While at Pepcom-San Francisco Kington’s representative introduced us to Kingston’s second-generation MobileLite Wireless Mobile G2 battery charger and storage device. We were hoping for a significant improvement over the first generation. We were not very enthusiastic about last year’s first generation MobileLite Wireless unit. It was strictly a wireless card reader with internet pass thru capability, plus a portable battery for charging your mobile devices. The case design and functionality left a lot of room for improvement. We have Verizon’s expensive LTE data service which is great stateside. Other BSN* editors have wireless coverage from carriers that work best at their stateside offices. However, our editors travel outside the USA and several of them live in other countries. So stateside wireless data package coverage suddenly disappears or becomes outlandishly expensive.

Specifications

This is where the Kingston MobileLite Wireless Mobile G2 steps up to store that data until you can get somewhere convenient to transfer it. It also extends your storage, streams your media, charges your devices, reads from USBs and SD cards, and allows you to connect to the web with it acting as a portable router. For those of you shooting multi-megabyte RAW photos with a Canon or Nikon DSLR camera, simply put your SDHC card into the MobileLite Wireless Mobile G2. It will easily store those images until you get back to a place with a secure high-speed WiFi or wired network. Then you switch over to your second SDHC card and continue shooting the event. If you have a partner with you, they can take the MobileLite G2 with your SDHC card in it to the nearest secure WiFi and send the images and data files to your home or office webserver via FTP.

With its built-in 3.8v Li-ion battery at 4640 mAh, it can last for up to 13 hours of continuous use. That will keep your mobile devices alive, until you get back to your car or a location with 110V shore power.

Packaging

Kingston’s package explains the features on the front and inside flap of the box.

Just three items are in the box: a 1.5 foot USB 2.0 cable, a microSD to SD card adapter, and the MobileLite Wireless Mobile G2 device. You will have to download the Kingston MobileLite Wireless app from the appropriate app store – Google Play, Apple App Store, or Amazon Apps. We tested the MobileLite Wireless Mobile G2 application with the HTC One M8 (Android 4.4.4).

There is no documentation with the unit. You have to go to Kingston’s website for the manual. Your data storage is with an SD card, either the micro-SD format using an adapter or a standard SD card. For this review, we are using the Kingston 32GB SDHC Class 10 card with 30MB/S transfer capability.

The Kingston MobileLite Wireless Mobile G2 includes 3G USB dongle support for direct connections and is compatible with Android 4.0+, iPad (2, 3rd Gen, 4th Gen, mini, Air), iPhone 4/4S/5, iPod Touch (iOS 7+), Kindle Fire, and Kindle Fire HD. When connected via USB to a PC, it can act as a USB 2.0 card reader for the system. For a desktop PC, it is compatible with many operating systems including Windows Vista (SP2), Windows 7 (SP1), Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Mac OSX V. 10.6.X+, and Linux v. 2.6.x+. The MobileLite Wireless G2 has an 802.11 g/n WiFi access point that supports WPA2 data encryption. WiFi is one of the ways to access the MobileLite G2 when using a smartphone or tablet, thus having a fast and secure 802.xx connection is important.

User Experience

The white bezel has six buttons, LEDs, and ports. Below from left to right, first is the battery LED/ power which indicate remaining battery time. Pressing the larger white Power button (fourth from left) makes the LED change colors. Green indicates 51 percent to 100 percent battery charge is remaining. Orange indicates 25 percent to 50 percent remaining, and red indicates less than 25 percent battery charge is remaining. Next is WiFi LED which indicates current status of WiFi broadcast. The next LED to the right is for Bridged that lets you know if the MobileLite G2 is bridged to an Internet gateway via WiFi or with the Ethernet cable port.

The larger Power button turns the MobileLite G2 on or off with a short one second press. Holding the power button down for three seconds will put it into WiFi mode. Next to the right is the Reset button. Holding it down for more than 10 seconds will reset the MobileLite G2 to its original default configuration. The Micro-B USB port is a multi-function port. It is the way you charge the MobileLite G2. Or you can connect to a standard USB port on your computer for data transfer. The microUSB port is to charge the device’s internal 4640 mAh battery. The battery charge status indicator LED makes sure you charge the MobileLite G2 before you walk out your home/office door.

