixel webcam, digital array mic, two USB ports, 3-in-1 memory card, Ethernet and a pair of audio hacks. The USB ports help connect the net book to external devices like a printer, Apple iPod or a digital camera. The webcam and mic increase its multimedia efficiency and help keep in touch with family and friends even when on the move.

It runs on sealed Lithium polymer battery, which runs for a maximum of 5 hours. Its optional features include a TV Tuner, 3G and GPS. Moreover, the Asus EEE PC T91 comes with a suite of touch-optimised software known as the TouchSuite. This includes applications like FotoFun (flicking through and editing photos), Memos (notes that can be ’stuck’ onto the desktop), Touch Gate (allows switching between modes) as well as an IE Toolbar. Extremely advanced and innovative, the net book has an impressive set of features.

The attractive Advent 4213 netbook has a 10″ screen and integrated 3G web access. Competent for everyday days computer-relate tasks, this competent netbook is good for routine applications. It has enough storage and a reasonable battery life. The mobile Advent computer has 3G access and a non-glossy 10″ screen. Design-wise, this net book is an attractive net book weighing 1.4kg and measures 260mm by 28mm by 178mm. Its glossy black lid is appealing but it cannot be treated roughly.

Despite the chassis being wide, the keyboard is slightly cramped and small and has lots of empty space on either side, above and below. The keys are odd-shaped wider and shorter than the keys on an average laptop. However, it is easy to get used to the Advent 4213’s keyboard once the user starts using it regularly. The mouse track pad has a single-button affair and the seesaw design has left and right clicks. The single button has four LED status lights that indicate the net book’s charging status, hard-drive activity and whether the net book has power and the status of Wi-Fi, whether it is activated or not. Advent 4213 has much in common with other net books. The 10 inch netbook has a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU and a 1GB RAM (that can be upgraded to 2GB via a single DIMM slot) and an Intel GMA 945 chipset. The 160GB mechanical hard drive provides ample storage enough to store a huge library of movies, music, presentations, videos, pictures and all other types of multimedia. Besides its huge storage facilities, the 4213 has superb wireless capabilities. Enabled with 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, the net book also includes integrated 3G access.

The Huawei E220 USB modem is the most unique way out for the users who requires high speed data while making headway. It is a simple yet stylish device. It can be plugged in and used without any installation problem. The Huawei E220 is the best in comparison to other USB modem it is just 8.9 cm in length and is tremendously slim. The E220 has become a style statement amongst the people. This little USB modem from the Huawei company solves the entire problem which would or else be face with a laptop that does not have a slot for data card to access the internet after stepping out of the Wi-Fi network.

If the SIM gives access to a 3G (HSDPA) network the Huawei E220 is capable of delivering data at up to 3.6Mbps. Installation does not require any kind of additional hardware installation steps. It can be used by straight away by plugging it in and playing it. The data enabled SIM can simply be put into the Huawei E220 modem and plug the USB cable into the USB slot on the laptop or netbook, like the Toshiba NB100-12A, without 3G capabilities. The Huawei E220 supports the main data standards which includes GPRS, GSM, HSDPA, UMTS and EDGE. The E220 is compatible with Windows XP and Windows 2000. The E220 antenna is internal; the USB cable does not act as an antenna. There is a way to connect an external antenna even though there is no antenna connector.

Vodafone, the popular mobile phone service provider has recently unveiled that it has achieved the fastest 3G connection currently possible. The company has unleashed its potential during the field trials of HSPA+ MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) technology. Vodafone is now testing a 3G HSPA mobile broadband connection that is supposed to offer a whooping download speed of 20Mbps. This will prove very beneficial to the mobile computing users and will bolster the mobile communication platforms.

Vodafone has used technology supplied by Ericsson, Huawei and the Qualcomm Corporation for its tests and has already tested HSPA+ 64QAM technology that offered speed up to 16Mbps under lab conditions. At present the maximum data transfer rate that is offered commercially is 7.2 Mbps. Vodafone is currently offering this rate with its free Dell Inspiron Mini 9 netbooks that the company gives away as part of its 3G mobile broadband deals. Once the 20Mbpbs technology gets implemented the mobile computing market will forget crawling for data. Mobile devices will be then able to download large files within seconds. Vodafone claims that the HSPA+ MIMO will definitely provide an enhanced mobile computing experience and will be very helpful in hotspots such as business districts and airports.

Andy MacLeod, Global Networks Director of Vodafone commented, “Breaking the 20 Mbps peak speed barrier in tests through HSPA+ MIMO is yet another key milestone in the evolution of 3G Mobile Broadband technology and raises the prospect of higher network performance for our customers in selected hotspots.”

The much awaited TG01 smartphone has been finally released by Toshiba. It’s the world’s first smartphone to use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chip and is aimed at high speed processing and outstanding performance. The TG01 is super-slim and highly powered. It has got cutting edge technology and a broad array of features that make it an all-in-one solution for mobile computing and communication.

