The Redfly is so perfect for me. I have wanted one since they were announced almost a year ago. It is exactly what I need. But I really couldn't justify the price. Well I could, if i added up the cost to buy each of Redfly's functions as seperate products. Some of which you cannot buy. But I didn't want to spend that much. $500 or $400. Just too much. I wanted one so bad though. When this sale was announced I thought about it fo 3 days and finally made the leap. I purchaced one Friday night.
$199 is just too good a deal for what you get. A few years ago I spent $99 on a bluetooth mouse and $75 for a bluetooth keyboard for my old iPaq. What am I getting now?
-Bluetooth mouse
-Bluetooth keyboard
-VGA out card (don't know if they even make those in microSD yet)
-8 hour external battery to power/recharge my phone
-USB host support! (I don't think there is a microSD one of those either)
-a portable, high resolition LCD monitor that actually enlarges the resolution of my screen not just displays QVGA with really big icons.
Try buying each of those seperatly... If you could at all. So in that respect the Redfly is actually quite a deal at $399.
Now, when you talk about Redfly vs a netbook. What would I do on a netbook?
-Browse the web
-check email
-carry it out into the field to telnet into network equipment at work
It really isn't powerful enough to do much else. I don't use Office much and when I do I actually do most of it on my phone. I know it sounds weird but for what I ned to do the UI is much simpler and easy to use in Windows Mobile. Word Mobile has all the functionality I ever use plus I can carry my document with me and work on it when I get a free moment.
90% of the time I check my email and browse the web from my phone. I am typing this from the built-in keyboard on my TyTN II right now.
Same for general Outlook usage. I hate desktop Outlook. I actually create all of my appointments, tasks, and such using my phone. Again, the UI is much easier to use. I find it overly complex to enter data into Outlook. So many tabs and text boxes.. WM gives it to me on one screen all in a nice colum.
Anyway.. Drifting off topic.
I already have a laptop, duel core and all that. Very powerful, plays games.
I never take it with me when I go on vacation, only my phone. Why would I want to buy an extremely under powered laptop that is only really capable of doing the exact same things I already do (and prefer to do) on my phone?
This is just my usage pattern though and my reasoning behind purchasing one. I am truly serious when I tell people that my phone is my primary computer. I only use my desktop (actually laptop at the moment) to back it up and play World of Warcraft on. That is it.
So for me Redfly is amazing.
