deafTECH

EVDO (EVolution Data Optimized) is exciting wireless technology that offers speeds good enough to enable wireless video communication. (For the time being, this means using either a wireless data card or a wireless phone as a modem with a laptop & webcam.) After reading this article, you will have a better understanding of what EVDO is and where it is heading in the future, and what it means for you.
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Engadget Mobile is reporting that current T-Mobile customers can upgrade to the Sidekick 3 for as low as $300 with a two-year contract extension. A one-year contract extension increases the upgrade price to $350. If no contract extension is desired, the cost goes up to $400.

To upgrade to the Sidekick 3 from your current Sidekick, you need to log-in to the T-Mobile website, or visit a store in the NYC (307 Madison Ave.) or LA (Wilshire Blvd.) areas.

These past couple of weeks I’ve been playing with a new toy of mine – a Sprint Treo 700p. The biggest reason I got this device was that the new Treo 700p uses Sprint’s EVDO (Power Vision) network. EVDO is a 3G wireless network standard that gives you high speed wireless connections comparable to basic DSL. Now I am able to get online anywhere my Treo has Power Vision coverage, and work like I am at home. This includes using my iSight webcam and iChat AV via my Apple PowerBook to place person to person (p2p) video calls and VRS calls! This gives me a lot of freedom to get more done away from home! I am even able to call VP-100 videophones with a new program called XMeeting.

With access to EVDO technology, I feel liberated from having to be somewhere there is a high speed network connection just to be able to make video calls – technically I can do what everyone else in the world has been doing – getting rid of their landline. In fact, if my wife didn’t need internet at home, I’d have already cancelled my home internet connection! My internet connection now follows me around on my belt.

I will be posting more articles here in the coming weeks on different topics related to this EVDO technology – what is available now, and what is coming later, a review of the Sprint Treo 700p, details on how to turn your Treo 700p into a wireless modem for your laptop, and more! Stay tuned on how you can gain your freedom too!

Don’t you wish you had CellAntenna’s new portable CAE750 unit handy when your Sidekick/Treo/Blackberry dropped its signal?!? Get the dirt on this item via Gizmodo.

CellAntenna CAE750 Boosts Cell Signal for Emergency Use

Gizmodo talks about a wireless phone thats “too cheap for the US” (with five-day talk time!) and goes on to discuss a related phone with very basic features available at major retailers in the US for only $29. Only if these cheap wireless phones came with QWERTY!

Motorola C116 Cellphone: Too Cheap for the US?

Rumors are swirling through the deaf Sidekick community with an emailed photo of what is said to be the new T-Mobile Sidekick 3. The Sidekick 3 has NOT even been announced by Danger or T-Mobile. There is NOT even a photo of a Sidekick 3 out there.

Yes, the device in the photo is real. It’s not the Sidekick 3. It’s a new wireless device that was just announced by T-Mobile Germany, called the MDA IV. It is a clamshell GSM/GPRS device that runs the Pocket PC/Windows Mobile OS, and has a VGA screen, built in Bluetooth and WiFi, along with TWO cameras (one for video, one for pictures!). It sounds like a nice device that is supposed to be released in Germany sometime this summer. No details regarding pricing are available, but it is safe to assume it would be much more expensive than a Sidekick would be.

Official T-Mobile Germany Press Release (in English)

More details and photos can be found at these sites:

Infosyncworld

Engadget

Gizmodo

Brighthand

AT&T Wireless (a.k.a. Cingular) [1] is now offering a $80 INSTANT rebate on their Ogo [2], making the price a very cheap $50 (The prior $30 rebate had to be mailed in, and only dropped the price to $100). The Ogo is a wireless device with keyboard that offers access to IM and email from the “big three” providers: AOL, MSN, and Yahoo, starting at $17.99/mo. The Ogo does have its shortcomings [3], but at this price it’s an even better deal – remember that there is no credit check required to purchase the Ogo, and service is month-to-month, no annual contract.

[1] http://www.attwireless.com

[2] http://www.attwireless.com/cell-phone-service/ogo/index.jhtml

[3] http://www.deaftech.info/2004/10/103_deafdigest_.html

In the November 8 issue of _eWeek_, a weekly magazine focused on enterprise IT published by tech industry media giant Ziff-Davis, an article written by Carmen Nobel features Gallaudet University. “Graduating to wireless” devotes a page and half to a discussion of Gallaudet’s shift from unofficial wireless access points across campus to a campus-wide managed wireless network offering WiFi access to “students, faculty and guests as they [travel] among the [32 buildings on campus]” in the fall of 2003. The article describes Gallaudet’s choice of WLAN vendor, Airespace, and the challenges in choosing a vendor, the campus-wide deployment, and dealing with various other setup issues. The article ends by implying that instead of VoIP (voice over IP) deployment over wireless, Gallaudet may end up doing video over their wireless network in the future.

(The online article, unfortunately, does not have the same illustration that the print article does, showing a shot of Gallaudet’s Chapel Hall with the caption, “The airwaves over Gallaudet’s Chapel Hall and entire campus are busy with wireless data.”)