Sprint announced its next generation Novatel Wireless mobile hotspot today. The new MiFi 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot brings WiMAX connectivity to Novatel’s popular lineup of wireless broadband devices. Previous spotted in a leaked rendering, the Novatel hotspot is credit-card small and makes the previous generation Sierra Wireless WiMAX-enabled Overdrive look like a gigantic hockey puck. Similar to the previous MiFi 2200 from Novatel, the new 4G version includes one-touch mobile internet connectivity for up to five WiFi-enabled devices. Battery life for the WiMAX Novatel mobile hotspot is expectedly mediocre with each charge delivering four hours of usage and 60 hours of standby time.
Other features of the new Sprint-branded hotspot device include the following:
- 3G EV-DO Rev. A and WiMAX capable
- 10mm x 35mm eInk display with status indicators for battery, signal and number of connected devices
- Location based services: GPSOne, xTRA, stand-alone GPS
- Browser user interface for configuration
- MicroSD slot for up to 32GB memory card
- Supports Windows, Macintosh and Linux operating systems
- Datalink 3G/4G
- No software required for Wi-Fi connection
- Battery: 1500mAh – four hours of usage; 60 hours of standby time
- 4G data speeds (WiMAX) – Peak download speeds of more than 10 Mbps; average download speeds of 3-6 Mbps
- 3G data speeds (EV-DO Rev. A) – Peak download speeds of up to 3.1 Mbps; peak upload speeds of 1.8 Mbps; average download speeds of 600 kbps-1.4 Mbps.
The new MiFi 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot by Novatel Wireless will be available from Sprint starting Feb. 27 for $49.99.
[Via Sprint]