Terminology aside, here’s why this latest iteration of Wi-Fi is so cool:

1. It’s fast. The standard can deliver up to 3.6 Gbps around the home, although initial chips offer 1.8 Gbps. The current top-of-the-line Wi-Fi chips (802.11n) top out at 600 Mbps.
2. It’s designed for video. The technology uses the 5 gigaherz band as opposed to the 2.4 gigaherz band. The gigahertz band has wider channels to deliver more capacity and competes with fewer other wireless devices, which means the channels can carry more data such as fat high-definition and maybe even 3-D video streams.
3. It’s designed for multiple devices and concurrent streams. Those wider channels also mean a home can support more devices trying to send lots of data, such as sending multiple, concurrent HD video streams around the home, while someone else plays a game or video conferences. So while you might not think you need a gigabit home network without a gigabit pipe leading to your home, if you’re streaming cached content from a hard drive or another device, this helps.
4. It’s more power efficient. The wider channels allow for more data to travel over the network, which means downloads take less time. At that point the radio powers down to save on battery life or power. This doesn’t help when streaming, but would be good for keeping devices and hard drives synced.
5. It goes the distance. The physics of transmitting data using airwaves over distances and through certain materials doesn’t change, but because the standard can deliver faster speeds from the router, folks will get proportionately faster speeds as they move away from the router in their homes and offices. It also uses beamforming technology (basically it compresses the signal like a laser compresses light to make it more powerful) to better pass through buildings, especially through those made of concrete. The end result is a better signal even if it must pass through a few walls — and a decent end-user experience.

Broadcom expects to start shipping chips in the middle of this year and appearing in a wide variety of products from phones and laptops to set-top-boxes and home routers that will ship in the second half of the year. In November Quantenna, a chipmaker startup that has raised more than million, announced its own 802.11 ac chips, and in September I spoke with Craig Barratt, president of Qualcomm Atheros about that chipmaker’s vision for the next generation of Wi-Fi.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
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A new feature in GPS chips is Glonass support. Glonass is the Russian equivalent of GPS, consisting of a separate set of satellites that are “visible” from around the world. By tuning into both GPS and Glonass satellites at the same time, a GPS chip can get a position fix more quickly and accurately. This approach is most useful in urban canyons, where tall buildings can block line-of-sight reception from satellites.

It’s not entirely clear what’s behind the widescale adoption of Glonass support — although the Russian government now mandates such dual support, which may have forced the issue — but it has the potential to benefit consumers. More accurate location tracking has become enormously important to advertising, services and even public safety on cell phones and other devices. Already, many phones and applications use a combination of GPS and Wi-Fi, such as that offered by Skyhook Wireless, to figure out where a subscriber is at any time.

Still, device makers may not incorporate the Glonass-capable chips into their devices sold outside of Russia, and they may not subscribe to the databases they would need in order to determine where a phone is using the system. Glonass has a storied history going back decades, but the satellite system fell into disrepair. A few years ago Russia determined it wanted to become a satellite power again and promised to launch worldwide coverage for its Glonass system.

The project has a storied history detailed in this BBC article, which suggests that the new Glonass constellation of satellites was a major publicity stunt aimed at fostering the perception that Russia had developed a viable competitor to the U.S.-sponsored GPS system when, in fact, its performance is subpar. But now, almost a year after that article was written, new satellites have launched, and it appears that major chip vendors are willing to support Glonass, which means it’s up to device makers and services to launch Russia’s satellites into global prominence.

Image courtesy of NASA.

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• Location: The Epicenter of Mobile Innovation
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Mobile Networks Meet the Cloud. All the big gear makers from Alcatel-Lucent to Nokia Siemens Networks will have something to show mobile operators that will allow them to deploy smaller base stations and more flexible networks. Big vendors and startups are all trying to help operators deal with a deluge of traffic and the need for more network components, from Wi-Fi access points to pico and femtocells. As operators support more networks and deploy more base stations, they’ll need more software to manage and adjust them without the aid of costly network engineers. Expect startups pitching self-optimizing networks, real-time traffic information, technology to manage interference and other products that will help operators automate their networks to appear in droves.

