You've probably noticed that 3G phones have been all the rage in recent months, downloading videos, music, and web pages with speed nearly rivaling that of basic DSL broadband connections at home. If you think that's fast, though, the next generation will knock your socks right off if a new tech lives up to its promises. Communications companies are already looking forward to the next standard. The two chief rival technologies are WiMAX and LTE; each one is vying to be king of cellphone internet access (the "4G" standard) in just a few years.

Now cellphone-maker LG has laid down the gauntlet by bragging that it's created the world's first cellphone-sized LTE chip. It's already been installed in a Windows Mobile-based phone and performed at 60 megabits per second -- more than four times faster than the best the current standard has to offer, with a theoretical (that is, nobody's actually done it yet but LG insists it's possible) top speed of 100Mbps.

If all goes according to plan and WiMAX doesn't force its way into dominance first, you might be able buy a cellphone or laptop with this chip in it in 2010.

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