CES 2008: Redfly Mobile Companion Hands-On

[Nurhisham Hussein]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://jkontherun.blogs.com/jkontherun/2008/01/thoughts-of-the.html' target='_blank'>http://jkontherun.blogs.com/jkonthe...hts-of-the.html</a><br /><br /></div><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/hisham-20080109-gizmodo_redbook2.jpg" /><br /><br />If you caught <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/index.php?topic_id=57850">Darius' post</a> a couple of days ago on this device, you'll know there is a lot of skepticism on both the merits of the Redfly and it's laptop-like price. To further inform the debate, we've got two CES 2008 hands-on experience links to relate:<br /><br />•The first is from <a href="http://jkontherun.blogs.com/jkontherun/2008/01/thoughts-of-the.html">jkOnTheRun</a>, who managed to corner Celio into answering some questions. Money quote: <i>"We asked about the $499 price tag indicating that folks might be reluctant at that price point. Celio's response was that the Redfly isn't really a companion to your device; it's an extension of your smartphone and gives you instant access to your data on an easy to carry package."</i> Er, say what?! There's a difference?<br /><br />• Second from <a href="http://gizmodo.com/341415/hands+on-with-redflys-windows-mobile-portable">Gizmodo</a>, who (besides taking some nice pics) say, <i>"Is it worth $499? Only if you're really dependent on your Windows Mobile phone and don't want to carry around a UMPC with you. It also has 8 hours of battery life and charges your phone during use, which helps justify the price tag."</i> Not to me it doesn't.<br /><br />How much is the Redfly worth? If you put in all the capabilities that the Redfly has, you might be able to justify dropping half a grand on it - but then you'd get much greater value just picking up a basic laptop, or one of the new Intel MIDs. And I'm guessing that a lot of the opinion will fall on that side of the argument - we may already have the makings of vapourware of the year for 2008.<br /><br /><b>Update:</b> Ed Hardy at <a href="http://www.brighthand.com/default.asp?newsID=13665">Brighthand</a> has a mini-review up that's even better reading.

[Kassad]

When I see what it does, to me it absolutely cannot cost more than a light weight laptop like the Asus EEE. I would only consider considering it when the pricetag drops below $300. I do see the plus sides to a device like this tho, it makes your PocketPC much more valuable and workable. I see PocketPC owners everywhere asking for a good keyboard and better resolutions, well, this is an answer, even one you can use when buying a new PPC. Its like a bluetooth keyboard and then some ;-)

[alese]

$200-$300 - interesting accessory
$500 - overpriced

[cmailliard]

I like the general concept of these devices but to make this type of device ideal it would be nice to tablet functionality, especially with a smartphone that completely lacks this feature. On board storage would be nice, but not a necessity as it would be just another place i would have to keep stuff. In my Blackjack II I have an 8GB MicroSD that is plenty to store my company files. When I am in a meeting it would be very nice to have an instant on device to access my information rapidly rather than waiting for computer to boot up, also to take notes with the tablet functionality that is comfortable to write on. I would spend $500 on that device.

[unxmully]

Solution looking for a problem imho.

[Darren Behan]

Can't see the point of the thing really.

db

[Jason Lee]

I think it is a really cool idea.. But like most people, i don't think i could justify $500 for a cool idea. :)

[Russ Smith]

I must be looking at this from a totally different direction that most folks, because it actually makes sense to me. If I want a laptop, I'll buy a laptop. You can actually get a reasonable laptop for around $500 with a 15" screen, built-in keyboard, mouse, and usb ports. Then you can buy Pocket Controller for another $30 or so which will place your PPC screen on the laptop's display, allow you to control the PPC with your laptop mouse and keyboard, and (to some extent) allow you to connect USB devices to your PPC through the laptop (sort of, maybe). You'd also be able to connect your laptop to a external display or projector to display either the PPC display via Pocket Controller or the laptop's display.

The laptop will be able to work for something around 4 hours without a recharge. In order to use your PPC data on your laptop, you'll need to use ActiveSync or Windows Mobile Device Center to synchronize the two. Hopefully, AS/WMDC will actually work and you won't experience any of the myriad of issues with which we're all familiar. (You might be so lucky.) In each case that you want to use your laptop, you'll have to either bring it out of standby/hibernation or boot it up; a process that will take as long as two minutes to do, not counting running Pocket Controller or ActiveSync/WMDC.

However, your laptop would have the capacity to run all kinds of Windows software in addition to being an adjunct to your PPC.

On the other side, if you bought a REDFLY, you'd also have a display, keyboard, and mouse, with the capacity for external display and connecting USB devices. The REDFLY "boots" instantly and your PPC display is available as soon as the wireless connection connects without any synching and without any potential data loss or corruption. The REDFLY will run about 8 hours on a battery charge.

However, the REDFLY will only act as an adjunct to your Windows Mobile device. You can't run additional software on it.

I can see where a person who doesn't need anything more than what Windows Mobile offers might go with a REDFLY instead of dealing with the extra possibilities and issues of a laptop. I could also see going with something like this in an office where WM devices are provided to the workforce. A small set of devices could be shared among a larger set of WM users without the issues of having multiple people's data synched and present on the same machine. That said, I still think most people would probably go with the laptop.

I don't think the REDFLY is too expensive for what you get, it's just that you can go the other route and gain other possibilities for around the same price. What I'd really like to see is for REDFLY to take the "guts" of the device and create a docking station that would allow you to use your own monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc. and sell if for around $200. I'd seriously consider that.

[naio21]

If they don't lower their price tag it will be as stillborn as the Foleo was. :roll:

[Russ Smith]

...and of course they can do that, because everybody knows that the price is arbitrary.

[Ed@Brighthand]

Thanks for linking to my article.

I'm not going to repeat everything that I said in my preview (http://www.brighthand.com/default.asp?newsID=13665) about the cost of this device, but I certainly hope you read it.

As a quick summary, this device doesn't make much sense for consumers because to you a $500 laptop costs $500, while to a large company, a $500 laptop costs $3,900 each and every year. The Mobile Companion, on the other hand, has a far lower TCO because it doesn't have the overhead (software, upgrades, training, etc.) of a laptop.