Dual-Core is the Only Core. Just this week, Qualcomm, Broadcom and Texas Instruments all announced new application processors that take the idea of a single-core, 1-GHz smartphone chip and double (or in the case of TI’s planned OMAP 5 product, quadruple) it. We’ve been excited about dual-core chips for years, but they are just now hitting the market in consumer phones and tablets. Look for demonstrations of the chips, and also for the new types of devices and applications they can power. Given that most people are toting smartphones with single cores today, you might also be looking to replace your existing phone. It’s going to look pretty slow after Barcelona’s demonstrations.

The Overwhelming Onslaught of Video. A huge component of mobile traffic will be video as consumers download YouTube  videos, chat with friends via FaceTime or merely play precious moments from their Facebook pages on their handsets. Allot Communications recently said streaming video comprises 37 percent of network traffic today and Cisco said it would be 66 percent of traffic by 2015. Part of the issue is more people turning to video on their handsets, but the other component is a rise in tablets which makes watching video so much better while on the go. Vendors such as Bytemobile will show off new gear to help operators optimize video on their networks and reduce costs, while startups such as Skype and Facebook might introduce new products that only exacerbate the problem.

Tune in to See if Microsoft Gets Mobile. After Nokia turned to Microsoft today to save its “burning platform,” the software giant has a chance to team up with a great handset maker to give its Windows Phone 7 operating system a draw. Some reviewers actually liked Windows Phone 7 when it launched last year, but when it hit the market, the response from consumers was decidedly less enthusiastic. And while operators might long for alternatives to the Android/Apple juggernauts, it’s unclear if Microsoft and Nokia will convince operators, developers and consumers that the combined platforms are a good option. Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s CEO, will give a keynote at Mobile World Congress, and observers will also be looking for hot apps and good devices that buy into the Redmond ecosystem. Also pay attention to see if Microsoft’s decision to port its Windows franchise to the ARM architecture generates any exciting tablet or even laptop news.

Everyone Hops on the Mobile Payments Bandwagon … Again. Mobile payments have been a favorite topic in the industry for years, but this year may prove to be a turning point as more players jump on to Near Field Communications, direct carrier billing and other payment options. Mobile World Congress has dedicated a conference track to mobile money, with an assortment of carrier, financial institutions, payment providers and start-ups all scheduled to talk about the industry. While Square’s Jack Dorsey is a scheduled keynote speaker, it appears much of the talk will revolve around NFC deployments, trials and updates. Google’s outgoing CEO Eric Schmidt is scheduled to keynote and will likely talk about Android’s support for NFC among other things. But expect a lot of other news from other players looking to finally make some money off mobile payments.

Additional reporting by Ryan Kim.

Image courtesy of Flickr user andy_c

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Broadcom offers million to buy NFC pioneer
Fabless communications chip company Broadcom Corp. has announced that it has agreed to buy Innovision Research & Technology plc, a pioneer of RFID and NFC circuits and intellectual property, for .5 million in cash. Broadcom – Business – Radio-frequency identification – Corporation – Intellectual property
Read more on EETimes

Broadcom offers million to buy NFC pioneer
Fabless communications chip company Broadcom Corp. has announced that it has agreed to buy Innovision Research & Technology plc, a pioneer of RFID and NFC circuits and intellectual property, for .5 million in cash. Broadcom – Business – Radio-frequency identification – Corporation – Intellectual property
Read more on EETimes

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Are you using open source in systems design? If so, I could use your help. Every year, the ARM Technology Conference presents workshops, panel discussions, demonstrations, and exhibitions on designing with the ARM architecture. This year, ARM TechCon is being held in Santa Clara, California, November 9-11, and I am the Track Chair for presentations on ‘Designing with Open Source Software.’ If …
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Broadcom offers million to buy NFC pioneer
Fabless communications chip company Broadcom Corp. has announced that it has agreed to buy Innovision Research & Technology plc, a pioneer of RFID and NFC circuits and intellectual property, for .5 million in cash. Broadcom – Business – Radio-frequency identification – Corporation – Intellectual property
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District library to hold technology classes
SHIAWASSEE COUNTY —Signing up for an e-mail account, using Facebook or other websites, using the new laptop you just bought, figuring out how to set up your iPod or MP3 player, and other such technology-related tasks can be tricky to figure out on your own.
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The $499 iPad breaks-down something like this:

• Touchscreen – $95
• Apple A4 CPU – $26.80
• 16GB flash storage – $29.50
• Aluminum rear panel – $26.80
• Broadcom Bluetooth, WiFi chip – $8.05
• TI controller chip – $1.80
• Ciruss Logic audio chip – $1.2

All that, combined with other pieces of hardware and bezel parts add up to $260 per iPad. That’s slightly more than iSuppli’s preliminary $229 estimate reported back in early February. The 32GB and 64GB chips of course cost more with the 32GB estimated at $59 and the 64GB chip at $118.

