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Android 2.2 has a new feature called "Wi-Fi Hotspot" which was not available in previous versions. What is the importance of this feature? What is meant by "Wi-Fi Hotspot"? Is there anywhere that I can find information about this?

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FYI, it's colloquially known as "tethering" – Lie Ryan Oct 11 '10 at 2:01

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Wi-Fi Hotspot allows you to share your phone's internet connection with other devices which have Wi-Fi adapters. For example, of you have a laptop with Wi-Fi and you want to connect to the net, you can enable Wi-Fi Hotspot on the phone then connect the laptop wirelessly to the phone.

There may be carrier restrictions or costs for doing this... like Sprint which requires you to activate the Wi-Fi option for your EVO's account which costs an additional $30/month. Other carriers may assess charges by amount of data consumed or block the feature altogether.

Some users have rooted their phones to bypass the enablement restrictions, but that may still result in charges for bandwidth used.

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Is this feature not available for phones other than Android.How different is this feature of Android2.2 different than others.And also if we connect Laptop wirelessly to phone can we see all the data of phone from Laptop? – Android_programmer_camera Oct 10 '10 at 18:38
I imagine that there are non-Android phones that have a hotspot feature. The Wifi Hotspot features was not introduces to Android until 2.2/Froyo. I believe the hotspot is pass-through and doesn't expose the phone's data, but I'm not sure. – BrianCooksey Oct 10 '10 at 19:20
If a laptop is having WIFI, why should it connect to phone to access internet ? can't the laptop access internet directly with out connecting to phone? – Android_programmer_camera Oct 10 '10 at 19:23
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Sometimes I work I my laptop in a place where there is no WiFi, but I have a 3g or 4g connection. Having the option to share my phone's internet connection with my laptop is very useful in those situations. I used to have a cellular pcmcia card for my laptop, but enabling the WiFi hotspot for my phone costs half as much each month for my carrier and I can add it to my account t only when I need the service which saves more money. – BrianCooksey Oct 10 '10 at 20:25
Indeed, it's so useful that Verizon and other carriers disable this functionality because they are trying to market products and services in this space, and Android makes it too easy. – Grayside Oct 11 '10 at 21:47

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