Celio Redfly Reviewed

[Nurhisham Hussein]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://blogs.zdnet.com/mobile-gadgeteer/wp-trackback.php?p=951' target='_blank'>http://blogs.zdnet.com/mobile-gadge...kback.php?p=951</a><br /><br /></div><em>&quot;The applications appeared much better on the REDFLY than I thought they would before I had a chance to try the device and there were only a couple that had issues. This is an early beta model and the software is still being worked on and optimized. Web browsing was actually enjoyable on this display and text entry is going to ROCK! Using applications like the SoftMaker Office suite with this large display and keyboard could be killer for the business user.&quot;</em><br /><br /><embed width="425" height="355" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/QG00Uf4VcRo&amp;hl=en"></embed><br /><br />A couple of videos on the Celio Redfly for you today - Matthew Miller over at ZDNet has got his hands on a pre-production model, and he likes it quite a bit. Next, James Kendrick from <a target="_blank" href="http://www.jkontherun.com/2008/03/jkontherun-vi-2.html">JKOnTheRun</a> has a somewhat more extensive run through of the Redfly (check out the bluetooth connectivity test - fast!), and he really likes it too - there's obviously a great deal that can be said for the concept. The key question, as just about anyone who's followed Palm's Foleo saga can attest, is...what price? There's no news yet on how much this will go for at retail, though the consensus is that the $500 price tag quoted at CES is going to be too much, as against the alternatives. Thoughts?

[JKingGrim]

Why was he double clicking? Windows fever? :D

Pretty cool concept though. What I was thinking the whole time however, is I can't wait for the Xperia X1 to come out so I can have all that resolution in my pocket. :) Opera looked great!

[Underwater Mike]

Looks like it's very usable. Might be a great companion for something like the Touch Cruise, which I'm considering to replace my aging 8125. OTOH, five bills is too much without any battery capability or storage memory of its own.

[JKingGrim]

Looks like it's very usable. Might be a great companion for something like the Touch Cruise, which I'm considering to replace my aging 8125. OTOH, five bills is too much without any battery capability or storage memory of its own.Why would you want it to have storage memory? It is supposed to just be a dumb terminal, not a PC on its own. The fact that you can use usb flash memory is also a very good feature.

[Underwater Mike]

Why would you want it to have storage memory? It is supposed to just be a dumb terminal, not a PC on its own. The fact that you can use usb flash memory is also a very good feature.

I dunno, I'm trying to think of useful additions to justify the price! At the least, you shouldn't need to be tethered to a wall outlet to use it.

[f540xs]

Mobile browsers already render slowly on 240x320. Imagine how much longer it will take for a webpage to load on the 800x480... I'd wait for a faster processor first.

[ajwalker]

I'm still waiting for someone to convince me why I need a "companion" for my phone.

I'm already satisfied with the way my phone does things and the small screen is an acceptable trade off for how often I am able to get things done when I am away from a computer and traveling light.

When I want / need a bigger screen, I reach for my tablet. That's already two devices, why add a third?

I use my WinMo device for 4 things: phones calls, texting, monitoring e-mails (with an occasional quick reply), PIM stuff and listening to music.

If I need to compose an opus of an e-mail response, I wait till I get to a real keyboard.

Obviously, I'm not on board with this thing anymore than I was on board for the Foleo.

Despite the aforementioned glowing reviews, I am still far from convinced this type of device is necessary at any price point.

[JKingGrim]

I dunno, I'm trying to think of useful additions to justify the price! At the least, you shouldn't need to be tethered to a wall outlet to use it.Gee, didnt mean to anger you, just asking why you felt that it should have extra storage..

There is no need to be tethered to the wall though (as far as I can see). It has its own battery and can even charge your device is plugged in via USB.

[sixftunda]

I have been beta testing this for a few weeks now and I love it. The majority of the week I don't need a full fledged laptop. This thing is dip-simple. No software, reboot, antivirus, defrag, Vista, etc. Web pages come up with little or no latency on BT. It charges your phone by USB (if you have the right cable for your phone). I can run it a couple hours a day for three days without a charge and I still have yet to run it dead. Even though its not officially supported I have got it to work with my old i730 and a pn820. I suppose Verizon would call this illegal tethering ;)

[Birdsoft]

I'm still waiting for someone to convince me why I need a "companion" for my phone.

I'm already satisfied with the way my phone does things and the small screen is an acceptable trade off for how often I am able to get things done when I am away from a computer and traveling light.

When I want / need a bigger screen, I reach for my tablet. That's already two devices, why add a third?

I use my WinMo device for 4 things: phones calls, texting, monitoring e-mails (with an occasional quick reply), PIM stuff and listening to music.

If I need to compose an opus of an e-mail response, I wait till I get to a real keyboard.

Obviously, I'm not on board with this thing anymore than I was on board for the Foleo.

Despite the aforementioned glowing reviews, I am still far from convinced this type of device is necessary at any price point.


Im pretty sure the point of this device is for people so they dont have a need for a dedicated laptop or Tablet while travelling. So 2 devices. This is the 'real' keyboard. And is much smaller/ lighter than your tablet and can be left at the hotel when not needed as well, but wont necessarily require its own dedicated bag... So at like a $100-$250 pricepoint I think this thing could be pretty huge, but $500 you are competing with cheap laptops etc... So it is much harder to justify to anyone...

Its probably not targetted at the users who will have their laptop/tablet, except those that are looking to slim down that load... What do you do in the hotel room... Surf, email, light office document work, casual gaming. Instant on and the ability to use your own data plan if needed... Perfect....

[whydidnt]

I would definitely prefer this to something like the EEE PC. I wouldn't have to worry about syncing, all my data is in one place. The only thing holding this back is the craptastic browsers currently available for WM. Hopefully Firefox Mobile or Opera 9.5 will come along soon and render that complaint meaningless.

For some of us that travel, this would be a nice light companion that could convince us to leave the laptop at home. On some trips the only reason I pull my laptop out is reply to emails or prepare quotes using a full size keyboard and screen. If I could shave 3 lbs. off my travel weight and still do the same things without worrying about another device staying in sync, that would be a good thing. :)

[JKingGrim]

I would definitely prefer this to something like the EEE PC. I wouldn't have to worry about syncing, all my data is in one place. The only thing holding this back is the craptastic browsers currently available for WM. Hopefully Firefox Mobile or Opera 9.5 will come along soon and render that complaint meaningless.I agree that OM 9.5 and FF Mobile will seriously improve browsing, have you tried OM 8.65? I bought it, and it is pretty nice. While the UI is not as flashy and smooth as OM 9.5 or iphone's safari, it gets the job done. It renders pages as they appear on the desktop, and you can zoom in/out.

What would really be nice to see is someone doing remote desktop with it. Who needs a UMPC or a laptop? :D

[Russ Smith]

A laptop, with all of it's other software and all those potential synching issues isn't even close to the ease of use, but it can do so much more than a dedicated adjunct like the RedFly. Conceptionally, it makes a lot of sense. I'd jump on one at half the price (or less), but not at $500.

One way to leverage this concept would be to come up with a dedicated module for presentations. It wouldn't need the screen, keyboard, touch panel, or USB slots; just the VGA-out to plug into a projector. If you could get decent speed out of it and price it at around $100, a lot of folks would go for that.

On browsing: I believe that one of the reasons that WM is slow on rendering web-pages is the memory model, not so much the processor. Visiting even just a site or two can fill up a PPC cache and then you're re-loading things that would already be loaded on your PC. Adding more memory is an option, but doing so reduces battery life.