14 DAY TRIAL // As surprising as it is, TP-Link, a maker of wireless networking devices, has been more active over the past few weeks than many others, although we suppose that can be said about everyone who attended CES 2013.
Having seen the Pocket Router and the dual-band wireless router, we can now check out the new 3G Mobile Wi-Fi M5350.
As the name suggests, this is more than a Wi-Fi router. It also makes the link to the wireless spectrum used by phones, the one maintained by the Earth's satellite network.
Shaped like a pebble, the M5350 has an internal WCDMA 3G modem with SIM card slot, a Micro SD Card slot (supports up to 32 GB of storage) and uses a 2000 mAh internal battery that lasts for up to 7-10 hours of 3G sharing.
The bottom line is that the TP-Link 3G Mobile Wi-Fi M5350 is a wireless access point (802.11n Wi-Fi technology) which connects nearby devices (PCs, phones, tablets) to the 3G broadband.
The 32 GB Micro SD card slot is there so that the item may also play the role of portable hard disk drive.
32 GB isn't much, but it can still hold a film or two, as well as a whole library of music files and the like, not to mention photos.
We should probably mention the security as well. TP-Link chose to provide 64/128-bit AES encryption, wireless MAC filtering, the option to enable or disable SSID broadcasting capabilities at will, etc.
Furthermore, the product has a micro USB port (for power) and an OLED display (shows power state, WLAN, Internet, signal strength, battery status, traffic data, message).
The USB port can get energy from a laptop, portable charger or the adapter included with the router itself.
All the above features (minus the adapter of course) are held inside a frame measuring 94 x 56.7 x 19.8 mm / 3.7 x 2.24 x 0.77 inches.