[neodorian]

Wimax is still a good ways off for general use. I would imagine there won't be any 4g devices until someone puts out a mobile radio that does 1x/Ev/WiMax. Just like EVDO took a little while to get mass coverage, Wimax will likely be the same. Even today there are lots of places in the boonies where I only see 1x but the EVDO area has steadily grown.

Also, a few years ago, it was all of us Palm and PPC geeks who cared about things like EVDO vs 1x but nowadays with the rise of high-end feature- and smart-phones, data services have taken a spot at the front of the most desired capability lists. High speed data is a marketing point nowadays whereas years ago it wasn't so much.

I think that netbooks and smartphones will be the best use of 4G wireless. When I used Sprint's WiMax here in Baltimore, it was kind of redundant on my laptop because I could almost always find Wifi or use WMWiFiRouter. A more convergent device would make better use of the higher speed wireless.

Still, I think coverage should not be neglected. If it weren't for those 1x spots, I could use my phone as a streaming radio while driving cross country. As it is now, I can only do that in more urban and suburban areas. Speed isn't the limit so much as coverage is.