Crave

(Credit: Crave Asia)

You may be able to get free Wi-Fi almost anywhere in Singapore with the Wireless@SG initiative that aims to wire the whole island state, but that's still insufficient for the true Internet junkie. While commuting each day, a Net addict has to go cold turkey as his notebook becomes nothing more than a slab of plastic and silicon without wireless access. Well, a fix has been found.

Nokia has brought Wi-Fi onto 12 buses in Singapore so that commuters can surf for free when riding them, using the existing cellular HSDPA service. The best thing is that users don't need a HSDPA-enabled phone or modem as the equipment dishes out the access using regular Wi-Fi within the bus.

Unlike Wireless@SG, you don't have to sign up for an account to use Nokia's Wi-Fi Zone service. The unsecured network just requires you to agree to some terms of service and, after that, you're good to go. Nokia says this is a trial for now and will review the service in a few months. It's a first from the company, so you won't find it outside of Singapore just yet.

There are only 12 buses plying 12 routes at this point, so chances of hopping on one even if you use the particular bus service is not guaranteed. If you are truly and hopelessly hooked to the Internet, we suggest getting your own HSDPA modem and an unlimited plan--that will work on any bus.

(Source: Crave Asia)

LG CU515

(Credit: LG)

LG sneakily showed off the LG CU515 last night to little fanfare, as the Venus and the Voyager took the limelight. It's a shame, because the LG CU515 is no slouch when it comes to features--not only is it packed with a 1.3-megapixel camera and a music player, it is also one of AT&T's new HSDPA phones. Clearly a successor to the LG CU500V, the LG CU515 is also compatible with AT&T's Video Share, letting customers share real-time streaming video with each other. The quad-band phone will also support AT&T's broadband offerings like AT&T Music and AT&T's Cellular Video. A bonus feature that we don't often see with AT&T is its Push-to-Talk functionality, and the ability to convert PTT calls to cellular calls. The LG CU515 is said to be available in November this year, though pricing is yet to be determined.

AT&T says it has spent an additional $50 million in the months leading up to the iPhone launch to upgrade and add more capacity to its 2.5G EDGE network, but a company official said that subscribers shouldn't expect to surf the mobile Net any faster.

"We don't want to set unrealistic expectations," said Mark Siegel, a spokesman for AT&T. "We have been upgrading the network on an ongoing basis, and we've made an additional investment in anticipation of demand for the iPhone."

AT&T has spent over $16 billion since 2005 upgrading the EDGE network.

The iPhone has been criticized for the fact that it works on AT&T's 2.5G network instead of its faster 3G network. But in the last few days, some AT&T subscribers have been reporting noticeably faster data speeds using their 2.5G handsets. And there has been speculation that AT&T gave EDGE a "boost" in the days and weeks leading up to the launch, which happens Friday at 6 p.m. local time.

But AT&T's Siegel said that what customers are likely experiencing are bursts in speed.

"The connection speed depends on so many things," he said. "It depends on the site you're connecting to or the size of the file you're downloading. And sometimes users experience bursts that are above what is typical."

He said the company has not changed what it cites as the average data rates for the EDGE network. He said on average subscribers should expect between 100 kilobits per second and 130kbps.

But even if some users get bursts of faster speeds from time to time, the EDGE network is still much slower than a 3G network. AT&T's 3G network, which uses a technology called HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access), gets average data rates of between 400kbps and 700kbps. Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel, which use a 3G technology called EV-DO (Evolution Data Optimized), also offer data rates between 400kbps and 700kbps.

So unfortunately, for all the soon-to-be iPhone users, AT&T hasn't magically increased the speed of its network. For truly faster speeds, iPhone fans will have to wait for the next-generation device that will work on a 3G network.

(Credit: HP)

If you're shopping for a somewhat snazzy business-oriented notebook, HP's got some AMD-flavored newness for you. The imaginatively named HP Compaq 6515b and 6715b both support a variety of wireless protocols, including EVDO (Verizon) and HSDPA (AT&T). And, being business laptops, they're big on security, including drive encryption, an optional privacy filter for your screen, and a fingerprint reader.

We've got the smaller 14.1-inch 6515b in the CNET Labs right now, and it's actually surprisingly slick-looking for a button-down biz laptop. Both these systems will be available in late April, starting at around $649.

Sony Ericsson's first tri-band HSDPA phone for the North America market seems to have some identity issues.

At first glance it's all about looks: it comes in pink and gray--er, Rose Pink and Phantom Grey--and has a nifty exterior display that's hidden until a call or text comes in.

