10-21-2008, 11:19 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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EDN Senior Technical Editor Brian Dipert Dives Into the Celio Redfly
"My experiences using Redfly have so far have been generally problem-free and impressive. Connections and disconnections over both USB and Bluetooth are rapid and uneventful, that is to say 100% reliable. I was happily surprised to see that most applications automatically up-scaled from the phone's 320x240 pixel screen to Redfly's native 800x480 pixel widescreen resolution; those that remained QVGA also remained usable, although they didn't take full advantage of the newly available display real estate. Bluetooth bandwidth is sufficient to deliver adequate display refresh rates for mostly-static applications, but rapid screen update operations (web browsing, Google map navigation, etc) beg for USB2's speedier and lower-latency connection." Unsurprisingly, now that the Celio Redfly is selling for $199 USD, there's a great deal more interest in it than there was at the $499 price point. Dipert's review of the Redfly covers a fair bit of ground. I thought the Redfly was intriguing when I saw it at CES in January of this year, but I wasn't offered a review unit until last month, so I never got any hands-on time with it. At $499, it didn't seem overly compelling, at least for my purposes. I can easily see why someone with a commute might find this to be the perfect companion though - and at $199, it's pretty darn compelling. Are any of you Redfly owners because of this new, low price? What's your experience like so far with it?
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10-21-2008, 11:55 PM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 1,183
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Don't have one. Haven't laid a finger on one. But I want to. I've said for a long time that mobile devices will ultimately replace laptops and PCs, and this is one small step on the way to prove me right.
I look forward with interest to seeing the evolution of RedFly and similar devices.
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10-22-2008, 12:49 AM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 518
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It is a nice looking unit, & guess price is fairly attractive, but beyond that don't see a huge appeal: if am going to be stuck carrying around something (even) That Large, would much rather have a small notebook with own connectivity abilities.
As soon as it no longer fits into a pocket, relatively small differences in size / weight become inconsequential - so a "sub-notebook," like my old NEC Versa, would still win the day....
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10-22-2008, 01:19 AM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 1,183
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I hear you ... but:
- no software costs
- no hardware maintenance
- lose it and you don't lose your data, passwords and more
- if it breaks you still have your phone
- no synching
I'd love it with a projector built-in - www.microvision.com :-)
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10-22-2008, 05:17 AM
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Pupil
Join Date: Aug 2002
Posts: 40
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Try it.
I can have my phone (Tilt) in my pocket or briefcase.
I pull this out, turn it on, press the BT connection key, watch a connection message for a few seconds and then I am doing just about anyhting that I can do on my phone with this Redfly.
The brains are in my pocket or briefcase.
It just works.
I kind of wish that it was a little narrower to fit in my scrub pants back pocket.
It recharges the phone with a USB connection.
It takes the place of a secondary BT keyboard with the advantage of having a bigger display than the Tilt.
MM
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10-22-2008, 07:32 AM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 541
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I would like to try it, but even at that price (a bit higher in Europe) I can't afford it at the moment.
I have spent too much on new gadgets in last couple of months as it is, so even if I would have the money the WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor) is pretty much 0...
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10-22-2008, 11:37 AM
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Neophyte
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 2
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I bought an RedFly after the price reduction, and love the thing. All this talk about "it's not as good as an laptop", or "for that price/size you might as well get an laptop"...sure, if that is what you need.
But for ME, the looong batterylife, not having to configure one more PC, superfast starttime (2-3 seconds after pressing connect I am working), not getting hot so it is not uncomfortable to have in the lap for long periods, no noise due to no fan.
BUT I truly miss drivers for HTC Touch Pro/HTC Diamond, it works with my TouchPro, but everything way to big on the screen due to some display mismatch...but from what I have heard, Celio is working on this, and drivers will be available soon.
I also hope LogMeIn will work flawlessly in the future (that is not RedFly's problem, it is an issue with TouchPro and LogMeIn), since the TouchPro's hardware keyboad (and thereby RedFly's too) does not work with LogMeIn. I hope LogMeIn will fix this soon, since RedFly + LogMeIn...will make it possible for me to do practically everything with the RedFly.
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10-22-2008, 12:43 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 429
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Since my wife and I recently got BlackJack II's, I decided to get one. For $199, I figured it was a bargain and I promised to sell some of my old gadgets to pay for it. I just have to get pictures of my hx4705, 6945, iMac, and iBook posted on Craig's List with ads.
So far, I love it. I would classify it as a "luxury item", but it is highly useful though you can live without it. A full size keyboard and larger screen make my BlackJack a heck of a lot more useful. The BlackJack itself is a lot more stable than any Windows Mobile device I've ever had so giving it near-laptop capabilities is a good thing.
I've barely had my Redfly for a week, but I've already used it to take notes in two meetings. During one meeting, my wife started texting me. With the Alt-Tab functionality, I could switch back and forth between Evernote Mobile and Pocket Outlook easily.
So far, the only program I've found that won't work with the Redfly is SkyFire. Also, Pocket Informant has some trouble rendering the keyboard encoding, at least in the Daily Notes function. I can't type parenthesis and apostrophes among a few other characters.
If you can spare $199 ($205 with shipping) I'd say go ahead and get one while it's on sale.
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Current devices: iPhone 3G. Previous devices: Samsung Epix and 1st gen 32GB iPod Touch BlackJack II, iPaq 6945, iPaq hx4705, Dell Axim x30 high, iPaq 3765.
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10-22-2008, 05:08 PM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 716
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I admit that at $500 I thought this thing was priced to high. But for $199 I can see many cost effective benefits. To be able to use this in a hotel like a laptop but then go to a conference with just your PPC and yet you have everything you did on the Redfly, that's pretty cool. You don't have to worry about syncing or leaving something important behind on your laptop. And, even though you could carry an inexpensive ultra portable laptop, you probably won't find one for anywhere near $199.
__________________
iPhone
Tmo Dash
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10-22-2008, 06:27 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 37
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At $199, I got one for my step son who lives and dies by the files and comms of his Treo.
So far, he loves it, and many of his friends and coworkers are getting one as well.
He's thinking about using the video output for presentations.
He does wish that Slingbox would work across to it, but the speed's not there.
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