While AT&T and Verizon battle it out over who has better 3G coverage, Sprint has claimed sole possession of 4G services in America.

That all sounds very impressive, but what does 3G and 4G mean? Can you get 5G? Whatever happened to 2G, or for that matter, 1G?

The simplest answer is that the G stands for Generation, as in 3G means “third generation” wireless telephone technology. The requirements to meet a new generation are set by the International Telecommunication Union.

1G, as it has come to be known, was the original cell phone technology. These cell phones were released in the 1980s. You may remember the “bricks” that some, usually well paid, people were carrying around back then. They didn’t get great reception, their signals were analog, not digital, and you couldn’t do anything with them other than make phone calls. Frankly, how society survived through those dark days is beyond me.

In 1991, 2G hit the scene. The signals on 2G were digitally encrypted, reached more places, and allowed us to send our very first text messages. The weaker digital signal meant you had to be closer to a cell tower, but this was also the time when companies were heavily investing in the construction of cell towers. Out in the country, you may not have been able to use a cell phone, but in most population centers, you were free to walk down the sidewalk in deep conversations with someone no one else could see or hear, and not be thought crazy.

Eventually, it became clear that data transmissions were becoming more and more important to people, rather than merely voice transmissions. An enhanced 2G – dubbed 2.5G – became available that allowed faster data transmission, and allowed people to access the Internet from a phone for the first time.

The ITU approved 3G standards in 1999, though the first phones to use it weren’t released until 2001. The first company to allow 3G access in America, Monet Mobile Networks, didn’t last very long. The second one, Verizon in 2003, has had a much better time of it. AT&T followed suit, upgrading their network the same year.

By 2007, 200 million people had signed up for 3G service, though this is a small percentage of all cell phone users. 3G offers faster data transmission, though there are no specific benchmarks set to qualify as 3G. The ITU has said people can expect at least 2 Mbit/s if walking or standing, but has refrained from actually setting a minimum or average rate. 3G also has higher security standards than 2G, though these are far from perfect.

The higher bandwidth available in 3G phones has allowed users access to features never dreamed of when cell phones first hit the scene. Mobile TV, videos on demand for the bored, teleconferencing for on-the-move businesspeople, and GPS or location-based services for the explorers in all of us. While some features of 3G are backwards compatible, meaning phones can be used on either a 2G or 3G service plan, the next step is not so flexible.

4G is still technically in the “rollout” phase. Some carriers have announced 4G capability. LTE, or Long Term Evolution technology, is part of the backbone for 4G services, though by itself it doesn’t meet the requirements for a full-fledged 4G network.

Most of the current services claiming 4G service are basing that on having their LTE backbone operating. 4G is a secure, all-IP, or Internet Protocol, based service, allowing ultra-broadband internet access at up to 1 Gbit/s, gaming services, and streaming video, even in HD. 4G allows roaming over multiple networks without losing the high speed, high data rate abilities.

As stated, Sprint claims to have the first 4G network in US, and while they will, they’re not quite there yet. Verizon and AT&T are fast on Sprint’s heels, planning on having full 4G capabilities in 2011.

That’s all fine and dandy, but what’s next? While 5G standards are still being discussed, we can make a few inferences. Increased speed has always been a benchmark of a new generation in wireless technologies, and 5G will be no exception.

The World Wide Wireless Web is a concept that is beginning with 4G, but will really see it’s fruition with 5G. WWWW means you will be able to access the internet anywhere, anytime, and with the speed we’ve all come to expect.

As cell phones become less about making calls and more about mobile computing, expect bigger and better things in increasingly small packages.

Look, Ma, no wires!

I always said I wanted a house that was completely wired; Ethernet ports in every room for internet access and LAN parties, individually controlled speakers in every room hooked up to my computer and a stereo so I can hear the radio or my mp3s in any room, my TVs hooked up to the network so I can watch internet videos or anything that’s on my computer. Well, two groups, both funded by some of the same corporations, are trying to make my dream obsolete.

Wireless communication between devices is so commonplace, many of us no longer even think about it. From cell phones to home phones, from video game consoles to the game controllers, from TVs to digital clocks, there is data flying through the air all around us. As anyone who’s ever gone on the internet through a wireless connection knows, however, unless you’re right next to the transmitter, and sometimes not even then, trying to send a lot of data through the air is never as fast as sending it through a wired connection, not to mention the security risks involved with sending sensitive data over the airwaves.

Now, the Wi-Fi Alliance and the WiGig Alliance are teaming up to use the 60 Gigahertz (GHz) frequency that the FCC recently opened up for license-free use. The range of frequencies that are available for this license-free use is unusually large. Previously, for the 2.4 and 5 GHz frequency, the FCC allocated a .5 GHz spectrum. For the 60 GHz frequency, the FCC has allocated a whopping 7 GHz spectrum, meaning devices can use all the frequencies between 57 and 64 GHz with no license necessary.

Over small distances, across a room, the 60 GHz frequency will allow transfer rates of up to 7 GB per second, more than 10 times faster than current wireless specifications. Even better than being able to buy new devices to use this frequency, the Wi-Fi Alliance has said that many, if not all, current wireless devices will be able to use the new frequency.

