01-03-2008, 04:00 PM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 716
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RedFly Mobile Companion for Smartphones
"Smartphones have laptop power in a pocket-size design. But the pocket-size design has a natural limitation in the size of the keyboard and screen. Celio Corp extends the Smartphone with the most valuable features of a laptop. The REDFLY Mobile Companion is a sleek clamshell design that includes an 8" display, a full function keyboard, and a touchpad mouse. Measuring just 1x6x9 inches and only 2 pounds, the REDFLY Mobile Companion offers over 8 hours of battery life and boots instantly! It also adds three new features - instant VGA output, access to USB flash drives, and the ability to charge your smartphone via USB. REDFLY is very unique - it changes the resolution of your smartphone display so that applications, web sites, email, and attachments all have more room to play! Setup is simple; you load the REDFLY Interface Driver on your compatible smartphone and connect via USB or Bluetooth. No configuration required and no settings to choose. REDFLY unleashes the computer in your smartphone!"
Let's start with the good news. The RedFly Mobile Companion is a keyboard and screen for your mobile device. How many times have you been using your device and suddenly wished you had your laptop for more screen real estate and a true keyboard? With the RedFly you get just that. Please understand that this has no memory, no hard drive, and no WiFi. However, in addition to the larger screen and full keyboard, it does have a mouse and usb ports. The dimensions are very small and light making it great for portability. What do I think of it? I think it's cool - sorta. Now for the not so good news. According to Brighthand, it will be released in March and it will go for $500! Yes I said $500 for a device that is not a stand alone computer and depends 100% on your mobile device for usage. Many months ago I created a post ranting about the now canceled Palm Foleo. That was a device that at least would have had it's own WiFi and a flash drive. In my opinion, the pricing on the RedFly is ludicrous. $500 for a smartphone add on? I like the idea but why not just buy a discount laptop with 1.5ghz, 1gig ram, 80gig HD, DVDRW, a 14.1" screen, and full Windows Vista? For maybe $200 I'd think about it but I think $500 is laughable. It is supposed to be demonstrated at CES so maybe we'll find out more info soon. So tell me how you feel. Do you agree with me about the pricing or am I way off base?
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Tmo Dash
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