@CES: That's a wrap

Last week’s Consumer Electronics Show was a haven for device geeks of all shapes and sizes. Sure, the 165-inch 3D televisions were awesome, but so were the shrunken mobile devices that seemed to proliferate from every corner of the Las Vegas Convention Center.
We covered a number of the device announcements from the show, including AT&T Mobility’s plans to unveil five devices this year that run Google Inc.’s Android OS, Palm Inc.’s plans to offer updated versions of its Pre and Pixi at Verizon Wireless later this month and even touched on Google’s pre-CES launch of its Nexus One device being built by HTC Corp.
And there were dozens of other device announcements at the show that we did not get to,
Hoping to continue to momentum it gained from the launch of its Android-powered Droid at Verizon Wireless late last year, Motorola Inc. unveiled its latest Google-powered device with the Backflip. The device is similar to the Cliq launched at T-Mobile USA Inc., the Backflip features Motorola’s proprietary Motoblur user interface that brings user-selected social network sites onto the home screen of the device. The Backflip’s main differentiator from the Cliq is its fold out keyboard as opposed to the Cliq’s slide out keyboard. The Backflip also includes support for AT&T Mobility’s 3G network, and is one of the five promised Android-powered devices, instead of the Cliq’s support for T-Mobile USA’s 3G frequencies.
While the Backflip is not quite as revolutionary as the Droid or the Cliq, it’s important for the device manufacturer as it tries to re-establish itself with its domestic carrier partners as well as in the minds of consumers that have fled the Motorola Razr-inspired “slim” phone theme for more feature-packed smartphones. The device also bolsters Motorola’s Android lineup, which the company said would be the backbone of its smartphone plans.
The other device that stuck out was Sprint Nextel Corp.’s Overdrive wireless router. The device is similar to its Novatel Wireless-supplied MiFi mobile hotspots, but adds backhaul support for the carrier’s WiMAX-based “4G” offering.
The Overdrive allows up to five, Wi-Fi enabled devices to access the modem that then uses either Sprint Nextel’s WiMAX service or its CDMA2000 1x EV-DO Revision A-based 3G network for backhaul. Rate plans allow unlimited throughput using the WiMAX network, with 3G access limited to 5 gigabytes per month. Sprint Nextel also modified its rate plans for the new device now charging $60 per month for access to both networks, down from the $80 it previously charged.
The device highlights Sprint Nextel’s continued push of its “4G” service ahead of the impending launch of Verizon Wireless’ LTE-based network this year. Both companies are on track to cover more than 100 million potential customers – Sprint Nextel at 120 million pops and Verizon Wireless claiming 100 million pops – with their next-generation networks by the end of 2010. But the backbone for that support is vastly different.
Sprint Nextel, which is relying on Clearwire Corp. to build out the network and in which it owns a majority interest in, is using a deep pool of 2.5 GHz spectrum for its WiMAX service. Verizon Wireless is going with a shallower pool of 700 MHz spectrum that should provide greater propagation than the 2.5 GHz spectrum, but Verizon Wireless’ approximately 20 megahertz of spectrum along with whatever it can use from its 1.7/2.1 GHz holdings for LTE pale in comparison with the more than 120 megahertz of spectrum Sprint Nextel has access to. (AT&T Mobility has similar LTE plans to Verizon Wireless, using its approximately 20 megahertz of 700 MHz spectrum to support LTE roll out plans beginning in 2011.)
If CES showed us anything it was that the mobile space in 2010 will be a battleground between increasingly feature-packed smartphones and more robust networks designed to handle the continued demand for mobile services.