Verizon 4G LTE: Pantech USB Modem and Samsung Mobile Hotspot

Samsung 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot SCH-LC11I haven't written a post in a while, so I'm combining my reviews of two devices that both use Verizon's 4G LTE service, the Pantech 4G LTE USB Modem UML290 and the Samsung Mobile Hotspot SCH-LC11.

First, the good news: if you haven't already heard, Verizon's 4G LTE service is fast--wicked fast. It's faster than any 3G service and even faster than Sprint's/CLEAR's 4G WiMAX by two to six times depending on the conditions. Streaming video or playing online games will present no problems for this service which is probably faster than most people's home Internet.

Now for the bad news: the mobile hotspot is not as fast as the USB modem. Using the Pantech USB modem, I was able to achieve Speedtest.net scores such as 26.72 Mbps down and 10.09 Mbps up rather consistently (and I've seen reports of others getting even higher scores). When I switched to the Samsung hotspot, my scores dropped by about 40% in each direction. This isn't surprising--I would not expect the Wi-Fi hotspot to be as fast as the USB 2.0 modem for the same reasons that an ethernet cable transmits faster than Wi-Fi. In all honesty though, only die-hards like me will ever notice the difference.

Another downside of both devices is their software. The VZ Access Manager that controls the USB modem is functional and easy-to-use, but clunky in it's design and obtrusive in the way that it tries to manage the Verizon modem and the Wi-Fi connections at the same time. The Samsung hotspot has the worst firmware I've ever seen on a routing device. Other hotspots that I have used try to emulate the layout of home routers on their configuation screens, usually offering a large subset of that functionality. The Samsung SCH-LC11 has such Spartan screens that it's almost pitiful. Fortunately, the device works pretty well out of the box, because if you wanted to do anything more complex than open a couple of ports, you would be out of luck. I can't even tell if there's a way to update the firmware.

Again though, those are nits to be picked only by the most advanced users. Most people will pull it out, turn it on, set a network name and a couple of passwords and be off and running within minutes. Sprint/CLEAR still gets the nod for heavy use since they offer unlimited 4G data, but between Verizon's 4G speed and 3G coverage, there's no way I can't heartily recommend this service.

Epic Citadel for iOS

Any gamer worth his salt will recognize the name Epic Games.  Not only are they famous for creating the wildly successful Unreal and Gears of War franchises, but they created the Unreal Engine, a library of code that forms the basis of many other grade A games.  So naturally when I came across Epic Citadel in the iTunes App Store, I was intrigued.  And now I have seen it in action, I'm downright excited.

Epic Citadel is not a game, it's a technology demo.  The Unreal Engine 3 (UE3) typically runs on high-powered hardware (think PC, XBOX 360, or PlayStation 3) to create the high-fidelity needed for nearly photorealistic games.  But it seems that the engineers at Epic have ported UE3 to iOS devices.  Epic Citadel allows you to stoll around a virtual medieval town and bazaar.  And it looks stunning.

I've seen writers compare games on the iPhone/iPod to those on the DS or the PSP and often wondered what the heck they were thinking.  Despite having a higher resolution screen, games on iOS devices have seldom had the complexity or fluidity of games on dedicated handheld systems.  But UE3 on iOS may change that.  Not only is the animation smooth and fluid, but the sharpness and detail are beyond the capabilities of the PSP, especially on the high-resolution screens of the iPad and iPhone 4.  It's like looking at something off an XBOX 360 on a handheld screen.

These high-end graphics don't come without a cost however.  Epic Citadel only runs on later devices.  That means that the iPhone and iPhone 3G and corresponding iPods won't be able to run them.  I guess that's the threshold at which Epic decided that UE3 was worth porting.

Even with those restrictions, I remain excited about the prospects that UE3 will bring to iOS gaming.  Epic Citadel was just designed to whet the appetite.  It will be interesting to see what games developers can bring to the portable using Epic's latest tech.

MLB.TV and MLB At Bat 2010

I really like baseball. I try to watch as many games as I can, but I like to follow some out-of-market teams/players that don't get broadcast on my local cable network. So when the 2010 Major League Baseball season started, I decided to subscribe to their MLB.TV service.  I haven't regretted it.

For $100 or $120 (depending on the package you choose) you get access to the entire season of baseball. That's 2,430 featuring all 30 teams in all 30 ballparks. Unfortunately, games are still subject to rights-holder blackout restrictions based on your location. That basically means that if a game is being broadcast on television in the area in which you're located, then you will be restricted to listening to the audio-only (e.g. radio) broadcast of the game, even if that channel is one that you don't receive. Obviously, this can make it difficult to follow your home team, but it's a great way to follow out-of-market teams and players.

Despite the blackout restrictions, all games eventually get archived and compressed. Archived games are basically full-length affairs complete with commercial breaks but not the commercials themselves. Fortunately, you can skip directly to either half of a particular inning. Compressed games are just that--the "good parts only" of a game that contain notable offensive or defensive developments. A typical game with a full-length of three hours can be compressed into a 15-20 minute affair. The archived games are usually up within 12 hours of the end of a game with compressed games coming within a day.

If this were all there were to MLB.TV, it would still be years ahead of the offerings from other professional sports leagues, but the mobile offerings may be even more impressive. Using the MLB At Bat 2010 app for the iPhone/iPod or the iPad (two separate versions, $14.99 each) you can keep up with games in progress down to a pitch-by-pitch tracking of each at bat. You can pull up previous games' box scores, see the schedule for any team, or get up-to-date stats for any player. You can listen to the live radio broadcast for either team, and if you are an MLB.TV subscriber, you can even watch live games over a Wi-Fi or 3G network! Each day the MLB will offer one or two complimentary games that can be watched live without a subscription. Naturally blackout rules still apply to all televised broadcasts. Though I have never used the iPad version of the app, it makes use of the bigger screen to show more information, and I have first-hand reports that indicate that it is every bit as impressive as its iPhone/iPod counterpart.

The latest jewel in the crown of MLB Advanced Media is the PlayStation 3 app that allows streaming of live and archived television games to Sony's gaming console. This new app arrived like a response to a wish for the ability to bring the wealth of MLB.TV to the best screen in the house. Interestingly, unlike the apps for Apple devices, the PS3 app is a free download from the PlayStation Store. To be fair, other than a calendar with each team's schedule, the PS3 app does only one thing--streaming TV broadcasts--and it does it very well. Broadcasts are in HD and look just shy of what I get from my cable provider. Scene transitions tend to show compression as do large patches of similar color like the grass or an outfield wall, but other than that, it's perfectly watchable HD. The PS3 app does not contain the standings, player stats, or any of the other information that you can find in the iPhone app, nor does it allow the split-screen or picture-in-picture viewing that's possible using a computer running Adobe Flash, but it does allow you to kick back comfortably on your sofa and watch games without running down your batteries.

If you are a hardcore baseball fan, I wholeheartedly recommend a subscription to MLB.TV. If you're a moderate baseball fan with an iPhone, iPod, or iPad, then I recommend the MLB At Bat 2010 app. And the combination of those two has represented the best way for me to get my baseball fix. Now if only there were an app to improve my teams' situational hitting...