fontastic.org - FON and free WiFi blog

iPod Touch - the best mobile WiFi device September 6, 2007

Seriously, I thought my Nokia 770 offered the best mobile browsing experience ever and I still think the browser is great. Two things were not so great, though: mediocre storage (128 MB plus 64 MB MMC included, yes, I am not kidding) and no thumb board (virtual keyboard only works with pen). Ever since I first browsed the internet on an iPhone I became a big fan of it, but there was the prize tag and AT&T that hold me off for now.

Since yesterday the most powerful mobile WiFi device is there and it is called iPod Touch. It doesn't come with a lot of storage (like big brother 120 Gigs iPod Classic) but 8 or 16 gigs will do for most tasks. And it has the best mobile bowser ever plus build in WiFi for only $299. I don't see how Nokia is competing here with their Nokia N800 Internet Tablet PC at $360 (Amazon). Ok, Nokia has the bigger screen (4 inch vs. 3.5) and open source platform but if it is about mobile surfing and media, the Apple iPhone Touch is it.

iRiver announced a cell and VoIP phone that looks a bit like the iPhone (or a white version of it). It also features a portable music player of course. Some other extras comprise a FM radio and a positioning system based on WiFi not GPS. It seems that regardless of the success of the iPhone Apple defined a new design and set of functionalities for the cell phone 2.0 market.

via electronista.com

Now it's coming - only a few days left until the Apple iPhone hits the shelves on June 29th. It looks like the iPhone focusses a lot on web browsing and internet capabilities (amongst other things like trying to be an iPod). With it's WiFi option, big screen, virtual QWERTY keyboard, automatic switching between landscape and portrait view and a new kind of rendering of websites it might be the ideal portable web tablet in the sub-UMPC class. We asked our readers and it seems that the Cingular/ AT&T brothership might be contraproductive, though.

Go away! Never ever. (38%)
Yep, but w/o Cingular. (24%)
Yeah, at any price. (23%)
Not sure yet. (14%)

New Foneras coming out April 11, 2007

During a cab ride in Taipei, Martin Varsavsky delivered a short video message on what's coming up next at Fon:

current Foneros will be updated to have 2 ethernet ports (to improve use with single port routers provided by many ISPs). They will also feature 2 antennas, one for the personal network and one for the Fon net. The updated version is expected to launch in June
Fontennas coming out in May. These will be flat panel antennas to be mounted inside of window frames to boost range to 200 yards
new La Fonera 2.0 will be launched in October. It will feature a USB port to connect a hard drive or memory stick and allow to integrate into Web 2.0 apps via it's own API
for the beginning of next year, Foneras supporting 802.11n standard are planned. These will have a range of up to one kilometer and transmit data at a faster rate (probably around 200 Mbit/s)

That's a lot of news for a short cab ride.

According to Mike Puchol of tech.am, this might be the new FON Liberator. As Martin Varsavsky announced earlier last year, the FON Liberator will feature a USB port to attach harddrives and be able to download files withouth the need of a computer connected and be able to access those files remotely. It appears that the Accton MR3203A does exactly this. It has a build in FTP server and Bit Torrent client (featuring FTP and HTTP downloads). Just like the La Fonera, the router has two SSIDs, one public (FON) and one private. Unlike the La Fonera the new Liberator seems to have a LAN passthrough.

If you are interested in becoming a FON retailer in Europe, you can sign-up for it now. The deal: you pay €20 per piece if you order a minimum of 50 routers (that's €1000, Albert), shipping included (in bulk to one address). With La Foneras retailing for €39.95 (incl. VAT) plus €5 shipping you will make up to 70% margin depending on the country (there are different VAT rates throughout Europe). This program will be in place until March 31st and is only valid within the EU. Retailers will be listed on the FON website ("Where to buy") and some retailers might even mentioned on the FON blog.

Finally a mobile music player that really utilizes WiFi. Unlike the Zune, the SanDisk Sansa Connect portable audio player can download music via its WiFi connection and also stream internet radio! It can do this thanks to Zings software and service platform and a partnership with FON whereby all Foneros can access the Zing platform via any FON hotspot.

The Sansa Connect features a 2.2" TFT color display, 4GB on board plus microSD card slot, WiFi of course and USB 2.0. The Sansa Connect is 2.05 in. wide x 3.58 in. long x 0.63 in. high and will be available in March for around $250.

Breaking news: Apple iPhone announced January 9, 2007

Ok, admited, this is off-topic (well, if the iPhone is WiFi enabled then maybe even not) but while I was writing a new post I stumbled upon macrumorslive.com. Check it out, it's live right now.

Update: yes, it is a WiFi enabled phone, too!

It's holiday season already for Swedish, Finish and Danish Foneros: FON announced yesterday to waive any fees on orders on La Fonera routers and offer the same promise-based deal as before in Germany and Austria. This is a €29.95 saving and valid until Christmas this year.

This week GigaOM spread the news of FONs purchase of Gspace, a Firefox extension that enables users to use their Gmail account for file storage (incl. a simple media player and photo browser). Om Malik was so kind to help out as Martin Varsavsky expected his fourth child (congrats, Martin!).

FON also announced their new router called Liberator which is basically a router you can connect an external hard drive to. The Liberator can be used to download files from the internet while you are not on your computer and then use those files (or files you uploaded) everywhere in the world. You could stream music and make it available to friends or everyone you are willing to share your login and password with.

Both products are also supposed to tie in with each other. Users can remotely access files from their Gmail accounts and move to a Liberator-connected hard drive or vice versa. There is a video about the Liberator (in Spanish) here. The device will be available in February 2007.

After having received 6000 orders in Germany and Austria, the free, promised-based distribution of La Fonera routers ends next week Friday at midnight. In all other parts of the world prices will be raised from €5/ $5 to €29/ $29.95 respectively.

According to Martin Varsavsky, FON has reached its goal to get more routers out in Germany than T-Mobil has hotspots (which would be 4500). The first 1000 of these 6000 routers have already been shipped.

WiFi phones are getting more and more popular and this one proofs how popular WiFi gets as opposed to 3G. The new Samsung EW-700 only features WiFi radio but packs in quite a bit of features: VoIP telephony, web browser, 2 MP camera, messenger, camcorder, media player and Outlook sync. All applications run on a propriatary OS. The display seems to be really nice but I am not sure how much fun it is to chat without a QWERTY keyboard. See more pictures on Aving.net.

[via Engadget]