Want a 4G tablet? If you want built-in 4G, you’ll have to go Android. (The iPad can get 4G only with a MiFi device.) There are about half a dozen 4G Android tablets in various sizes and price points available from the four major carriers. Most of these tablets have the latest Android 3.0 (aka Honeycomb) operating system.

AT&T sells two 4G tablets: the Acer Iconic Tab A501 ($330 with 2 year contract) and the HTC Jetstream ($700 with 2 year contract). Both have 10.1-inch, 1280 by 800 screens, dual-core processors, front-facing cameras for video chat and can accept memory cards up to 32 GB. There are a few differences between the two tablets, but whether they’re worth the $370 price difference is up for debate. While both tablets have Android’s Honeycomb software, the Acer Tab has version 3.0, and the Jetstream has the slightly upgraded version 3.1. The HTC Jetstream has the most recent Bluetooth standard (3.0), Wi-Fi, an 8-megapixel camera and a 32 GB drive. The Acer Iconic Tab has Bluetooth 2.1, a 5-megapixel camera, a 16 GB hard drive and no Wi-Fi.

There are also two 4G tablets available from Verizon. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 comes in two hard drive sizes: 16 GB ($530 with 2 year contract) and 32 GB ($630 with 2 year contract). The Motorola Xoom ($500 with 2-year contract) has a 10.1-inch screen, but a 7-inch model is expected to hit store shelves soon. The 10.1-inch Xoom can accept memory cards up to 64 GB; the Galaxy Tab does not
accept memory cards. All of these tablets have front-facing cameras and Android 3.1. The Xoom has a 5-megapixel camera that can capture 720p video; the Galaxy Tab has a 3-megapixel camera.

T-Mobile has just one 4G tablet available, the 32 GB LG G-Slate ($400 with 2-year contract), though two more models, the Galaxy Tab and the SpringBoard, are due out soon. The G-Slate has an 8.9-inch screen, a front-facing camera and a 5-megapixel camera that can capture 3D images and 1080p HD video. Video playback is limited to 720p.

Compared to the other 4G tablets, Sprint’s offering is rather modest. While the other three carriers all offer at least one 10.1-inch tablet, Sprint only offers a 7-inch tablet, the HTC Evo View ($400 with 2 year contract). It’s also has an older Android OS: version 2.3. The View has a front facing camera for video chats and a 5-megapixel camera for taking photos and video – its memory slot can accept cards up to 32 GB. One feature that sets it apart is HTC’s Scribe Technology, which, when used with a compatible pen accessory, enables you to take handwritten notes on the tablet and upload them to Evernote software. Weighing less than a pound, the HTC Evo View is the lightest of this bunch.

Today, Tim Cook, Apple’s new CEO, finally made the long-awaited announcement about the new iPhone. Apple fans and iPhone addicts were expecting the iPhone 5 with a new design, 4G technology and great technical improvements. However, much to our disappointment, the iPhone 4S, introduced by Phil Schiller, Senior Vice President of worldwide product marketing at Apple, only features the latter.

The new iPhone 4 S features the new A5 chip, a dual core processor & graphics allowing for two times faster CPU and seven times faster graphics.  Apple’s smartphone now has an 8 Mega pixel camera (3264 x 2448 pixels) and a generally improved lens and color caption system, that enables HD videos and great picture quality on the same levels as commercial point and shoot cameras.
One of the main issues that the iPhone 4S had to overcome was the battery life and how those new capabilities would affect it. Phil Schiller bragged about the “fantastic battery life”: eight hours of 3G talk time, 6 hours in 3 G browsing, 8 hours when using WiFi, ten hours of video and 40 hours of music.

In terms of connectivity, the iPhone-4 S now supports both GSM and CDMA networks (the iPhone 4 only supported either one at a time). 4G was never mentioned, neither LTE nor WiMAX considered advanced enough for Apple to implement in their brainchild.

Also presented was “Siri”, the new voice recognition system that allows you to set alarms, check the weather and more by simply talking to your phone in an almost conversational way. Asking “How do I get home?” would prompt the GPS system to guide you home and when inquiring about who Siri is, the answer comes out as “I am a humble personal assistant.”

At the end of the technical presentation of the new iPhone 4-S, commercial information was also delivered. The iPhone 4S will be available in black and white versions with prices depending on the internal memory — 16GB: $199, 32GB for $299, 64GB for $399, while distribution will depend on carrier agreements with Apple. Verizon, AT&T and Sprint will offer the new iPhone 4s on the US market.

