CES: Verizon's 4G is more than just phones

Though Verizon's new 4G smartphones are getting the most attentions at CES 2011, the carrier also introduced two mobile hotspots and two Netbooks.

Kent German Former senior managing editor / features

Kent was a senior managing editor at CNET News. A veteran of CNET since 2003, he reviewed the first iPhone and worked in both the London and San Francisco offices. When not working, he's planning his next vacation, walking his dog or watching planes land at the airport (yes, really).

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Kent German

Jan. 7, 2011 5:52 p.m. PT

2 min read

Verizon Wireless did its best to steal the mobile show at its CES press conference yesterday. Not only did we get the long-rumored Xoom Honeycomb tablet, but the carrier also unveiled the first selection of handsets to go with its new LTE 4G network.

Admittedly, we're focused on the new handsets, like the Motorola Droid Bionic, the Samsung 4G LTE, the HTC Thunderbolt, and the LG Revolution, but Verizon had a couple of other tricks up its sleeve. In addition to Samsung's new Mobile Hotspot, which Bonnie Cha already mentioned, Big Red also unveiled another hot spot and two 4G Netbooks. Read on for the details on each device (all images are from Verizon Wireless).

Novatel MiFi 4510L Intelligent Mobile Hotspot
Built for users of laptops, tablets, and gaming devices, the Novatel MiFi Hotspot is optimized for LTE, but it's also backwards compatible for the carrier's 3G EV-DO. network. The simple design includes a status display for battery life, roaming, and connectivity information and it's small enough to fit in a jacket pocket. Like with Samsung's Mobile Hotspot, it can support up to five devices and Verizon is promising 4G download speeds of 5Mbps to 12Mbps and upload speeds of 2Mbps to 5Mbps. Novatel and Verizon also introduced the 4G LTE USB551L modem, which offers similar capabilities for a laptop.

Compaq CQ10-688nr
Measuring less than an inch thick, the Compaq CQ10-688nr has a 10.1-inch diagonal wide-screen LED display with antiglare. It's powered by an Intel Atom N455 processor and promises up to 8.5 hours of battery life, a multiformat digital media card reader, and a Webcam and multiple connectivity options.

HP Pavilion dm1-3010nr
Equally slim, the HP Pavilion dm1 has a 11.6-inch display that can show HD (1080p) video. Inside are an AMD Fusion APU that integrates a Microsoft DirectX 11-capable graphics processing unit, 320GB of memory, a multiformat digital media card reader, an HDMI port, Dolby Advanced Audio, and GPS for mapping and navigation. Battery life should be 9.5 hours.