The TG01 boasts large touchscreen with a resolution of 800×480 pixels. Toshiba has imparted its advanced picture-definition technology (the same technology that the company uses in its LCD TVs) to foster the image and video quality of the phone. Toshiba is not a complete stranger to the mobile phone market, with its Toshiba Portege G810 smartphone model among others, however, it is certainly not one of the larger smartphone makers. Even so, it looks as if the company has gotten a lot right. For instance, right from the colour reproductions to image sharpness, everything looks great. The Qualcomm’s Snapdragon delivers ultimate processing power to the mobile. It enables processing @ 1GHz and thus the TG01 takes the crown of the fastest smartphone on the planet. This mobile phone can handle variety of resource intensive tasks simultaneously. The Snapdragon processor is backed by a 512MB ROM paired with 256MB RAM. This ensures that the user is simply immersed into the multimedia world. The TG01 can do everything in a blink of eye. It can load graphic rich web sites in no time and can connect the user with diverse social networks without any glitches.

The TG01 has got everything you may want to stay connected with your business or personal domain all the time. It supports SMS, MMS, E-mail, Microsoft Direct Push Technology, Windows Live Messenger, GPS & A-GPS, Audio/video/image viewer, Java applications, pocket office, Bluetooth, WiFi, USB and much more.

The much awaited and anticipated netbook is finally announced by the Acer. The company is going to launch its new 10 inch Aspire One in February 2009. The new netbook is expected to feature awesome computing capabilities, stupendous styling and great functionality, all at a price of £299.

The 10 inch Acer Aspire One will sport some familiar tech specs. It is built around 1.6GHz Atom N270 processor. The 10 inch display supports great resolution up to 1,024 x 600 pixels. Apart from this each unit will be powered by a three cell battery and contain 160GB hard disk and 1GB RAM, which is more storage space than most Acer Aspires currently on the market, including the Acer Aspire One A150-AW. There will be no WiMAX initially included in the new Aspire One but the company’s official said that it can be opted as an extra feature later on. Acer will also launch a 3G model very soon that will be independent of carriers. This is good because you can simply slide in any data SIM you have got.

The company also unveiled that the new Acer netbook will be available in four high-gloss colours including white, blue, red and black. The overall finish of the netbook is so good that you just can’t ignore it and move on. The 10 inch Acer will give tough competition to Samsung’s NC10. According to Acer the new Aspire One is 4mm slimmer and much lighter than NC10 as it replaces the six cell battery with the one containing three cells only.

Tags for this article: netbook, netbooks, aspire

Get ready to experience a new innovative wave in the mobile broadband world. Franklin Wireless and Beceem Communications have developed the world’s first dual mode 3G CDMA/ 4G WiMAX USB modem named U300. It incorporates Beceem’s high-performance Mobile WiMAX chipset along with the EVDO-Rev chip.

The U300 is a must have modem for those who most of the time rely on mobile broadband network. It offers the best of both worlds. The users can enjoy both CDMA and WiMAX networks without any manual intervention as U300 automatically gets switched between the two. This mobile broadband modem is sleek, speedy and stylish. It works much like the vYSoo MR600 Router 3G+, except of course for the fact that the U300 is a USB modem. It also offers a download speed up to 10Mbps and 2Mbps upload speed on 4GWiMAX networks. It is programmed to automatically connect to the 3G EVDO networks when gets out of 4G network.

OC Kim, president of Franklin Wireless commented, “Our U300 USB modem ushers in a new era of high-speed mobile computing. In developing this revolutionary product we came to truly appreciate the WiMAX expertise of the Beceem team and the performance of their chip, which we have been able to combine with our 3G product heritage to offer a ‘best in class’ product that provides users with the unprecedented data speeds afforded by 4G WiMAX networks while switching back to 3G whenever needed.”

Top 10 Broadband, the mobile broadband comparison site has recently revealed that the 3G-embedded mobile computing devices are the most preferred gadgets these days. It totally contradicts the study that Disruptive Analysis has made which says that demand for 3G-embedded laptops and netbooks has been exaggerated. Disruptive Analysis clearly points out that the demand projections for the 3G embedded mobile computing devices have been hyped by PC manufacturers and the adoption of such devices on a large scale is still a dream that has yet to come true.

But the Top 10 Broadband completely disagrees with this and says that the 3G embedded mobile computing devices are now preferred by almost every mobile computing enthusiast. More and more notebooks, such as the Lenovo ThinkPad SL300 are also coming with integrated 3G connectivity as a standard feature. In November, over 1000 such gadgets were sold. According to the Top 10 Broadband’s marketing manager Jessica McArdle, “Demand for 3G-embedded laptop broadband deals has rocketed since the first consumer-targeted offer was launched in September 2008. Given how fast they are selling, we are baffled by these recent projections which seem to be speculative and have no grounding in actual broadband product sales. Mobile broadband embedded laptops are seen as the compact, hassle-free alternative to using external mobile broadband dongles to connect to the internet on the go. Additionally at a time when belts are being tightened across the country, they can represent terrific value for consumers.”