This ended the presentation and left all iPhone enthusiasts with more expectations about the arrival of the iPhone 5, supporting 4G.

Announced way back in January at the Consumer Electronics Show, the 4G-powered HP Pavilion dm1-3010nr notebook is now available at Verizon. It’s more powerful than a netbook, yet also lightweight, at about 3.5 pounds and 1.2 inches thick. Despite its small stature, the HP Pavilion dm1-3010nr manages to squeeze in a high resolution 11.6-inch screen.

As for pricing, you have two options up front: sign up for a 2-year contract and pay about $600 or forego the contract and pay about $170 more. With either option you can choose from three monthly plans: $30 for 2GB of data, $50 for 5GB or $80 for 10GB — the very same options that smartphone users have. (Verizon discontinued its unlimited data plans last month.)

In late 2010 HP introduced “CoolSense Technology” to its laptop line-up and the Pavilion dm1-3010nr gets that benefit. Essentially HP has re-designed its CoolSense laptops to prevent overheating – including moving around internal components and designing more effective vents. The Pavilion dm1-3010nr also has a motion sensor that is supposed to be able to detect whether you’re using your laptop at a desk or lounging on your couch.

The HP Pavilion dm1-3010nr has a built-in VGA Webcam and a multi-format memory card reader. Under the hood, the laptop comes with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, a 1.60 GHz AMD Dual-Core Processor E-350, a 320GB hard drive and 2GB of RAM. The fact that the operating system is 64-bit means that the laptop may not work with some of your older peripherals, such as printers, which may be 32-bit.

Verizon offers other 4G devices, including 4G netbooks, tablets and wireless cards, in addition to smartphones.

Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) announced earlier this week that it will cut 1,500 jobs from the recently acquired Motorola Solutions division. NSN confirmed that the sectors to be hit will be R&D, supply chain and sales all related to WiMAX and GSM sectors.

After the closing of the SNS-Motorola Solutions deal in April for $975 million, it became evident that the new venture had difficulties creating revenue and attracting new clients and investors. The Motorola Solutions company  had been cumulating unprofitable results for all but one quarter since it started in 2007 and had faced legal trouble over its WiMAX business. As such, NSN had announced possible restructuring in late June. These reductions also reflect the lower demand for WiMAX products and services. The recent months have seen LTE technology (WiMAX’s competitor in the 4G race) take the upper hand in terms of revenue opportunity and industry preference. Business opportunities are growing thinner and the Nokia-Siemens group started shifting its focus to the more profitable sectors.

The overall reduction concerns 1,500 jobs. However, SNS announced that it was aiming at redeploying at least 1,200 jobs to growth areas, such as LTE or WCDMA. SNS’ strategy is to increase its relationship with service operators worldwide who are already LTE clients from Nokia, like China Mobile, Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel and many more.

SNS’ announcement is not surprising in the current market situation and WiMAX technology may see further consumer-market oriented companies shifting towards LTE. However, WiMAX still has many opportunities in B2B applications and niche markets requiring high-speed data transfers.

WiMAX and LTE 4G mobile broadband services are generally considered competitors as they offer similar standards but require different technology to be deployed and implemented. However, as US WiMAX leaders Sprint and Clearwire struck a deal with Lightsquared to introduce LTE services, it raises the question of how realistic and realizable this dual-technology implementation is.

Sprint is not new to combining two competitive technologies. In 2005, its merger with Nextel left Sprint running both its own CDMA network and Nextel’s IDEN network. This proved to be a rather unsuccessful gamble as Sprint lost subscribers in the process and has had to transfer its services from the IDEN network to its CDMA network over the past years. However, WiMAX and LTE technologies are much more similar than CDMA and IDEN used to be and the forecast is definitely not the same. Indeed, the technical barriers of hosting both WiMAX and LTE networks are being overcome as we speak.

Today’s technical requirements for dual implementation are being addressed successfully. Sprint and Clearwire own a very large frequency spectrum available for the LTE band and their WiMAX network is already well developed. Another difficulty would have been to get phone and chipset manufacturers to develop products capable of supporting both technologies for reasonable prices. However, great progress is made as ICT giant Huawei has already launched multiple convergent LTE/WiMAX offerings. Huawei’s products support multi-mode network connections, multiple bandwidths from both technologies and global roaming to switch between different networks. As the risk of building convergent mobile broadband networks and adopting multi-mode devices diminishes, the global industry chain will be more likely to take a step into WiMAX/LTE cooperation, just like Sprint.