The 60 GHz frequency is unique in that oxygen attenuates, or degrades, the signal. This means that over larger distances than a room or your house, the signal is almost unreadable. A hacker or data thief sitting in a car near your house probably won’t be able to get anything from your network. Your neighbors won’t be able to piggyback over your wireless router to connect to the internet.

60 GHz also has another benefit; the beams associated with 60 GHz technology are very narrow, partly as a way to cut through the attenuation in the air, meaning multiple devices in close proximity can use the same frequency without interfering with each other. Both of these “limitations” mean that 60 GHz is very secure.

If someone wanted to intercept your data, they’d have to be in the direct line of the beam, they’d have to be quite close to the transmitter, they’d have to tune their receiver to the exact frequency of the transmission, and in doing so, they’d block or severely degrade reception at the other end, making it very obvious that someone was trying to hack into your signal.

Not only does oxygen attenuate the signal, but as with all of the larger wavelength frequencies, intense rain can limit the distance the signal can be sent without errors. However, if you’re using the technology in your own home, this won’t be a significant problem, you just won’t be likely to see cell phones using the 60 GHz frequency.

What all this means is larger data streams can be sent between devices without much lag. You can now hook up your TV up to your Blueray player without wires. Your speaker system can connect to your computer’s music library and play it throughout the house without needing to run wires through the walls. You can have a LAN party, with all of your friends coming over to play Call of Duty, without needing to run wires to every computer. And if there’s one thing that’s always true when it comes to new technology, someone will come up with a use for it that no one foresaw just a few years earlier.

The costs associated with setting this up in your home are going to be small. For devices that will come equipped with the technology, you’ll likely see only marginally higher prices.

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May 2010: A wider widescreen TV

We’ve seen 3-D in theaters. I’ve alerted you to the fact that 3-D is coming into our homes, though you may have seen commercials for it as well. Last month, I even showed you that viewing movies or presentations projected on a wall from your cell phone with almost TV quality is just around the bend.

Surely, there can’t be more in the pipeline for home visual entertainment. Well, Philips is trying to change your mind in that regard. The company that creates all sorts of electronic conveniences and cool doodads has a TV that is designed to give you a full cinema experience from the comfort of your living room.

April 2010: Picking up pico projectors

How many times have you been using your smart phone to look at pictures you’ve taken or have had sent to you, and the tiny screen just doesn’t let you make out what you want to see? When you’re watching a movie on your iPod or other hand-held video device, do you ever wish you could blow up the picture?

Well, if either of those scenarios has frustrated you in the past, you have hope in the form of a pico projector. A pico projector is a projector that’s so small it can be installed on a hand-held device, like a smart phone or video player. It allows you to project what you’re viewing on a wall, the back of the seat in front of you, or even a table or ceiling.

Pico projectors were first conceived in 2003 by Explay. The first actual projector was unveiled in 2005. The first generation pico projectors were decidedly underwhelming. The resolution was terrible. When a movie or picture was projected, the size of the image that was projected had to be kept pretty much as small as the screen on a normal smart phone, otherwise the resulting image was too blurry to make out.

The two main types of pico projectors are LED and laser. There are still major trade-offs between brightness, contrast, color saturation and power consumption, but those issues are being ironed out.

DLP, using their now familiar tiny mirror technology, has created a very good LED version. They have slightly less resolution, but the color saturation and contrast are higher than standard white LED projectors, and the power consumption is lower. Other models, using three LEDs, one green, one red and one blue, come close to the DLP version in color and contrast, but using three LEDs leads to higher power consumption.

Laser projectors have the best color, remain in focus at any size, and low power consumption, however, they suffer from speckle noise, or granularity that can lead to lower resolution.

DLP advertises that its cell phone pico projectors can project a clear image from 5” to 50”. While it’s notebook computer projectors, which are slightly larger, can project at up to 858x600 resolution and a contrast ratio up to 2000:1.

The WowWee Cinemin Swivel pico projector, using DLP technology, currently retails for $260. The Cinemin Swivel is a stand-alone projector that you can plug into a laptop, and using the bundled Apple adapter cable, you can even hook it up to an iPod or iPhone.

Before you rush out to buy one, or throw away your current smart phone in anticipation of buying one with a projector, I’d recommend waiting just a little longer. Current models still have issues with brightness. Resolution and clarity have seen major advances since the first one came out, but in a normally lighted room, you’ll be hard pressed to see what’s being projected at any distance.

The laser projectors have a leg up on the LED types, but they have more work to do to minimize the speckle noise, so DLP or another LED pico projector manufacturer may still overcome their brightness limitations and steal the show.

In the future, pico projectors may even do away with the need for screens on phones entirely. A phone may literally become a headset with a projector to show you who’s calling, your pictures, your applications, and your text messages. In fact, with finger and hand tracking, they could even project a virtual keyboard on any surface at hand, and let you type away with full-sized “keys.” No more thumb strains while typing your latest missive.

You could use them in the home to project cycling picatures from your camera on the wall, or have teleconference meetings on the ceiling of your bedroom. The potential for gaming is almost limitless, and gaming companies have already begun working on developing new games to take advantage of this new technology.

LittleBigPlanet, from the PS3, has already been adapted for this very purpose. You can draw lines on a wall or piece of paper, and the physics engine in the game will roll projected balls down inclines, bounce them off walls, or settle at the bottom of arcs. In less than a decade, we may wonder how we ever got along without pico projectors.