On the opposite side of the white bezel is the Ethernet port. Using a standard Cat 5e/6 cable you can connect the MobileLite G2 to your wired network. This allows you to create a hotspot for wireless Internet access. On the end of the white bezel is the SD card slot and a USB 2.0 port. The USB port works with the USB Standard Type A plug, the most common USB male end connector.

Kingston’s MobileLite Wireless Mobile G2 app on our HTC One M8 was minimalistic. There is no GUI, it is just like an old-fashioned bare bones file directory app. This is the place where we went back to the 13 page owner’s manual. It was not very informative. The manual could use some better examples. We suggest Kingston partner with a software developer to build a full-featured GUI application. That would take care of the only short coming we found. Using our 14Mbps WiFi connection at 100 feet distance we were able to quickly load multiple music files and large video files from the Cobra ultraHD dash cam (which will be our next review). The app helps you make folders for keeping track of music, videos, and data. The app does include a basic photo viewer as well as a music player.

Conclusion

The Kingston MobileLite Wireless Mobile G2 is a light weight device which has an amazing number of features. All the Mobile G2’s features worked, however, you should allow yourself a bit of time to learn how to use them all. Pricing of the Kingston MobileLite Wireless Mobile G2 at Amazon is only about five dollars more than the eyeFi Mobi 8GB WiFi card. Plus the MobileLite G2 has battery charging with up-to 13 hours of functionality and you can use any microSD or SD card for storage. BSN* rates it as a must-have for everyone, especially those readers who have one of the older smartphones or tablets without a micro-SD expansion card slot. Special thanks to Kingston for providing the MobileLite Wireless Mobile G2 charger and storage device, and the Kingston 32GB SDHC Class 10 card and to David Leong, and Shealyn Johnson for their assistance.

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Verizon (NYSE:VZ) is trying to get on the softer side of consumers. You could either consider this the more emotional side, or the software side, either would be applicable here. Verizon is deeming the day before Thanksgiving, November 26th, one of the busiest travel days of the year Connection Day. Connection Day is Verizon’s way of saying thanks to their customers and anyone that might need some help while they’re traveling home for the holiday.

The first thing they’re doing is that they’re giving existing Verizon More Everything plan customers a free, one-time gift of 1GB of data and another 1GB of data for the next billing cycle. In addition to Verizon’s own customers anyone and everyone can get in on Verizon’s Connection Day ‘gifts’ or ‘free offers’ by simply heading over to the Connection Day page.

Verizon FIOS is offering free mobile access to their popular movies and TV Shows on November 26th via their FIOS Preview mobile app.

Verizon has partnered with Amazon to offer a selection of 10 free/discounted apps, plus two free Audible.com book downloads (for new members) or $10 in Audible credit (current members). You will also get 10 free songs from Amazon Music and 10 curated playlists with Amazon Prime Music.

Apple has also joined the Connection Day gifting craze by offering a ‘special offer’ which will be revealed on November 26th, Connection Day.

Verizon also partnered with Condé Nast to offer free digital edition downloads of all 17 of the company’s publications which include Wired, Vanity Fair and GQ.

Verizon has also partnered with Boingo and GoGo to offer half an hour of free internet service in airports and planes on November 26th, Connection Day. And if you’re flying on Jet Blue, there will be free in-flight Wi-Fi for all flights between November 26th and December 31st.

Last but not least, Verizon partnered with Pandora to offer a free seven-day trial of Pandora One (Pandora’s premium subscription music service).

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At Pepcom – San Francisco 2014 we met with the staff of Ring, a video doorbell company that offers home security in a unique way.

Ring Video Doorbell at Pepcom-SF

Originally known as Doorbot, they had a successful crowdfunding campaign raising $250,000 and created a first-generation product by fall 2013. Doorbot decided to change their name to Ring (a privately held company) and redesigned their hardware for the home security market. Ring’s brochure says they have wide angled HD video, smart motion detection, and cloud recording.