Don’t put too much weight into this estimate as it only accounts to for the cost of the hardware and not the time and resources that went into developing and marketing the iPad. We’ve heard that Apple has been toiling away at this thing for years, but the company doesn’t seem to have any issues selling it so they shouldn’t have an issue making it back.

AMD is finally looking to get into the netbook game for real. Forget about the thin-and-light NEO chipset that’s been out for a while—we’re talking about an honest, netbook-specific chipset based on the company’s Fusion initiative that’ll blend power-sipping CPUs with ATI graphics. The platform will draw between 10 and 15 watts of power and will be designed for screens 12 inches and smaller.

With all these netbooks coming out now that are powered by Intel Atom CPUs paired with either Broadcom HD graphics accelerators or NVIDIA ION GPUs, it appears that AMD must finally be thinking to itself, “These guys from all these different companies have to pair this CPU with that GPU or add this accelerator because Intel’s GPUs stink. We have our own CPUs and our own powerful ATI GPUs. We could do this much more easily and cheaply.”

AMD’s Nigel Dessau told InternetNews.com the following:

“It will have a good processor integrated with graphics, so you won’t need the Ion graphics to give it half-decent performance… If we’d had a part, we’d have been in this space. We didn’t have a part so we went and worked on a part for the thin and light space. The plan is to come to market next year with a Fusion part that fits it nicely in a netbook type thing.”

With the impending confusion that’ll be caused (or is already being caused) by all the pairings between Intel, NVIDIA, and others, AMD is in a prime position to come in with a few netbook chipsets comprised of its own AMD CPUs and respectable ATI GPUs, price them $50 less than comparable Intel offerings, and watch the sales roll in. Unfortunately by 2011, who knows what state the netbook market will be in? AMD can’t just show up and say, “Look! We have a new platform that’s better than the Intel + ION pairings from last summer!”

The company’s got a big opportunity here. Netbooks aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, but people are expecting to be able to do more and more with them—an area where Intel has purposely under delivered in order to try to convince consumers to purchase more expensive CPUs. As it turns out, most consumers don’t really care how fast the CPU is. They just want to watch HD videos and play games. If anyone can deliver that experience in a single, integrated, inexpensive package, it’s AMD.

[HardwareCentral via Liliputing]

For our Battlemodo, we decided to look only at netbooks powered by Intel’s Pine Trail (Atom N450) processor. Netbooks sporting older processors are a bit cheaper, but they’re also a little slower and don’t achieve the same impressive battery life as Pine Trail. And they’ve been reviewed to death elsewhere.

Netbooks with an Ion GPU are also available, but they’ve got their own baggage. First: they’re around $50 more expensive than non-Ion models. Second: they’re not available yet on Pine Trail. So you can either settle for an older processor with Ion and take a battery life and performance hit, or wait until the first Pine Trail-compatible netbook—the Acer Aspire One 532G—comes out later this year and pay the premium. Once you’re spending $500+ on a netbook, though, you may as well step up to a full-function ultraportable.

So: Pine Trail netbooks it is. Usually we put the benchmarks off until the end, but in this case it’s worth highlighting up front just how comparable these machines are inside:
Peas in an underwhelming pod. Which is why when you’re even considering a netbook, it’s vital to pay outsized attention to design, display, keyboard, and all the extras that’ll ultimately inform your experience.

The Results

I’ll say this as many times as I have to: netbooks are a sea of sameness. And it’s a shame that even the ones that stand out come with some significant caveats.

The Winner (If You Need Affordable HD Now)

Dell Inspiron Mini 10


Price: $425

The Dell Mini 10 is a little bulkier than the other contenders, but I’m happy to trade a little weight for the sturdier build. The glossy red top was a welcome splash of color without looking cheap. And where most netbook batteries stick out the back end or bottom like oblong tumors, the Mini’s is safely tucked away in the bottom deck. The result? A small form laptop with a big boy design. The Mini 10 was also the easiest to type on, with flush and raised keys leaving me pleasantly hand-cramp-free compared to the island-style netbook keyboards.