(Credit: Sony Ericsson)

But inside there's a lot of smart features, like push e-mail (it's Exchange ActiveSync enabled), live scrolling RSS feeds, and the ability to do broadband-speed uploads and downloads.

There's also a 2.2-inch screen, a 2.0-megapixel camera, media player, built-in FM radio (with RDS, which enables readouts of which song/station is playing), and can do 3-D gaming.

For such an unassuming clamshell, that's an impressive resume. The only thing missing, it seems, is a full QWERTY keyboard. No word on carriers or pricing yet.

In another first, the Z750 is also Sony Ericsson's first phone that supports JSR 248, the latest Java standard for mobile devices originally released in December 2006. The standard is meant as a way for developers to make it simpler to create applications across all Java-enabled phones.

Motorola Razr V3xx

(Credit: Cingular)

We mentioned earlier this month that Cingular/AT&T was going to update its 3.5G HSDPA phone lineup with the much-awaited Motorola Razr V3xx. Well the time has come because the carrier just launched the Razr V3xx today, and even more details of the phone have been released. The most notable of which is that the Razr V3xx will be Cingular's first 3.6 Mbps HSDPA handset. Previous HSDPA phones from Cingular (like the LG CU500) were capped out at 1.8 Mbps due to network limitations, but the company is planning to increase the network's data speeds later this year.

Touted as the "next-generation Razr," the Razr V3xx is decked out with Cingular Video and Cingular Music support, which suits its high speed nicely. There's even a dedicated Cingular TV button to get your video fix quicker. Other interesting features include a 1.3-megapixel camera, a music and a video player, stereo Bluetooth, mobile e-mail, a microSD card slot, and a built-in Opera Web browser. The tri-band GSM phone is available right now for $229.99 but after a two-year contract and a mail-in rebate, the price is cut down to a very affordable $79.99.

Motorola Razr Maxx Ve

(Credit: Howard Forums)

We know the HSDPA Motorola Razr V3xx is coming to AT&T/Cingular but we still haven't heard anything regarding U.S. carrier availability on the equally powerful Motorola Razr Maxx. And that's too bad as the Razr Maxx promises to be the most appealing Razr to date.

But now it appears we may get our wish, just in a different form. Howard Forums has published marketing photos of a promised EV-DO variant of the phone, the Maxx Ve for Verizon Wireless. Details are sketchy at this point but it's rumored the Maxx Ve will offer a 2-megapixel camera and a microSD card slot. V Cast video and music support should be onboard as well but apparently it won't be compatible with Verizon's new V Cast TV.

Samsung revealed three new Ultra-line phones packed with features at the ITU Telecom World 2006 in Hong Kong. The company seems to be proud of all its new slim 3G smart phones, but if it's looks you're after, the new F500 may be of more interest to you.

(Credit: Samsung Electronics)

For those of you wanting a little more than music with your calls, the Ultra Video F500 will enable owners to play MPEG-4, WMV, AVI, and H.264 video files, in addition to MP3, AAC, AAC+, e-AAC+ and WMA music files. It has a 2.4-inch screen and 2-megapixel camera. There is 400MB of memory in the phone, but it has a MicroSD card slot. MicroSD cards currently come in up to 2GB of storage space, which Samsung claims will allow up to 4 hours of movies to be stored. As you can see, the phone sets up to stand on its side so it can stand alone while you watch a movie or video.

(Credit: Samsung Electronics)

The Ultra Messaging i600, according to Samsung, is the "world's thinnest 3G smart phone with a full QWERTY keyboard." The bragging rights issue aside, the i600 does come in at just under half an inch thick. It looks like the BlackJack and also works over HSDPA, a mobile data network that claims to be as fast as broadband. It has Windows Mobile 5.0, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0, a music-player and voice-recognition software. It also supports RSS feeds (You can get your Crave fix to go.)

If and when it is released in the U.S., it could be a competitor to the slightly thicker Cingular 8525 3G smart phone with side keyboard that also works over HSDPA. Aside from its svelte figure, however, the Samsung i600 resembles many other smart phones on the market.

(Credit: Samsung Electronics)

Finally, the Samsung Ultra Music F300 phone includes an FM radio, 2-megapixel camera and Bluetooth 2.0. It plays MP3, AAC, AAC+, e-AAC+ and WMA music files. It has only 100MB of memory with a MicroSD card slot, which means you will essentially be saving most of your music collection to a memory card.