Ring founder and CEO Jamie Siminoff said to Techcrunch that Doorbot’s first-generation hardware had shortcomings and was a good learning experience. Siminoff said, “With the Ring doorbell, early on when we were designing it, we decided what we were really doing was designing the alarm system literally turned inside out. Not an alarm system that copied what ADT is doing, what Canary is doing, or even what Dropcam was doing with its window and door systems, but actually building some kind of pre-crime system.”

Lowe’s Big Box DIY (do it yourself) home improvement store recently did a study on Smart Home interest among 2,000 randomly chosen respondents. They found security was at the top of the list.

Next in their survey finding was fifty percent of respondents wanted a DIY solution and not paying a monthly fee to an alarm company.

Thus Ring’s assumptions are right on target for what most home owners want – security- and that they want to install it themselves.

Ring’s motion detector sensor hardware and algorithms are able to detect both near and far movement, during day time or at night.

Ring alerts users to motion as soon as it’s detected

Often criminals ring the doorbell before they try to break into a house. When someone presses the Ring video doorbell, the user can have a near instant look at who is out there. With a smartphone and the Ring app you have two-way communication like a phone call and that makes it easier to talk with whoever is at the door. Wide-angle video is also recorded to the cloud in HD resolution.

Who is that at the door?

Ring’s installation is a simple three steps:
1. Download the free Ring app (iOS and Android)
2. Connect the doorbell to your WiFi network (using the app)
3. Mount the doorbell

The unit specifications are below:

Ring’s Video Doorbell is priced at $249 and begins shipping this week. It comes in four different finishes, and free cloud-based video recording until January 1, 2015, at which time subscription options will be available. The device can record 720p video at 30fps, has infrared LEDs for nighttime recording and features a 5,200mAh rechargeable battery – The unit doesn’t require electric power, but you have to charge the battery – for sure before going on vacation.

BSN* has requested an evaluation unit for testing to confirm that it works as well as the demo we saw at Pepcom- SF 2014.

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As T-Mobile (NYSE:TMUS) continues on the company’s attack on its competitors, the company held its Uncarrier 7.0 event, representing the company’s next move to help consumers while sticking it to the company’s competitors. During the Uncarrier 7.0 event in San Francisco, the company’s CEO John Legere introduced a multitude of Wi-Fi enabled technologies that will help improve the quality of T-Mobile service.

As a part of Uncarrier 7.0, T-Mobile is going to be enabling Wi-Fi calling on all of the phones that they sell in store, which means that they very likely will not be carrying devices like the Nexus 5 in-store. Most Nexus 5 users will still be unable to make use of T-Moble’s Wi-Fi calling feature, even though it is quite awesome and enables you to make calls using Wi-Fi as if you were connected to a tower. This is perfect for areas with poor to no reception as well as to help improve call quality in areas like your home if you spend a lot of time in your home but still use your smartphone a lot. T-Mobile will also be creating a small JUMP window for any current T-Mobile customers that don’t have a T-Mobile branded device with Wi-Fi hotspot to enable to them to get one if they’d like (costs associated must still be paid). T-Mobile really wants people to leverage Wi-Fi connectivity more, especially when they have pretty decent home connections. They want to expand their network beyond just cell towers.

Part of that is T-Mobile will also be supplying, with a small deposit, home Wi-Fi hotspots. T-Mobile is calling these CellSpots but they’re really just home Wi-Fi networks dedicated for phone connectivity and use regular off-the-shelf ASUS routers with some custom firmware to give voice data priority over all over data. The CellSpots themselves use 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac wireless technology, so there’s nothing really special about them other than the fact that they’re technically free and will help you get better voice coverage in your home.

In addition to that, T-Mobile has also struck up a deal with GoGo in-flight Wi-Fi service to deliver free texting and voicemail service on any GoGo enabled flights. Since calling is effectively banned on all airlines, T-Mobile is only enabling the ability to text your friends for free from 30,000 (or more) feet. While this may not be a huge factor for many, the reality is that GoGo’s Wi-Fi service only enabled internet chat and smartphone internet connectivity, but no text messaging or voicemail.

