Just after we write an article on the wonders of wireless comes an announcement that iMate, whose smartphone we reviewed on Monday, have now introduced a 3G version, the PDA2k EVDO, with Australia as the global launchpad.

One of the wireless standards we didn't really talk about in the wireless feature is CDMA 1xEV-DO (evolution data optimised). This is an upgrade to the CDMA 1xRTT standard, taking 1xRTT's 144kbps to a theoretical maximum of 2mbps. Real download speeds are around 700kbps, doubling or even tripling the bandwidth you can get over Australia's current 3G network from Hutchison.

Telstra have been quietly building a CDMA 1xEV-DO network but haven't made much noise about it yet, although that's likely to change now that the PDA2k EVDO is out. Indeed, it's interesting to note that Telstra offers GSM, GPRS, soon 3G, CDMA and soon CDMA's successor – talk about sitting on all sides of the fence, or a finger in every pie!

The feature set is essentially identical to the just released GSM/GPRS model we reviewed previously, it simply connects to the CDMA network instead of GSM. More details can be found at www.imate.com.

Pricing for the unit is $1449, a little more expensive than the GSM/GPRS model which is $1399. We'll look at EV-DO data pricing in a future article for the Beer Files, although Telstra is likely to price it similarly to their existing CDMA packages to remain competitive with other wireless broadband offerings on the market.