wifi

$349 Wi-Fi-only Samsung Galaxy Tab available by April 10

Samsung has carved itself a respectable niche market with the Galaxy Tab. Although full sales figures aren't available, most information I've found put sales between 1 million and 2 million.

It's not the 16+ million of the iPad, but this is about as close to that figure as any tablet has gotten.

Although Samsung will be releasing at least two new Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) Galaxy Tabs in the next few months, the company isn't prepared to abandon the original Tab just yet.

On Wednesday, Samsung Announced that a Wi-Fi version of the original Tab would be available from several retail stores and Web sites by April 10.

The Tab comes loaded with Android 2.2, with no known plans to upgrade it to Android 3.0. The tablet includes 16GB of internal memory with the capability of supporting additional expandable external memory of up to a 32 GB microSD card.

Also, Samsung hasn't mentioned any hardware or design changes with the Wi-Fi Galaxy Tab, so we expect it to look and function the same as the original, aside from the whole Wi-Fi-only thing.

Look for more coverage after we get our hands on it.… Read more

Wi-Fi Alliance to ease access to Wi-Fi hot spots

Connecting to public Wi-Fi hot spots can be a challenge, but the Wi-Fi Alliance is hoping to ease some of the pain.

Responsible for certifying Wi-Fi products and technology, the Wi-Fi Alliance said yesterday that it's working on a new certification program that should make it easier to access and use public hot spots. Various members of the alliance, including service providers and device makers, have already formalized the requirements needed to test such a certification program.

Once in place, the new hot spot program would offer several benefits to Wi-Fi users.

Computers, phones, and other connected gadgets would … Read more

Huawei unveils Ideos X3 smartphone, Slim S7 tablet

BARCELONA, Spain--Huawei Mobile World Congress press conference is still a day away, but the company jumped the gun and announced four new devices on Monday.

Details are slim at the moment, but we can offer what we know.

The trim Huawei Ideos X3 smartphone runs Gingerbread on a 3.2 inch-screen.

The Huawei Ideos S7 Slim tablet has a 7-inch (480x800 pixels) capacitive touch-screen and measures about half an inch thick. Features on the Froyo device include Bluetooth, HD video, a Web browser, messaging and e-mail, a music player, a camera, and Wi-Fi. The S7 Slim can make cellular and … Read more

Study: Expect a billion 802.11ac Wi-Fi devices in 2015

People in the technology world just now adjusting to the arrival of 802.11n should begin bracing themselves for 802.11ac.

For those who can't keep up with the alphanumeric jumbles that are technology standards, 802.11n is at the moment the fastest version of Wi-Fi. The arrival of 802.11n was delayed by interminable standards wrangling--thus the profusion of "Draft N" wireless routers--and research firm In-Stat already predicts its faster successor, 802.11ac, soon will surge into the market.

From zero 802.11ac devices this year and the first ones next year--the standard isn't done yet… Read more

Wi-Fi Alliance urges use of WPA2 encryption (podcast)

The Wi-Fi Alliance is launching a campaign to urge consumers to configure routers and devices to use WPA2 (Wi-Fi Protected Access 2) on all their wireless Wi-Fi equipment.

"Wi-Fi security has gone through some evolutions over the years and WP2, which has been around now for a few years, is the latest and greatest in Wi-Fi security," Kelly Davis-Kelner of the Wi-Fi Alliance said in this podcast interview.

WPA2, which offers government- and enterprise-grade security, is available in all products that the alliance has anointed as "WiFi Certified." The security standard replaces the original WPA and … Read more

Do we need the Internet for a revolution?

In the last two years I have read at least a dozen books that champion the Internet as the key to personal and political freedom. Scholars and academics have come to see digital communication as a near messiah in power and prescience.

However, I believe that the current revolution in Egypt should temper our faith in the Internet.

The Egyptian government has cut off the digital tools that we have come to rely on. All ISPs are shut down, cell phone service has been cut, and Al Jazeera has lost its license to broadcast within the country.

Yet the people … Read more

Barnes & Noble discontinuing 3G Nook?

We're not sure quite what to make of this rumor, but Engadget is reporting that Barnes & Noble is phasing out the Nook 3G.

Engadget doesn't cite a specific person or anonymous source, but says it, "Received hard evidence from within B&N that the Nook is being discontinued, with sales to seemingly continue until stock is exhausted." The "outfit" (we assume that means Barnes & Noble) is apparently "encouraging retail partners to not send out any 'bulk requests' for the Nook 3G, as there simply 'will not be sufficient quantities to fulfill those orders.'"

The article then goes on to say that "the company never actually received a huge amount of Nook 3G bulk orders to begin with, so maybe Wi-Fi really is everywhere these days."

As we said, it's a little hard to decipher what this means, but we should point out that Engadget's story about the Nook Color getting an update to Android 2.2 and possibly blowing up if you rooted it (installed custom Android firmware) ended up being just a tad off base. However, this latest story was written by veteran Engadget reporter Darren Murph, so we're taking it more seriously.

One thing worth pointing out is that it would seem odd for Barnes & Noble to discontinue the 3G/Wi-Fi version of the Nook and tell customers they could only get the Wi-Fi-only version.… Read more

Apple releases iOS 4.3 beta

Apple has released to developers a beta of iOS 4.3, the newest operating system update for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. iOS 4.3 will include several feature upgrades including the addition of personal Wi-Fi hot spots, new multitouch gestures for iPad, and customizable messaging alerts.

Also included in the first beta of iOS 4.3 is the return of orientation locking by using the hardware switch on the side of your iPad. Users will be able to toggle the usage of that switch from its current function, muting, to the new orientation lock.

The App Store app has … Read more

Samsung debuts Wi-Fi-only Galaxy Tab

LAS VEGAS--Samsung revealed this week that its Galaxy Tab recently passed a 1.5 million global shipment milestone and the company isn't content to rest on the laurels of the tablet's initial success.

Today the company announced that a Wi-Fi-only version of the Galaxy Tab will be available in the United States in early 2011.

Other than that detail, the new Galaxy Tab looks to be identical (spec-wise) to the one already released, but let's list its specs anyway, for good measure.

Rear-facing 3-megapixel camera Front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera and camcorder Flash 10.1 support 16GB of … Read more

Netgear intros universal Wi-Fi range extender

LAS VEGAS--If you have a large house or apartment, it's tricky to get the Wi-Fi signal to every corner. Even when you have the most powerful wireless router, the range never seems to be far enough.

This has been an ongoing issue with consumers, but Netgear offered a new and easy solution today by announcing its new universal Wi-Fi range extender, the WN3000RP.

The device increases the coverage of an existing home wireless network by automatically extending the signal of the network to which it is connected. According to Netgear, all consumers need to do is place the product … Read more