The post T-Mobile Uncarrier 7.0 – Leveraging Wi-Fi appeared first on VR World.

As if Comcast couldn’t get even more evil, they just have. The company is turning people’s home routers and internet connections (that they pay for) into public Wi-Fi hotspots for their customers. One might ask, why would an ISP be doing such a thing in an age where we already have fantastic 3G and 4G coverage on most carriers in the US? Well, its all part of Comcast’s evil new plan to compete with the wireless carriers and deploy their own wireless service using Wi-Fi, something akin to what  RePublic wireless is doing with their most basic plan.

However, Comcast has quietly built this feature into their routers and has made it an opt-out program rather than an opt-in one (because who in their right mind would opt-in?). When plans for this service were initially discussed, there was talk that they would utilize their Wi-Fi networks to enable them to essentially run a competitor to Verizon, Sprint, AT&T and T-Mobile. They have already tested roll outs of this public Wi-Fi in cities like Chicago and The Twin Cities and have been running these in addition to a 100,000 user test in New Jersey for the past year or so. Comcast already claims 1 million free Wi-Fi hotspots for their customers and would eventually roll it out to all of their internet customers, much like their dreaded data caps.

Their latest test includes a 150,000 deployment in Houston, where users are discovering that their comcast routers are becoming Wi-Fi hotspots. Initially, I expected Comcast to monetarily incentivize customers to enable this feature for Comcast’s benefit if they wanted to roll out their Wi-Fi based mobile network, but I guess they figured they could get away with doing it for free.

What makes this all the more interesting is that Comcast is constantly claiming that they have to charge the prices they do because they need to be able to pay for the bandwidth on their network. Yet, they’re clearly giving away bandwidth for free on the very same lines that their customers are paying for and probably getting less service than they should be (in terms of speed, and probably uptime, too). Sure, Comcast will probably be more concerned about the uptime of users’ routers if an entire wireless service depends on it, but I just don’t see how Comcast can justify this without allowing customers to know its happening or at least giving them a discount on their service for doing so. Also, if you use your own router and modem, this service won’t work so you can always be sure to opt out of it that way.

However, the thing that concerns me most about this whole ordeal is what the Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger could mean for Comcast’s plans for such a network. The combined company would have tens of millions of internet customers (31 million at the end of 2013, to be exact) and would effectively be able to run an entire nationwide Wi-Fi network purely off of customers’ own wireless routers and the public Wi-Fi that they provide. There are also questions about how secure such a feature would be and whether or not a free public Wi-Fi would be an invitation for people to attack individual people’s routers to try to access their network. Currently they operate on separate radios, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t have vulnerabilities. In the end, the roll out of this service just makes me more weary (as a Time Warner Cable internet customer) of what Comcast is trying to do.

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WH-5420CPE and WL-5470POE feature no less than eight operation modes with power output reaching 26 dBm. That is the highest power output in the industry (at this moment). Clear Signal Tech combines this high output with advanced filtering methods of cancelling out signal interference. WL-5470POE comes with a detachable 2 dBi dipole Antenna, while WH-5420CPE is an outdoor AP with water-proof enclosure and 14dBi Antenna.

All in all, interesting products coming from Taiwan…

The post AirLive launches interference-resistant Access Points appeared first on VR World.

If you’re outta finances to buy a new notebook that has dual-antennas and is able to enhance the reception on its own (for instance, I own HP’s tabletPC – tx1000 – and it has a single sucky antenna), option B is most likely.

The number of Wi-Fi USB adapters on the market is huge, but there are only several worth mentioning. My attention was caught by AirLive’s WL-1600USB. This small stick comes with 20 dBm for minimum transmission power. The device has integrated small antenna and external 5dBi Omni antenna for maximum coverage.

