AT&T gives hotspots a touch up with touchscreen MiFi Liberate

AT&T puts control right at user's fingertips with MiFi Liberate, the first mobile hotspot with a touchscreen.

Not too many years ago, people would joke about how everything has a camera built into it. But since everything also has a touchscreen nowadays, wouldn’t it make sense if touchscreens were the new camera? Wouldn’t that be the gadget everyone needs to own? Well, that seems to be the rationale behind AT&T latest device: the MiFi Liberate, the mobile provider’s first ever hotspot device decked out with touchscreen capacity.

The MiFi Liberate, developed by Novatel Wireless, can connect up to 10 devices to AT&T’s 4G LTE network. Those devices can then be managed right from the MiFi Liberate’s 2.8-inch color screen. From the MiFi Liberate, you can control various functionalities, such as monitoring data usage, changing networks, and editing the device settings — straight from the touch interface. Users will also be able to add extra memory space with MicroSD cards. AT&T is promising about 11 hours of battery life in continuous use.

There are currently no pricing or availability information for the MiFi Liberate, and it’s something AT&T may want to move quick to announce. It’s only a matter of time before a company releases a WiFi hotspot with a larger touchscreen and more functionalities, which will prompt the competitive process to continue until someone realizes they’re just creating a tablet that acts as a WiFi hotspot.