But the main issue remains the financial compound of hosting these two different wireless standards both for Sprint and its partner Clearwire. In 2006, Sprint invested $5 billion to launch the first nationwide mobile broadband network on 4G WiMAX with the assumption that taking the first step so early in the competition would give it a powerful advantage. As of today, Sprint’s head start is still paying off. It has one of the most extensive 4G devices portfolio and  still enjoys very high popularity. However, Sprint’s initial time-to-market advantage is slowly diminishing as its main competitors are catching up. Notably, Verizon’s aggressive expansion to numerous major markets has had great success and has triggered remarkable growth in the number of its 4G subscribers.

During the same time, Clearwire has had to face highly increased operating costs while increased revenues from additional subscriptions could not follow the pace. Clearwire’s financial troubles may thus prevent it from having enough cash to invest in new technology.

The synthesis of WiMAX and LTE will take place eventually as Sprint needs to offer both services to stay ahead of industry competitors. This can be done rather simply as they successfully address all technical issues. However, one question remains: will the Sprint/Cleawire cooperation have the ressources to support both networks?

A deal between Sprint and LightSquared has recently been made that will establish a hybrid LTE-WiMAX network. LightSquared has been building out an LTE network and has overcome hindrances from the GPS industries. These complaints from the GPS industries were in regards to potential interferences to critical GPS systems caused by the new network build out. Now LightSquared plans on using Sprint as the backbone to its service offering. This is advantageous for both companies because LightSquared now has the assurance of Sprint’s network stability and Sprint has a response to Verizon and AT&T’s recent LTE ramp-up.

Initially, Clearwire and Sprint teamed up to offer WiMAX and to get the jump on the 4G market, but innovation and exponential expansion is the nature of business and technology so Sprint needed a new weapon, so to speak. Sprint plans on using multiple wireless technologies, and this resolves some mystery around its network vision. One issue that comes to mind, however, is the question of how the two technologies, WiMAX and LTE, will hand off between one another, and how will 3G play into the mix?

Lately, more and more tech magazines and telecommunication journals are announcing that 4G LTE has taken the upper hand on the 4G market. In the USA, many operators and network providers join or switch to the LTE camp . Clearwire announced that it would join the LTE network once it was more mature and Sprint is the latest American operator to announce that it would soon present 4G LTE devices. And obviously, Verizon, the largest 4G network provider uses LTE technology and is expanding aggressively. But, it seems many are forgetting all the applications that WiMAX technology already has and all the manufacturers and 4G operators that believe in WiMAX technology and invest in it.

WiMAX technology is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year and has the ability to take on any market worldwide. It was implemented successfully in several different African countries (Zimbabwe, Cameroon…). The industry has reached a mature point and is broadly deployed worldwide, covering almost a billion potential users. The WiMAX ecosystem has gone through several transformations during its initial years and it has reached a robust position in terms of innovation, deployment, cost management and applications. All the world’s top manufacturers support WiMAX technology by designing WiMAX-compatible products (latest popular smartphones and tablets like Google’s Nexus S or HTC’s Evo 3D) or developing new sectors to use WiMAX in (for example, airports and smart grid technologies offer great potential).

WiMAX is still experiencing tremendous growth. By the end of 2010, it counted 13.5 million subscribers worldwide and expects to reach 25 million subscribers by the end of this year. An Infonetics report even forecasts 125 million subscribers by 2015.
All these elements really testify to the quality of the technology, its ability to cut costs and to stay relevant through technological innovations and new applications.

But, it would be a mistake to underestimate the growing success from its main competitor, 4G LTE technology. But rather than seeing it as a threat, WiMAX has to opportunity to coexist with LTE technology in the global 4G challenge. A Cisco report says that broadband requirements will increase 26 times by 2015 and neither 4G technology is able to handle such growth separately. Manufacturers have seized the importance to gradually have both mobile broadband services work together (among notable innovations Intel is developing dual-platform 4G-wireless chips and Sprint and Clear are developing equipement that could use both technologies indifferently).

I have called Sprint the king of 4G for many reasons. They make tomorrow look good for us all. Now I am going to reveal how easy it will be for Sprint to enter the LTE space and how they can change technology mid stream.  Beceem is now shipping their BCS500 chips which are Wimax and LTE, along with about six or more radios, including CDMA, EV-DO, WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0 and GPS. These chips will hand off seamlessly between Wimax and LTE.

