With almost tablet in the Indian market having a (less expensive) Wi-Fi only version – and some tablets can go online only on Wi-Fi t00 – ’tis truly the season for Wi-Fi to go portable, allowing you to go online, irrespective of your location. A number of manufacturers like Olive and Cisco have already come out with devices that let you literally carry Wi-Fi connectivity in your pocket, and now Micromax has joined the race with its MMX400R Pocket Wireless Router. Pocketable it certainly is, being smaller and much lighter than most handsets we have seen. And it comes with support for 3G and HSUPA. But just how convenient is it to use? Hit the jump to find out. At less than 10 cm in length and barely 60 grammes in weight, the MMX400R has got to be the most portable wireless router we have seen – you can carry this baby in your pocket without noticing its presence. The build is totally plastic but very solid indeed. In the looks department, it won’t turn heads with its its mix of straight lines and rounded sides, but when did we ever want to show off a Wireless Router? Where the MMX400R really comes into its own is in terms of function. You just need to slide off the back panel, insert your 3G/EDGE sim card into the empty slot and switch on the device, and well, that really is it. You are ready to go with your own Wi-Fi hotspot to which you can connect up to five devices within a 10 meter radius. We did not go the whole hog with five devices but yes, we were able to surf the Net quite comfortably on our MacBook Pro, our iPod touch, our iPad and the Motorola Xoom tab simultaneously, with no problems whatsoever. Unlike other portable routers (most notably, Olive) we did not need to go online and enter all sorts of details to get the connection humming – it just picked up everything on its own. Now, that IS coolness.
You can of course go online (a URL is provided in the flyer accompanying the product) and tweak security settings (add password access, for instance) but if you are looking for a router that starts working with minimum fuss, this clearly is it. The MMX400R also has an inbuilt battery, which gave us close to three and a half hours of connectivity – very decent, we think. What we did miss, and miss big time, was the option to simply connect a data card to it, as we could on the Olive Nexus VR-9 – getting high speed Internet on data cards is a lot more affordable than 3G mobile connections in India at the moment. Another stumbling block was the price – at Rs 4,900, the MMX400R is not cheap, especially when you consider that the Olive Nexus VR-9 comes for Rs 2,990 at the moment. Yes, it is more bulky and difficult to configure, and lacks the ability to work with a SIM card inserted inside it (it can connect with a wire to a 3G handset, though, and use its connection to create a Wi-Fi hotspot), but it supports both data cards and Ethernet connections, and has better battery life (almost four hours).
All of which makes us place the Micromax MMX400R into the category of brilliant, but overpriced, gadgets – a bit of a surprise when one considers that Micromax is known for its value for money products. We love its portability and the fact that using it is simpler than configuring the Internet on some of its own handsets. But the price is a stumbling block. Still if money is not an issue and you want a really portable router to make the most of your 3G connection, we would not hesitate in recommending this.