Sidecut Reports

When we told you this morning that the Samsung Mondi MID was going to be available soon, we didn’t know that soon means now! After chatting with Samsung’s Kim Titus, he told us the device is available now in an unlocked format directly from Samsung for $450 ($449.99 list, $454.94 with shipping). And on Aug. 1, Titus said the Mondi will also be available in Clear stores and Best Buy locations in all live Clearwire markets (Baltimore, Portland, Ore., Atlanta and Las Vegas), at the $450 unlocked price as well as a $349 option with a two-year Clear contract.

We played around with the device a bit here at the Clearwire Las Vegas launch event, and were impressed how well the touch-screen and software keyboard works. There is a hard keyboard too. The Windows Mobile-based device also includes versions of Word, Excel and Powerpoint that allow real document creation and editing, not just reading. Add in a standard 3.5 mm headphone jack, include earphones with speaker attached and this device starts to get real interesting. But that’s not all!

Read the rest of this entry »

As part of today’s official press announcement of services in Las Vegas, Clearwire also announced some delivery dates for pending products, including the Samsung Mondi mobile Internet device (MID) and Clearwire’s own hybrid 3G/4G USB device.

According to the press release the Mondi will be available “in August,” while the Clearwire hybrid card has a firmer delivery date of Aug. 1. More details (and photos?) after we attend the launch events here in Vegas today. Clearwire is also promising August availability of software to support Macintosh users, who up until now have been left out of the WiMax fun.