Phones as Mobile Hotspots

Phones as Mobile Hotspots

Posted by Sam Churchill on September 11th, 2008

Taproot Systems has launched WalkingHotSpot that transforms a smartphone with built-in WiFi to a mobile hotspot (FAQ). It can support up to five devices.

According to Sean O’Leary, Taproot’s vice president of business development and marketing, the company opted to go direct to consumer after determining it would take too long to get its product included in operators’ lineups.

WalkingHotSpot is currently available for Wi-Fi-enabled devices that use Symbian S60 and Windows Mobile operating systems. The company expects to have support for other major operating systems soon but provided no specific date.

Subscribers can obtain a free 7-day trial and then can purchase a subscription for $6.99 per month. The company also is offering an introductory annual subscription for $24.99.

Competitor Morose Media also announced the availability of WMWifiRouter 1.20 - the new Windows Mobile application that turns Wi-Fi-enabled smartphones into wireless Internet sharing connection hubs. The new version introduces an option for sharing via Wi-Fi, USB or Bluetooth.The software costs $30 and requires Internet Connection Sharing, which some phones and carriers don’t allow.

Unlike Taproot’s WalkingHotSpot, the WMWifiRouter only requires a one-time fee for a lifetime of service, with no additional monthly or annual charges. It’s compatible with phones that features Windows Mobile 5 AKU 3.3 or newer, or Windows Mobile 6.

In addition to Wi-Fi, users can also share cellular data and an Internet connection over Bluetooth and via USB, using less battery power from the phone than a Wi-Fi connection. To further save power, WMWifiRouter users can enter low-power mode without disturbing their connection simply by pressing the power button. Should the phone battery reach a specified level of depletion, the application will automatically shut down so that users have enough power remaining for calls.

Sprint announced Wednesday it would be offering the HTC Touch Pro and the Touch Diamond. Both handsets sport a high-resolution 2.8-inch touch screen that’s navigated with HTC’s TouchFLO interface, along with Windows Mobile 6.1, and built-in Wi-Fi.

The Pro packs a five-row slide-out QWERTY keyboard and features like expandable memory, and a business card reader. The handsets will come with a preloaded Opera browser, are capable of push e-mail, and can view and edit Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files.

The Touch Pro will go for $299.99 with a two-year contract and after rebates. It features 3.2-megapixel camera, support for Sprint TV and the Sprint Music Store, and an HTC-developed YouTube application. There’s 512MB of ROM and 288MB of RAM and a 1GB microSD card. Both smartphones will be able to connect to the mobile Web via an integrated Wi-Fi, or over Sprint’s 3G network.

Smartphones running Symbian software, like the Nokia E71 and the Samsung Omnia, can visit Joiku.com, where the software costs about $21. JoikuSpot Light is FREE and supports only HTTP & HTTPS protocols.

If you have a new smartphone, you are likely to have an unlimited data plan already. But, as the NY Times warns, if you do not, and you use these new applications for a few hours of video chatting, have the defibrillator handy before opening next month’s bill.

source : dailywireless.org