The Sprint MiFi 500 LTE by Novatel Wireless mobile hot spot was unveiled at CTIA in May, and today Sprint announced its availability.
The device can be purchased now for $50 (after a mail-in rebate and with a two-year contract) and comes with three data plans of 3GB, 6GB, and 12GB that cost $35, $50, and $80 respectively. Unfortunately, there's no unlimited data plan.
I had a chance to try out the device briefly and here are my first impressions. Check back soon for the full review.
Chunky, yet compact and easy to use
The MiFi 500 is a little thick, but compared with others such as ZTE's Verizon Jetpack 890L or the Clear Spot 4G, it's still much more compact, and can actually fit right in one's palm.
Though thick, the MiFi 500 LTE is compact enough to fit right in one's palm.
On top of that, the MiFi 500 LTE is very light and in my short trial didn't seem to get hot when in use.
On the bottom of the device is a latch that opens up the battery bay, which holds a lithium ion battery that offers about 10 hours of usage on one charge. Under the battery, there's a slot that holds the SIM card for the Sprint service. It's likely that the mobile hot spot works with other SIM-based cellular services, too.
On one side, there's a Micro-USB port for charging with the included power adapter. You can also charge the device using a computer, and in this case, you can choose to charge only or also use the device as a cellular modem to provide Internet access to the computer it's connected to.
On top the MiFi 500 has a small LED screen and three navigation buttons for scrolling through its settings, including showing the current Wi-Fi network's name and password. You can also quickly find out how many Wi-Fi clients are connected to it, or initiate Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) to allow other WPS-enabled clients to quickly get connected.
That said, the device can be used immediately with no setup necessary if you're happy with its default settings, accessible via the little screen. It took just about 20 seconds in my trial to fully boot up to ready status. The MiFi 500 LTE supports up to 10 Wi-Fi clients, such as laptops or tablets, at a time. While the device's screen makes it very easy to use, you can't use it to change the router's settings. If you want to change anything, such as customizing the default Wi-Fi network to your liking, you need to resort the little router's Web interface.
The Web interface offers nifty features, such as a GPS function that can be made available to Wi-Fi-connected devices.
Comprehensive Web interface and GPS functionality
To get to the router's Web interface, you just need to point a connected device's browser to the router's default IP address, which is 192.168.1.1 (the default log-in password is admin).
Here you can customize all of the router's settings and features. The router support most common settings found in most Wi-Fi routers, such as Firewall, Manual DNS, port forwarding, and so on. You can also use the interface to monitor the current data usage.
In addition, it includes a GPS function that can locate the router's current address. You can also download a piece of GPS software to add GPS-over-Wi-Fi functionality to your laptop, which I found very useful. For example, once this software is installed, you don't need to use the router's Web interface to use the GPS signal.
Overall, the Web interface is responsive and very easy to use. Almost everything is self-explanatory.
The MiFi 500 LTE could stand to slim down a bit. Shown here is its Micro-USB port on a side for charging and computer connectivity.
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