I’ve been using the MiFi unit that was loaned to me by the generous folks over at Three Mobile Buzz for two weeks now, and I didn’t want to give it back! Ok… well, I don’t really mind, but only because I’m going to buy a V2 unit instead. I will miss it in the interim period though.
To summarise my impressions; it was great to have with me to be able to get connected when I needed, I found it to be a handy size, there were a few things that I found annoying but it’s all been fixed for the new model, and I found three’s network to be good.
After using it some more, I still stand by my conviction that the MiFi unit is a better choice for me than the 3G iPad as we were able to connect several devices to it at a time and this turned out to be really useful. On the train to London on Saturday, the O2 service on our iPhones was terrible, so both iPhones & my iPad were hooked up to the wifi and kept connected for almost the entire journey.
The device is smaller (albeit slightly thicker) than my iPhone, and is nice and light – you can easily slip it into your pocket while you’re out, and it doesn’t bother you at all. It gets slightly warm after being on a while, but nothing that would be uncomfortable in your pocket. I kept it in the bag I made to go with my iPad case, along with my camera connection kit and memory card reader.
One of my favourite uses for the MiFi was at work. If I stay at my desk for lunch instead of popping home, it is nice to have my iPad with me to read a book or work on a blog post draft, etc. The MiFi unit let me hook it up to the net and I was able to stream HD video from YouTube or decent quality video from my AirVideo server at home, download apps, update my blog, and so on – it felt very liberating! I found the speed at work to be quite quick, which is great in comparison to my O2 iPhone, which either has an edge connection, or a very low & intermittent 3G one. Not very impressive considering there is an O2 mast just around the corner!
I did have a few niggling problems with the device, though it’s important to note that every single one of these issues has been resolved with the new model that has been released this month! The problems I encountered were as follows:
- After the screen turns off, there is no way to tell at a glance if the unit was on or off. The new model has a little indicator light to solve this problem.
- The symbols that indicated what network & wifi settings were activated were a little confusing – I had to carry around one of the (admittedly conveniently credit card sized) information cards with the breakdown of what everything meant. Version 2 has a new screen with more helpful information so I won’t be as clueless in future!
- You had to press (and hold down) three separate buttons to get the device up & running – one to turn it on, one to turn the wifi network on, and another to turn the 3G network on. This was particularly annoying and seemed unnecessarily complex, as I had difficulty occasionally actually getting them to work properly (the buttons were too small to hold down easily which didn’t help!), and I couldn’t understand why it had been done this way – I think it’s pretty obvious that if you want it turned on you want the networks up & running straight away! With V2, one button does all three things automagically, so that is a big improvement.
- Lastly, I found it irritating that you couldn’t charge the device and use the functionality at the same time. What if I’m out & need to get it working but it’s low on power? I would have to wait for it to charge before being able to use it, not good. However, this has again been resolved with the new model, and you can charge it & use it at the same time.
It’s great to see a company responding to user feedback in this way – Three & Huawei have really taken the trouble to listen to what bugged users and taken steps to improve their product.
MiFi Version 2 (E585)
For the price, I think this is a great device to have – particularly now the new one is out. It’s very handy and I found the three network coverage to be outstanding. I live in South Birmingham so it’s not surprising that it was good where I live; but I also tested it on a long car journey, the Birmingham Moor St to London Marylebone train journey & at my mother in laws house – all three of these situations had limited O2 connectivity on my iPhone so tethering would be out of the question.
You can purchase a MiFi unit from three for £39.99 with a one month contract, free with an 18 month contract, for £49.99 on pay as you go, or £69.99 on pay as you go+ which includes a data allowance for you to get started.
James & I will definitely be ordering one in a few months when we have some spare pennies!
