Many mobile pros and road warriors have used USB broadband modems before. Typically they are large, ugly devices that hang from your sleek notebook’s USB port like a giant tumor. A tumor you can’t treat so long as you want to have Internet access.

Sprint and Sierra Wireless announced the nation’s smallest USB broadband modem called the Compass 597 USB modem. How small is the modem you cry; how about 1.2” x 2.4” x 0.4” or about 70% smaller than the AirCard 595U. Those dimensions make the modem roughly the size of a typical flash drive.

The modem is also light weight at only 0.7 ounces. The device works on CDMA 1900 and 800 MHz networks and supports EV-DO 1XRTT, Rev. 0 and Rev. A. The antenna for the device is built-in. The tiny modem offers connection speeds of up to 3.1 Mbps download and 1.4 Mbps upload. That’s plenty fast for looking for images of Britney’s latest outing sans undies.

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