Yesterday Nortel announced that it had completed the first bi-directional high-speed connection between two mobile devices. The technology, called HSUPA, is the next evolution of the HSDPA networks that are currently being rolled out in the United States and other countries.

The advantage of HSUPA (High Speed Uplink Packet Access) is that it allows for high bandwidth uploading of data as well as the high-speed downloading that comes with HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access). This opens the door for better quality VOIP (Voice Over IP) and video calling, two applications that rely as heavily on the uplink speed of a connection as much as they do the downlink speed, as well as wireless file transfers.

Nortel’s mobile to mobile HSUPA test managed to reach upload speeds of 1.4Mbps, or about 4 times the speed obtainable with current UMTS and HSDPA network connections.

Via Cellular News

Tags: UMTS, HSDPA, HSUPA

Option, the wireless technology company, and Nortel have completed the industry’s first successful demonstration of live HSDPA data card calls reaching a wireless transmission rate of 3.6Mbps – faster than the majority of current broadband connections. The test calls were carried out on commercial HSDPA network equipment at Nortel’s research campus in Châteaufort, France.

The series of calls are the first data card calls to demonstrate downlink speed of 3.6 Mbps, at HSDPA category 6 using 16 QAM modulations. A laptop fitted with an Option 3.6 HSDPA data card based on QUALCOMM core MSM 6280 technology and commercial HSDPA network equipment from Nortel were used to achieve the download speeds.

The calls included successful ‘real-world’ tests with a laptop placed in a moving vehicle to illustrate the suitability of mobile wireless broadband for high quality, live TV, High Definition video on demand, MP3 download as well as new applications for the mobile workforce.

Tags: HSDPA

Cellphones capable of transmitting data at blistering speeds have been demonstrated by NTT DoCoMo in Japan.

In experiments, prototype phones were used to view 32 high definition video streams, while travelling in an automobile at 20 kilometres per hour. Officials from NTT DoCoMo say the phones could receive data at 100 megabits per second on the move and at up to a gigabit per second while static. At this rate, an entire DVD could be downloaded within a minute. DoCoMo’s current 3G (third generation) phone network offers download speeds of 384 kilobits per second and upload speeds of 129 kilobits per second.

Read more at NewsScientist.com

Tags: 4G, NTT DoCoMo

QUALCOMM today announced the industry’s first enhanced navigation solution fully integrated in wireless 3G modems. This feature provides higher accuracy turn by turn map positioning for automotive and personal navigation applications in wireless handsets, enabling a better user experience and exciting new navigation applications for the consumer and enterprise markets. This enhanced software will be available on QUALCOMM’s market-leading gpsOne® solution for use with select Mobile Station Modem™ (MSM™) chipsets for both CDMA2000® and WCDMA (UMTS) networks.

The enhanced navigation software combined with the integrated gpsOne solution will:

• Enable applications providers to develop a broad range of location-based services for enterprise and consumer applications, including automotive and personal navigation, mobile games, fleet management and work force management.
• Dramatically lower the cost of automotive and personal navigation on wireless handsets by eliminating the need for costly discrete GPS chipsets.
• Optimize navigation accuracy for gpsOne-enabled handsets operating in Assisted-GPS (A-GPS) or standalone-GPS modes.
• Be commercially available beginning in the second half of calendar year 2005 on QUALCOMM’s CDMA2000 and WCDMA MSM solutions, including select Multimedia, Enhanced Multimedia and Convergence Platform chipsets.

QUALCOMM’s gpsOne technology is the most widely deployed GPS technology in the world. With more than 100 million gpsOne-enabled handsets at over 40 operators globally, QUALCOMM is enabling dramatically more devices than any other GPS provider.

Tags: QUALCOMM, gpsOne

NTT DoCoMo, Inc. announced today that the company together with Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. has developed a new and improved prototype methanol fuel cell for 3G FOMA® handsets. The new prototype enables eight hours of continuous talk time, three times the capacity of the existing prototype, while weighing the same, 190g. The new device is expected to greatly extend usage time once it goes into commercial production.

Read the full press release

Nearly half of UK businesses do not secure smart handheld devices to the same high level they secure laptop computers.

Read more at The Register

SCN LTD, a leading creator of VoIP Wireless LAN technology, today launched Truphone. Truphone allows you to use your cell phone to make calls over Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or 3G using VoIP. This allows you to mix the benefits of carrying a single mobile device with all your contacts while gaining the cost benefits of IP telephony when in range of an access point. Access points are now widely deployed in companies, homes and public areas such as airports and coffee bars. If you are in the middle of a call and move away from the access point Truphone will transfer the call to the cellular network allowing you to continue without interruption. For enterprises this provides the ideal converged device so that employees need only use one phone for all their communication needs connecting to the cellular network when traveling and connecting to the corporate SIP system when in the office. Consumers get the benefits of coverage into mobile blind spots and can make lower cost VoIP calls when near an access point on their favourite personal device - the cell phone.

Nokia created the Series 60 Platform and licenses it to leading cell phone vendors LG Electronics, Lenovo, Panasonic, Samsung, Sendo and Siemens, who together with Nokia make up nearly two-thirds of global cell phone sales.

The first product to ship from SCN Ltd supports the Nokia 6630 phone operating over Bluetooth. This will operate with a Bluetooth enabled computer or an inexpensive Bluetooth Truphone adapter turning that computer into a low cost access point. Wi-Fi enabled phones, such as the N91 just announced by Nokia, will follow shortly allowing the use of Truphone in public hotspots and enterprises where Bluetooth is less commonly available. Calls can be terminated by a range of carrier partners or using SIP application software that can be deployed in the network.

Full Press Release