Stefan noted an awesome new application today called JoikuSpot Light which of course is in beta but solves a need quite a few power users have been seeking. If you carry a few different devices like I do but only have one SIM, it can be tricky to use more than one at a time when you are away from wifi.
I realize this is not for everyone, but the ability to convert my 3.5G HSDPA signal into an accessible WiFi access point is truly killer. I can now openly share my data service with multiple devices simultaneously. I was alerted to Stefan’s post over Jaiku during my morning commute and was able to download the app directly to my N95. A few minutes later I had it installed and my N800 was connected. I also happened to have the N81 8GB in my bag so I popped that out and activated WiFi. Within a matter of minutes I had three devices sharing the same network connection!
While DUN is a great way to connect between a two devices, the option to go broader is very appealing to me. Increasingly more devices have WiFi inside and this extends the range of where you can consider using things goodies. As of right now there’s really only one negative which is that your openly broadcasting your WiFi signal. This is somewhat solved by that fact that the signal strength is not massively powerful. I don’t know whether this is an intentional notion to conserve power or a limitation of the device. Regardless it would certainly make me feel better to see the ability to either hide my AP or simply enable some security.
JoikuSpot runs a simple captive portal that offers a bit of branding (perhaps a reason the AP is open) which is fine, but it actually eats your initial browser request so keep that in mind. This is a free application and if it’s going to stay that way through the (currently) ad-less portal than I am good with that.
Here’s a quick pic of JoikuSpot in action on my N95. You can see there’s some active traffic which is my laptop snagging the screenshot above.
Technorati Tags: joikuspot, wifi, nokia, n95, s60, hsdpa, mobile, hotspot
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