Two possible configurations... for maximum range ;)

In a land of wooden houses (US), that means you can reach the distance more than a mile away, with an average bandwidth of 12Mbps. Not too shabby. For cement-happy Europe, I’d be more than happy to have the device that captures Wi-Fi from one office to another. In case you want to share data, this device also can work as a Wi-Fi AP (through software, of course).
All in all, useful device.

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AirLive roadmap compares WiMAX to 4G and EV-DO world... numbers are astounding, actually.

Getting back on the subject, main aspect of the presentation was put on manufacturing ecologically sustainable devices. This should be achieved by using environmentally friendly and recycled materials. Talking about recyclable components is quite an interesting twist, but goes in line with current “green” trend.
Big change in attitude was talk about challenges that face network equipment and mandatory support for multi-standards. Future lies in heterogeneous combination between different networks, and this is the place where Dr. Yeh sees biggest challenge (or a threat) for WiMAX.
Standard cellular networks developed beyond spectrum of what WiMAX can offer. WiMAX is coming out with Phase 1 offering 23/4 Mbps (download/upload) speeds. Phase 2 (second generation) will offer 46/4 Mbps. This sounds all good and candy dandy if you do not look at long-term roadmaps for 3G/4G (3GPP UMTS, LTE) and CDMA.
For instance, HSDPA (3.5G) standard today offers anywhere between 7.2 and 14.4 Mbps on cellphones, while future HSPA Evolution brings speeds of 28/11.5 Mbps, offering much higher upload bandwidth than WiMAX.  But things get worse in next couple of years, when telecoms are scheduled to start implementing 3GPP LTE (Long Term Evolution). AirLive received a lot of questions from Telco operators in Europe and Asia about LTE devices in 2009 – and we’re talking about theoretical bandwidth of 100 Mbps down the airwaves and 50 Mbps up. If 3G LTE ends up at 50% of promised speed, there is a winner of mobile standard wars.
In the world of CDMA2000 standard, EVDO Rev.B features speeds of 14.7/4.9 Mbps for upload and download, while Rev.C is scheduled for next year. Verizon Wireless, Sprint, Nextel are all looking at EVDO Rev.C which should offer… you’ve guessed it right – 100 Mbps down, and 50 Mbps upstream.
According to Dr. Yeh, in current phase of development, engineers from unnamed Japanese company managed to achieve 50 Mbps download and 50 Mbps upload in LTE trials. If the 100/50 Mbps target is reached by the time standard starts its deployment, world of handheld communication may turn on its head.
This also yields danger for all of home networking equipment industry. If concepts such as Wi-Fi Access Point on Nokia cellphone succeed, why would telecoms even bother with WiMAX and building more expensive infrastructure? 3GPP LTE/4G equipment will come at a price premium, and leading telecom operators want to minimize current maintenance hell caused by simultaneous support of existing 2G (GSM), 2.5G (GPRS), 3G (EDGE/UMTS), 3.5G (HSDPA, HSUPA) and upcoming 3.5G (HSPA Evolution, 28/11.5 Mbps) and LTE (3GPP LTE, 4G) networks.
AirLive sees the future of home networking as the combination between 3GPP LTE/4G networks with available RF infrastructure, such as 802.11n (Wi-Fi). There is also huge opportunity in recently held 18.6 billion USD auction for 700 MHz band here in USA, with similar thing being planned in Europe.
WiMAX as we know today has to evolve and stop riding the multi-GHz band. If WiMAX wants to survive against 3GPP LTE and 4G, standard body will have to move WiMAX into former analog TV spectrum or face the fact that mobile communication standards will surpass cellphones and invade homes as well. Initiative for WiMAX @ 700-800 MHz already exists, and it comes from Europe.
At the end of the day, I believe that future lies in combination between 4G and standard Wi-Fi, since WiMAX is looking less and less appealing. In my home country of Croatia, it is quite normal thing to have 3.6-7.2 Mbps HSDPA link on a cellphone (flat rate data package is another thing, though). Whenever I land back here in California, my Blackberry 9000 Bold cannot get more than 300K using AT&T’s UMTS connection. That’s the life in Silicon Valley.

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