Until now, there haven’t seen too many choices in wireless broadband cards for the ExpressCard set. The next-gen notebook card format improves on the outgoing PC card (PCMCIA) slot with a smaller footprint and faster transfer rates. Asus has just announced their new T500 3.5G broadband ExpressCard for notebooks lacking the older standard.
The GSM and WCDMA card claims to pull data down at 3.6Mbps and shoot it out at 384Kbps – rivaling WiFi, ADSL, and cable modems. With it’s SIM card support, users can pop in their SIM and get to surfing the web at blazing speeds – wherever they may be (network limitations withstanding, of course).
The card comes with software that allows you to manage contacts stored on the SIM, sync with Outlook, make and log voice calls, and even send and receive SMS text messages. This thing can basically turn your ExpressCard-equipped ultra-mobile PC into a hefty, short-batteried mobile phone – not that you’d want to, but you could.
We like the prospect of 3.6Mbps data speeds wherever we go, it’s too bad our HSDPA options are so damned limited (cough..AT&T..cough).
[Via: DigiTimes]