Nokia's R&D have certainly been busy lately. Not content with developing the stunning Nokia Aeon concept phone, they've also completed their SmartPosters technology, which enables NFC-compatible mobile phones to read data from passive RFID-like NFC tags. Nokia intend to embed such tags in posters, which would send data to the mobile phone when the phone is waved over it like a wand.


What type of data? How about a free ringtone, a URL, or even the configuration for a local Wi-Fi hotspot, all sent to your mobile phone just by swiping it over a poster? Or how about wireless tickets? Nokia have tested the technology in Tampere, Finland, on buses, where NFC-equipped Nokia 3220s can be used to pay for the bus journey simply by swiping the phone over a receiver on the bus.

Nokia WiMAX coming in 2008

As if that wasn't enough, Nokia have also announced that their forthcoming mobile phones will be equipped with WiMAX by 2008. Nokia have already released a WiMAX version of its basestation, and Sprint Nextel will be rolling out a 4Mbps WiMAX network at the end of 2007.

What does WiMAX give you? How about wireless data transfer at 14Mbps? That's over four times the speed of 3x EVDO and HSDPA. True high speed wireless broadband is just a couple of years away. Glorious!

[Source: The Register, BetaNews]