NEWS: US carrier tailors 3G jacket for iPod touch?

US wireless carrier Sprint is slated to offer a kind of handset sleeve
that could provide 3G wireless access to an iPod Touch, the Apple iPhone
that's not a phone.

As noticed by Phone Scoop, Chinese manufacturer ZTE has submitted a
Sprint-branded device to the Federal Communications Commission that can
house a mini-tablet like the iPod touch and supply EVDO 3G service via
WiFi. In essence, it's a WiFi hotspot that wraps around a WiFi-only
handheld.

This contraption is dubbed the "Peel," an apparent play off the Apple
name.

MORE: <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/07/29/sprint_peel/>

In alt.cellular.sprintpcs John Navas <spamfilter1@navasgroup.com> wrote:
> US wireless carrier Sprint is slated to offer a kind of handset sleeve
> that could provide 3G wireless access to an iPod Touch, the Apple iPhone
> that's not a phone.
>
> As noticed by Phone Scoop, Chinese manufacturer ZTE has submitted a
> Sprint-branded device to the Federal Communications Commission that can
> house a mini-tablet like the iPod touch and supply EVDO 3G service via
> WiFi. In essence, it's a WiFi hotspot that wraps around a WiFi-only
> handheld.
>
> This contraption is dubbed the "Peel," an apparent play off the Apple
> name.
>
> MORE: <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/07/29/sprint_peel/>

Sure, but you are missing all the phone capabilities in the OS ... so it isn't
a phone at all [unless you Skype over a usually latent network ... a problem
for all carriers who try VoIP on 3G. Verizon got around this by pushing the
voice over their voice network on the Droid X (and presumably other Android
based phones).

--
Thomas T. Veldhouse

Religion is a crutch, but that's okay... humanity is a cripple.

On 31 Jul 2010 02:39:22 GMT, "Thomas T. Veldhouse" <veldy71@gmail.com>
wrote:

>In alt.cellular.sprintpcs John Navas <spamfilter1@navasgroup.com> wrote:
>> US wireless carrier Sprint is slated to offer a kind of handset sleeve
>> that could provide 3G wireless access to an iPod Touch, the Apple iPhone
>> that's not a phone.
>>
>> As noticed by Phone Scoop, Chinese manufacturer ZTE has submitted a
>> Sprint-branded device to the Federal Communications Commission that can
>> house a mini-tablet like the iPod touch and supply EVDO 3G service via
>> WiFi. In essence, it's a WiFi hotspot that wraps around a WiFi-only
>> handheld.
>>
>> This contraption is dubbed the "Peel," an apparent play off the Apple
>> name.
>>
>> MORE: <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/07/29/sprint_peel/>
>
>Sure, but you are missing all the phone capabilities in the OS ... so it isn't
>a phone at all [unless you Skype over a usually latent network ... a problem
>for all carriers who try VoIP on 3G. Verizon got around this by pushing the
>voice over their voice network on the Droid X (and presumably other Android
>based phones).

I think you completely missed the point. It provides another avenue
for Internet access, i.e., "it's a WiFi hotspot that wraps around a
WiFi-only handheld". Nothing was said about turning a non-phone device
into a phone.

--
Paul Miner

On 31 Jul 2010 02:39:22 GMT, in <8bhgmqF2d5U9@mid.individual.net>,
"Thomas T. Veldhouse" <veldy71@gmail.com> wrote:

>Sure, but you are missing all the phone capabilities in the OS ... so it isn't
>a phone at all [unless you Skype over a usually latent network ... a problem
>for all carriers who try VoIP on 3G. ...

Have you actually tried it? I've been doing VoIP on cellular since EDGE
(EGPRS) days, and while there was some latency on EDGE in the beginning,
it works pretty well on 3G. Try it.

--
John

"Assumption is the mother of all screw ups."
[Wethern’s Law of Suspended Judgement]