(Of course, I’d need a monster of a microSDHC card, but that’s only a matter of time…)

Off the top of my head (i.e. not anything that Novatel suggested to me), I’m seeing future MiFi units as intelligently managing data that’s accessed by several different mobile devices. Say someone emails me a photo: on my cellphone, I want it compressed down to suit the smaller screen, but on my netbook/laptop I want it full-sized. Instead of downloading it twice, and letting the device resize it, why can’t the MiFi get it and then serve up its local version formated to suit whatever I’m accessing it with?

If I’m regularly checking Twitter, or Facebook, or sports scores, why not let the MiFi do that in the background and alert me whenever something I’ve said I’m interested in pops up; then it could tailor that news to fit whatever device I use to access it. I’m saving money, because I’m downloading just once over the 3G connection, and I’m saving time because it’s quicker over WiFi from a cached copy.

Imagine T-Mobile giving away these free to cafes across the country with a captive portal that allows people to get free and paid-for content and internet access and allows the cafe to brand the experience. It’s certainly easier and cheaper than selling them a DSL or cable connection.

It’s not something most of us are interested in seeing but important because if European carriers don’t start earning money from broadband mobile soon, QOS is going to go through the floor. Mobile broadband is almost a loss-leader here now.

As for it affecting the user experience, I doubt it will have much impact for those buying the unbranded versions but it’s certainly good to know about it.

Obviously that does make it a little larger, yes. My feeling is that there’ll remain different models offering carriers alternative feature-sets and users a choice of advanced functionality or extreme portability.