This is the easiest and most logical path for Sprint to take toward the LTE path. It is much easier to start seeding the device market with devices embedded with this BCS500 chip than any other solution they might have. Once they have the device side in check, deploying LTE is a snap.

This is also where 4G is supposed to be taking us. With this chip, consumers will start to get more choices. As these chips will be embedded in all the carrier devices, consumers will be able to buy a device, and go with what ever carrier they choose including Sprint, AT&T and Verizon–the companies that offer LTE. Of course Sprint needs this more than any other carrier, because they have more wireless technology than all the carriers combined. Sprint will have two 4G technologies, and they need this more than any other carrier to move forward and compete.

And this is why I think we will be hearing from Sprint very soon on their 4G plans. They sometimes don’t like to reveal to much, but the carriers know what is happening with devices. This should also change the direction of Clear, as they are the largest wholesaler for Sprint, and they need to have their devices embedded with this BCS500 chip as well to stay competitive. So a win win scenario is in the making, and Sprint again comes out the winner. I have often said Sprint is the driving force behind 4G, and they are certainly in the drivers seat.

Sprint really just needs to let technology catch up to their way of thinking. This could not be any better news for Sprint, or Clear. However this is not good news for the other carriers as this will put Sprint in the lead with 4GX2 space and 6X the spectrum. No matter what the press thinks, Sprint has this 4G thing on the right road. And the winners will be you: the consumer.

Remember that 4G is not just about speed, it’s about new ways of thinking and concepts that are still being developed to take us in new directions. Most of all, 4G is about giving us choices as to how we choose to use this technology, and to take the monopoly out of the game.

Clearwire, the company that operates the WiMAX 4G network, has decided to expand its coverage in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, the two largest cities in Pennsylvania. Clearwire initially launched its next generation network in Philadelphia in October of 2009. It is currently adding 912 thousand people to its coverage, upping the grand total to 3.4 million people. The WiMAX network is used primarily by Sprint Co, which is also the largest Clearwire shareholder, holding a controlling 50 percent of the shares.

Comcast, the MSO giant based in Philadelphia and a minority investor in Clearwire, is also set on expanding its WiMAX coverage in the City of Brotherly Love. They have signed a deal with Clearwire dubbed Xfinity Internet 2Go Wireless Broadband, whose aim is to offer wireless service as a part of an internet cable bundle.

Clearwire has added 10,591 people to its Pittsburgh coverage, the total of which now equals 830,000 people. Clearwire expects to end 2011 with approximately 9.5 million subscribers, mostly from their wholesale business, which is a huge jump from their 2010 subscription of 971 thousand.

Clearwire’s expansion efforts are noteworthy considering the aggressive growth of its rival LTE 4G network this summer. Verizon, AT&T, and T Mobile, the first, second, and fourth largest wireless service providers in the country respectively (Sprint is number three), have all opted to run LTE over WiMAX, and have all rolled out their coverage in new markets this summer. WiMAX, as the pioneer 4G provider, still has an edge over the competition, but not by much. Analysts predict WiMAX may survive as a niche provider.

Perhaps the Pennsylvania expansion efforts will help counteract that forecast.

AT&T, America’s second largest wireless network, announced in March its intentions to purchase T-Mobile for a purported $39 billion. T-Mobile is the nation’s fourth-largest network, and the joint company would be the largest in the country and, together with Verizon (currently the largest wireless provider but soon to be the second, assuming the deal goes through) will control over 80 percent of the US customer base. This announcement was a cause of concern for many, particularly Sprint Nextel, who is the third-largest provider and now has to contend with a significant loss of competition in the market. The Department of Justice is looking into possible trust violations, but AT&T broadcasted that they expect to receive the go ahead from the DOJ within 12 months.

Now it appears the wait may be a little longer than that.

Bloomberg reported that the DOJ has extended its review of the merger and has sent two investigative demands to AT&T and T-Mobile competitors. The Federal Communications Division is also investigating whether or not the deal is worthy of their approbation.

States, not just the federal government and private entities, can file antitrust actions, and this reality is adding to AT&T’s merger woes. Sprint recently contested AT&T’s filing in West Virginia, which was the first state they targeted, and New York’s Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman, has announced his intention to thoroughly scrutinize the matter, which may lead to New York and other states being involved in making demands of AT&T. Sprint has declared that it will continue seeking the support of State public services commissions to aid them in this epic wireless battle.

AT&T, T-Mobile, and the DOJ have not officially commented on the proceedings.