A Plethora of Free Android Phones

Christmas is just not Christmas without the phones you love. The true love of smartphone aficionados this year is the Android phone. But, can you really afford to give an Android to a loved one or yourself? You sure can when that Android is free.

Free is a big deal in the world of smartphones. These phones are the cutting edge of technology and have cutting edge prices to match. It’s not unusual to see a price tag of $500 or $600 attached to the latest models. These are computer prices. Come to think of it, a smartphone, particularly an Android smartphone, is as much a computer as it is a telephone. They run on 3G and 4G wireless networks with enough bandwidth to do the sort of things most people use a desktop or laptop computer for. That includes Web browsing, social networking, email and watching videos.

If you think about it, five or six hundred dollars isn’t that extravagant for a fully functioning computer, but why shell out when you can get your choice of Android phone for free? Save your money for a new tablet computer or something else completely. The trick to getting our phone without paying for it is to order it online with a new service plan. You need a cellular service plan anyway, regardless of what phone you pick. The plans carry exactly the same monthly cost whether you buy them in a carrier store, a big box electronics retailer, or through a high volume online retailer. So, why not be smart about where you make the purchase and get a free smartphone in the process?

Let’s take a look at what’s available in the way of free Android phones as of this writing. The selection changes all the time, but there are always lots of models to choose from.

You’ve hear of the DROID INCREDIBLE? It’s an Android 2.2 phone from HTC for Verizon Wireless. This phone is widely discussed and desired. It has an advanced 8 Megapixel digital camera with a 2x power LED flash. The processor is a screaming fast 1 GHz Snapdragon with 8 GB of internal Flash memory. It comes with the HTC Sense user interface that organizes all of your incoming texts, emails, tweets and Facebook messages by sender. You could pay the retail price of $550 to get this incredible INCREDIBLE or you can get yours free when you sign up for a new Verizon Wireless account online.

How about the popular Motorola DEVOUR in silver? It’s a $500 Android smartphone that you can get also get for free with new Verizon Wireless service. This one features a slide-out full QWERTY keyboard in a durable shell. The MOTOBLUR user interface syncs all your messages, status updates and contacts to your customizable homescreens. Your favorite Google apps come preloaded and include Google Maps, GTalk, Gmail, YouTUbe, Latitude and more.

Other popular Android phones available for free right now include the T-Mobile myTouch 4G, LG Optimus T, DROID X by Motorola, Samsung Intercept in gray steel or satin pink, HTC Aria for AT&T, LG Ally, DROID 2, LG Vortex in black or violet, Motorola BACKFLIP, Bravo, CHARM, Citrus, CLIQ, Cliq XT, Flip Out, Flipside, Captivate and Fascinate. That’s a lot of models just from Motorola. The Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 for AT&T and T-Mobile Comet are also free.

Do you think that one of these free Android phones might be just what you are looking for this year? Well, don’t wait too long. You want to get yours delivered in time for the holidays and before supplies inevitably run out. Learn more and check out all the free Android special offers, plus an amazing array of other cell phones and high-end Android phones at deep discounts.

WiMAX 2 Will Challenge Fiber For Speed

There is a notion going around that copper and wireless have about had their day in the great bandwidth race. Copper has gained a new lease on life as a last mile technology for Metro Ethernet service. Wireless has a unique position in that no wireline or fiber service can match it for mobility. But there’s a wireless technology in the works that may blow away fiber optic services even on the basis of speed.

Wireless bandwidth higher than fiber? Ha!

Well, not so fast. Not all fiber optic service are pumping out 10 GigE to users. In fact, a lot of fiber optic bandwidth is delivering 50 and 100 Mbps ports to customers. That’s especially true of FTTH or Fiber To The Home that is only now starting to approach 100 Mbps. What would you say to being able to pluck 100 to 300 Mbps out of the air anywhere in the city? Wouldn’t that make your netbook scream? Might you consider going wireless to the desktop with that kind of speed?

High bandwidths and low latency are the promise of a new standard in the works called 802.16m. If that number sounds familiar, it’s because you know 802.16e as the basis of WiMAX service. WiMAX is a mature standard based on SOFDMA (Scalable Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) and MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) radio technologies. It’s the platform used by Clearwire and Sprint for their CLEAR 4G broadband service, now expanding nationwide. This first generation WiMAX offers 3 to 6 Mbps downloads with citywide coverage. The upgrade will increase that more than an order of magnitude.

The 802.16m standard is now being dubbed WiMAX 2 to indicate it is a upgrade to the current international WiMAX standard. It’s a backward compatible upgrade, which is certain to ease deployment.

What will WiMAX 2 be used for? It will certainly be in high demand by mobile business and consumer users, perhaps even for advanced smartphones. The first WiMAX phone is expected to be out this summer. By the time WiMAX 2 has a nationwide footprint, the technology may well be giving traditional cellular services a run for their money. The higher bandwidth capability of WiMAX 2 make it a natural for high definition video and perhaps the long awaited Internet enabled vehicle.

But WiMAX also has the potential to serve millions of users not wired for DSL or Cable broadband and loath to accept the high latencies and limited bandwidth of satellite Internet services. That makes it a natural to be the service of choice in rural areas, perhaps with deployment accelerated by the current stimulus funding available for rural broadband. WiMAX 2 speeds will get the attention of both consumers and business users dissatisfied with their current broadband services and looking for something competitive that doesn’t require construction costs. WiMAX to the desktop is reality now, even in areas heavily dominated by DSL and Cable broadband services.

Less conspicuous will be wireless backhaul applications for WiFI hotspots, 3G cellular and even other 4G technologies. To get beyond today’s bandwidth limited cell sites means either fiber optic or high speed wireless backhaul. WiMAX was always intended for this application, although consumer and business Internet services are what’s being talked up in the media.