Clearly the GSMA have been looking for guidance on what to choose as a top mobile gadget at MWC, saw that we had awarded Mobile Accesory of the Year to Novatel’s MiFi and followed suit by giving their own little award for Best Connected Device (Non-handset)

Or maybe they checked it out and realised it was a damn fine bit of kit on their own.

Either way, Novatel just picked up another award for the MiFi from the GSMA

SAN DIEGO ­ Feb. 22, 2010 ­ Novatel Wireless (NASDAQ: NVTL), a leading
provider of wireless broadband solutions, is pleased to announce that its
MiFi  Intelligent Mobile Hotspot has won the GSMA Global Mobile Award for
Best Mobile Connected Device (non-handset). The GSMA Global Mobile Awards is
the mobile industry¹s leading annual award presentation that honors
excellence and innovation in the mobile communications industry worldwide.

Full press release.

Well done Novatel. Keep that Mifi-love flowing. Our wish-list is below:

• 10 hours battery life (Bigger battery version?)
• USB charging without becoming a USB device
• Easier to understand indicator lights. (After nearly a year, I still don’t understand them!)
• Less heat
• Faster cold boot
• Firmware upgrade for existing owners to enable GPS and applications support.

The MiFi 2352 (HSDPA version) saved our bacon quite a few times at MWC. It was the hotel WiFi, our live podcast feed and we used it countless times around the site and at events with a cheap, 35 Euro flat rate SIM card from Vodafone ES. I even used it for advertising. I set my SSID as ‘Chippy and Carrypad are here’ and people actually found me because of it too.

It goes without saying that we thoroughly recommend it and if you’re interested in the HSDPA version, it’s available through our friends at Mobilx for just 214 Euro inclusive of EU taxes. Trust us, it’s worth it! (Affiliate link.)

As promised at CES, Novatel are moving forward with their plans for the Mifi 3G personal mobile internet hotspot (that has been a life-saver for me at MWC) to include applications and software features. We spoke to the team at the Mifi booth at MWC a few days ago and got a nice demo of a GPS-enabled application. GPS is enabled in the next firmware but I’m getting the impression that it’s going to be a new model of the Mifi with slightly newer features which ‘might’ include, USB charging without becoming a device, better battery life and of course, the GPS. I’m hoping that the firmware comes to existing Mifi’s (or at least the ones with the application processor in them) to enable the GPS that’s already included in the unit.

In the video below, Gareth Davis talks about some of the things possible and demonstrates a nice GPS-enabled application served through the Mifi webserver itself.

We have also heard that the EyeFi (Wifi-enabled SD card) application is progressing and we’ll be sure to keep a close eye on it.  Clearly a web-based navigation service would be possible and there’s a ton of things that can be done with social networking. Can anyone think of other interesting apps that could be created on this platform?(Apart from the obvious ‘free wifi’ password-inspection app that would be sure to pick up some interesting information if you left it for a few hours in a press conference!)

Vodafone Germany are the latest carrier to announce a 3G hotspot. It’s our favorite (and still product of the year in my opinion) the Novatel Mifi 2352. [My review roundup]

40 Euro per month for a 5GB HSDPA contract (GPRS flat after the 5GB limit is reached) gets you the device for free which in my opinion is a far better option than buying a netbook with a data contract. The Mifi gives you freedom to choose your devices based on where and what you are doing. If you want to take the iPod Touch to the coffee shop, go for it. If you need to attend an important meeting with your business laptop, you get that choice too.

For the ultimate in flexibility though I suggest taking the 231 Euro hit at Mobilx and look for pre-paid or flat offers from other 3G providers in your country. A 24 month contract with Alice in Germany for example brings you the same data rate and bandwidth limits for 15 Euro per month. Less than half the price that Vodafone is asking. I tend to use the Mifi with a day-flat tariff. At 2.50 Euro per day it leaves me contract free and able to switch to other pre-paid cards based on price or availability.

Expect this product to pop up at your local Vodafone provider soon.

Vodafone Germany product page.

Following the much-blogged, much twittered news of Verizon launching their MiFi product last week, it’s now Sprint’s turn. There doesn’t seem to be a day plan, only a $60 5GB plan and a bundle which includes a phone. Availability is ‘June’. More details here.

It’s no secret that Telefonica have already announced the Mifi 2352 HSPA version in Spain (under the Movistar brand) and I’m hearing ‘days’ rather than ‘weeks’ for availability which means I’ll probably be able to get hold of an unlocked version for testing. Can’t wait!

“Among the key attributes of MiFi 2352 is an on-board Linux based operating system capable of delivering mobile software applications and media. These advanced capabilities add to the intelligence of MiFi and will enable future support for applications such as automatic VPN connectivity and automatic email synch. The combination of internal (ROM) storage, up to 16 GB of expandable memory via MicroSD and on-board GPS capabilities make MiFi 2352 a flexible and robust platform capable of supporting a variety of location-based applications and enabling the storage of personal content such as music, video and pictures.” [Source]

The MiFi is clearly going to be a very popular product this year so excuse me if I don’t report on every carrier deal across the world!