With 4G networks due to hit the mass market over the next two years, some application developers are looking at ways to exploit the new high-speed connections to improve their apps' performance and capabilities.
Anyone who's attended tech conventions over the past five years has heard plenty about 4G wireless networks, but this year the hype has become a reality.
In June, Apple shipped the iPhone 4 with front- and rear-facing cameras, and it added the FaceTime app for video calling. That same month, Sprint began shipping the HTC Evo 4G, its first 4G Android-based smartphone, which also featured front- and rear-facing cameras and the ability to make video calls with an app called Qik.
Mobile carriers including China Mobile, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone have launched a new initiative to promote the 4G (fourth-generation) network technology LTE TDD as a global standard.
Telecom operator TeliaSonera has signed a deal for LTE (Long-Term Evolution) modems from Samsung that should help it launch the 4G service commercially in Sweden and Norway in the first half of 2010, it said on Thursday.
This week's $2.9 billion acquisition of Starent Networks indicates that Cisco is backpedaling from its WiMAX focus and shifting it to LTE as the 4G underpinning of next generation mobile data networks.
While Long Term Evolution (LTE) is without a doubt one of the most hyped mobile data standards to come along in quite some time, you probably shouldn't expect the 4G network technology to make a big impact in 2010.
The two biggest router companies are focusing their attention on mobility this week with products to address operator needs for rich 4G multimedia services.
AT&T took a big step forward in its plan to deploy Long Term Evolution technology by selecting Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent as its LTE equipment vendors.
There is plenty of hype around 4G technologies but beyond the rhetoric are happening. 4G technologies basically represent the next stage of wireless data technologies and generally deliver average download rates of 3Mbps or greater. In contrast, today's 3G networks typically deliver average download speeds about one-tenth of that rate. Here's a roundup of the latest coverage of the 4G world.
T-Mobile USA asked a court on Wednesday leave to submit a brief of amicus curiae ("friend of the court") to prevent a preliminary injunction asked by Apple against the sale in the U.S. of Samsung's Galaxy S 4G smartphone and Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet, citing its impact on holiday sales this year.
Intel late on Sunday said it was collaborating with companies including Samsung and Motorola to develop the next generation of WiMax mobile broadband technology, which will provide a speed boost in 4G wireless data transfers.
Gizmodo has revealed that the person who lost the purported next generation iPhone, images of which have been circulating on the Web over the past few days, is a 27-year-old Apple software engineer named Gray Powell who probably will never again be as famous, or notorious, as he is right now.
Photos and a video of what appear to be a second "iPhone 4G" prototype have appeared on a Vietnamese Web site, showing a device that's somewhat more refined than the prototype unveiled in the recent Gizmodo Affair.
The WiMax Forum has closed one office in the past several months and lost as many as 100 members, but it is not concerned about the 4G technology losing its footing as many mobile operators commit to using LTE (Long-Term Evolution) networks instead.
If you're wondering why Apple's latest phone is known as the "iPhone 4" instead of the more widely-used "iPhone 4G," it could be because the new device still relies on 3G connectivity.
The argument between LTE and WiMAX continues to rage at least three years after it ignited, but many think LTE may end up becoming the 4G technology of choice.
For a carrier that is just starting to recover from massive losses to both its subscriber base and its profitability, the thought of failing to capture the early 4G market is none too pleasant.
Italy's auction of six blocks of 800MHz frequencies for 4G mobile phone services netted €2.962 billion (US$4 billion) Thursday, taking the total of provisional offers for mobile phone frequency licenses to more than €3.7 billion.