REDFLY, The Windows Mobile Foleo Fiasco?
By Susan Wilson
What is it about failed gadgets that other developers think they can make it work? REDFLY by Celio Corp. is a smartphone extension device like the failed Palm Foleo. It essentially provides a larger screen (8") and a larger keyboard for your smartphone. These are nice additions for viewing and replying to email and surfing the web using your smartphone, but you have to carry two gadgets one of which won’t fit in your pocket. The web surfing is as slow as web surfing usually is on a smartphone.
The REDFLY weighs about 2 pounds, has 2 USB 2.0 ports and will charge your smartphone off of its battery if it is plugged in. The battery life is said to be 8 hours. Smartphones initially connect by a cable and then will connect by Bluetooth. and like the Foleo it will cost about $500. Matthew Miller over at Zdnet got to take a beta version of the REDFLY out for a spin. He liked the little device and would buy it if it were less than $300. Unfortunately, the projected price is $500.
Now for $500 I can get an ASUS EeePC with an 8G solid state hard drive, 1G RAM, from Amazon that comes with Linux preloaded but can run Windows XP. The EeePC will play music and videos, allow me to create and edit documents, as well as, answer email and surf the net. For $299 I can get an EeePC with 512 MB RAM and solid state 2G hard drive that will do the above but slower. The EeePC has 3 USB 2.0 ports, but only 3.5 hours of battery life. Granted the EeePC has a smaller screen (7") and it weighs in at 2 pounds but it packs a lot more for the money than the REDFLY.
Then there is the Cloudbook by Everex that at $399 has a 30 G hard drive, 512 MB RAM and runs a form of Linux. The Cloudbook is also 2 pounds but has 5 hours of battery life a 4 in 1 Media reader and will allow you to surf the web and answer email. Using Open Office or some other free Linux office suite, you can also get quite a bit of business accomplished.
The REDFLY cannot compete with the EeePC and Cloudbook features at the same price point. Unlike Matthew Mill, most people would need to see a price point closer to $100 to justify buying REDFLY. After all, for 2 pounds you can either buy what amounts to a dumb terminal for you smartphone or you can buy a fully functional computer with the ability to connect other gadgets. Either way you have two items to carry instead of one. REDFLY will probably go the way of the Foleo unless Celio Corp. can manufacture it on the cheap.
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March 21st, 2008
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