Most importantly, Dell (along with HP) has managed to mitigate the netbook HD problem by throwing Broadcom’s Crystal HD accelerator into the mix. It won’t offer the full 3D graphic support of Ion, and you’ll have to download Adobe’s Flash 10.1 beta 3 for the full effect, but once I did I was able to reliably stream 1080p video off of YouTube, as well as full-screen HD content from Hulu. it’s your best bet until Pine Trail Ion 2 netbooks start popping up later this year.

Here’s the catch: the trackpad is bad. Really, truly, frustratingly bad. Not so bad as to be unusable, but it’s too small and the integrated buttons respond clumsily.

Runner Up: HP Mini 210 HD Edition
Price: $465

Admittedly, this was a close call. The HP Mini 210 has a similarly solid feel to it, and handles HD video almost as well as the Dell. But in the two areas that are arguably most critical to a netbook experience—battery life and price—the Mini came up way short. Unlike other manufacturers who include a 6-cell battery as standard, HP offers theirs as an $80 add-on, driving up the price of a usable configuration. Not that it did much good: the Mini 210 fared worst of all in our battery test, lasting only 4:09.

The Winner (If You Don’t Care About HD)

Acer Aspire One 532h


Price: $350

If you don’t consider watching HD clips on your netbook an integral part of the experience, congratulations! You’re going to be able to save yourself a good chunk of cash and walk away with an otherwise comparable user experience. The Acer Aspire One 532h has a sleek design and performs at least on par with the Dell and HP in almost every other respect. It had the best battery life of the bunch, it’s wafer-thin and extremely light, and has a raised trackpad that’s actually enjoyable to use.

The main drawback to the Acer is its keyboard. Although I like the larger buttons, there’s a certain amount of give in the middle that makes an otherwise crisp design feel cheap. The glossy top is also prone to smudging in a way that the other models manage to avoid. Otherwise, though, it performs as well as the extremely capable Toshiba NB305—for $50 less.

Runner Up: Toshiba NB305
Price: $400

The Toshiba stands out as being good at everything, but not great at anything. And if it were a bit cheaper, it’d be my pick here. But paying $400 for a computer with an Atom processor that doesn’t play HD seems like a tough sell, especially when for just a few more bucks you can step up to the Dell.

Feature Comparison

Battery life was tested by running each laptop on moderate performance settings, three-quarters screen brightness, and refreshing a page in Firefox every thirty seconds to simulate active browsing.

Verdict: Buy What’s Cheap

I wish there were a clear-cut winner. I wish Pine Trail had more to offer. I wish Sony weren’t charging $480 for their incredibly subpar Vaio W Eco edition. But hey, that’s just netbooks.

It’s an interesting dilemma. There’s clearly value in an affordable computer you can carry around for basic tasks, but is this really the best we can do? And the more triage we do on netbook guts to increase usability—be it Ion graphics or Broadcom HD accelerators—the more expensive they get, and the less apparent that value proposition becomes. And who knows? Maybe netbooks themselves have never been more than a patch. Maybe what we’ve really wanted all along are tablets and smartbooks.

For now, though: find the cheapest netbook you can that does what you need. If that means HD, go for the Dell. If not, the Acer’s your pick, or even an older, discounted model, if you don’t see yourself needing maxed-out battery life. It’s purely a commodity purchase: treat it like one, and you’ll be fine.

Now we’re cooking with a substance that appears to be similar in smell, flame size, and cost per energy unit as “gas.” Asus’ impending Eee PC 1005PR is a 10.1-inch netbook with a 1366×768 resolution screen, Broadcom HD decoder chip, and up to 11 hours of battery life.

Under the hood there’s an Intel Atom N450 CPU, up to 2GB of RAM, 250GB hard drive, Windows 7 Starter, 6-cell battery, VGA output, three USB ports, card reader, b/g/n wireless and optional Bluetooth, webcam, and a weight of 2.8 pounds.

No firm pricing or release date yet, but SlashGear seems to think it’ll cost “about $400.”

Eee PC 1005PR [ASUS via SlashGear]