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UMA Technology. Have you heard of it? No? Well now is the time to familiarize yourself with the wireless technology. Your favorite wireless carrier [stateside] will be making use of UMA very soon.

The UMA effort was initiated by a number of leading operators and vendors in January 2004. The goal of this work was to develop and publish an open set of technical specifications for extending mobile voice and data GSM/GPRS services over unlicensed spectrum technologies (including both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi), and subsequently encourage the specifications to be adopted by a formal global standards organization.

Essentially, your next wireless handset would allow you to make voice calls over your wireless network at home or your nearest public hotspot. T-Mobile is already planning on unveiling the service with its Samsung T709 handset [via]. Think Samsung T809 in a much more pocketable footprint. Trust me, you’ll love this handset.