Zain’s Marketing Department have sent us their new Zain MiFi device, which is not yet released in the market. Let’s start by telling you what it is first: The MiFi in a nutshell is a mobile router. And it’s size is almost exactly like the Blackberry curve size. This is getting particular attention and marketing, in most major cities, YEAH! Local has been delegated to engage in a multitude of “feet on the street” advertising with many paid actors involved.

We have put it through tests for 3 days now, and we have the results. But before talking about its functions and all, we’d like to point out that this thing is elegant! when we held it it looked like a women’s fancy compact makeup; Storage is easy with this thing. Its a mobile router that you can charge and then use wirelessly.

Whats in the box:

• MiFi device.
• USB cable.
• MiFi Battery.
• Charger.
• Manual.

Device specs:

• Uses wireless 802.11 b/g.
• Maximum of 5 WiFi enabled devices.
• Up to 16 GB microSD card slot support.
• Battery life is around 5 hours.

Speed test:

I got two sim cards with different connection speed the first one was 7.2 Mb/s and the second was the 21.6 Mb/s. I knew the MiFi’s limitation was up to 7.2 Mb/s but I wanted to give it a try and know it’s real limits and see the results for myself. I’m glad that I did.

First I used it with my 7.2 mbps sim card.

The Download speed average was 1.37 Mb/s, and the Upload speed was 0.08 Mb/s.

• MP3 File (3 MB): Downloaded in 30 seconds.
• Video Clip (35 MB): Downloaded in approx. 3 minutes.
• Movie (800 MB): Downloaded in approx. 78 minutes.

Then I used it with my other card, the 21.6 mbps.

The Download speed was 2.44 Mb/s and the upload speed was 0.3 Mb/s.

• MP3 File (3 MB): Downloaded in 17 seconds.
• Video Clip (35 MB): Downloaded in 2 minutes.
• Movie (800 MB): Downloaded in 44 minutes.

Conclusion:

You’ve seen the comparison and how the speed differed. It was explicitly mentioned that the device supports up to 7.2 Mbps, but when I used my 21Mbps card, the speed increased by almost a 100% Which could be interpreted as both good and bad.

Good: because I was able to get more out of the Mifi by using my 21Mbps.

Bad: because if I use my 21Mbps card I would want to get the best out of it’s speed, and in this case I wasn’t. You won’t face this little dilemma if you’re using the 7.2Mbps.

The device is very stylish and small. No wires are needed when you use it, just insert the sim card and it’ll connect to the internet and provide internet for up to 5 laptops. Its very mobile and would take no space at all while packing, actually it would fit right into your pocket. You can charge it and it’ll last for 5 hours, and if the battery runs out you can connect it through the USB wire to your laptop and it’ll start charging.

Very good for those who go camping and chalets. It does what it’s made for and it does it awesomely.

It’ll be released soon in Kuwait. The price isn’t set yet, but we were told it’ll be around KD80.

 

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 16th, 2009 at 7:05 am