Nokia showed off its N810 WiMax Edition, a mobile computing device with slide-out keyboard and 4.13" screen. The new WiMax Edition will come equipped with web browsing, powered by Mozilla, and will even support a number of VoIP services, such as Skype.
I don't quite know how to react. Sure, the N810 WiMax Edition can make calls using a VoIP (Voice over Internet Provider) client, but it doesn't seem to have a dedicated phone function in the same way that a BlackBerry or an iPhone does. Also, if the screen is 4.13" that seems like it would make the N810 a little, well, large to be comfortably used as a phone on a day-to-day basis. As we, and the washington Post, have commented before, does anyone really have room for another device to carry around with them?
Personally, I see WiMax like any other type of wireless data. I think that the implementation would make a lot more sense if it was treated like EVDO or EDGE - just a faster connection to embed in high-end phones (and eventually not-so-high-end ones) and aircards. I'm sort of thinking that anyone who would really be enticed by the N810 is probably taking their laptop with them everywhere, and the N810 can't compete with that kind of power. A WiMax aircard, however, would let the user take their laptop online on the go, without the need for a stand-alone unit fo rmobile browsing.
WiMax has a huge potential to revolutionize the way we look at a wireless internet connection and has the power to allow people to replace their wired internet with it. I feel like having a device whose comrades have floundered in the States (yes, i'm bringing up the Mylo again) as the flagship ambassador of WiMax is a bad idea. Why not talk to RIM about bowing a WiMax BB8800 series? Or preview a BB9000 with WiMax?
Currently, Sprint has a soft-launch WiMax network running in Chicago, DC and Baltimore. They'r eexpecting nationwide rollout this year and are, in cooperation with Clearwire, looking for outside funds from Comcast, Time Warner and Google, to name a few.
Full press release at Nokia.
Leave a comment