CES 2010: Sprint's Overdrive, a 4G hotspot that fits in a pocket

At yesterday's Sprint/Microsoft event, I was hoping I'd finally get a glimpse of the world's first 4G handset, but instead was treated to something more mundane, yet more practical: the Sprint Overdrive, the first portable cell-data hotspot that runs on the carrier's high-speed WiMAX network. It's available on January 10 for $100 (after a $50 mail-in rebate) with a two-year contract.

The 3-inch, square-shaped Overdrive 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot allows you to connect to up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices—such as laptops, music players, gaming devices, and cameras—through a single connection, via Wi-Fi. The device itself links to the Internet via Sprint's 4G Wi-Max network. This fourth-generation network should rival the speed of the Wi-Fi network you may have at home, but with a range of several miles instead of about 150 feet. So in theory, you can take this hockey-puck-sized device anywhere—even in your car—and enjoy the same broadband speeds.

Sprint says Overdrive's battery can last up to 3 hours (36 hours standby), and you can recharge it from your computer via a USB cable. A small, 1.5-inch LCD screen on the device shows you who's connected.

When there's no 4G service, the device defaults to the 3G data network. That's likely to happen a lot since Sprint's WiMAX is still only available in a limited number of cities, including Chicago, Philadelphia, Las Vegas, and Dallas-Fort Worth. (Sprint promises to serve up to 120 million people by the end of 2010.)

Monthly service is $60 for unlimited data downloads. While the $60-per-month fee provides unlimited data downloads for 4G, it caps off at 5 gigabytes when you use the 3G network. And data use prices soar after you pass the 5-gigabyte limit.

Sprint is currently the only carrier that provides 4G service of any kind. But that should change later this year when Verizon launches its own 4G network based on a similar but incompatible 4G technology known as LTE (for Long-Term Evolution).

—Mike Gikas