We've been salivating over Dialogue's
FlyBook V33i for
some time now. Finally, we've dug-out a review of this "dressed to kill" 2.6-pound tablet-style PC with smokin' suite of WWAN connectivity options including HSDPA / UMTS / EDGE / GPRS / GSM and EDGE / GPRS / GSM. Thing is, as the reviewer quickly points out, the V33i is not a tablet PC although you might be fooled by that rotating touch-screen. Instead, Dialogue goes with Windows XP and some Ritepen handwriting recognition software which, when coupled with the keyboard, means you "might not find that a disadvantage" -- just prepare to re-calibrate after each screen rotation. Although the 1.1GHz Pentium M is starting to show its age, the V33i includes a 64MB ATI Radeon XPress 200M which helps offset the load somewhat, albeit not enough for any serious gaming, but certainly enough for normal office-type usage. The Carrypad review also found the key pitch tight on the keyboard which took some getting used to and the stylus was just plain "terrible." Although they were stoked by the removable 2.5-inch hard disk which allows for DIY upgrades while the battery delivered an expected 2-2.5 hours under typical load. After four "privileged" days with the machine, Carrypad dubs the v33i a winner in terms of looks and performance particularly for those in need of an ultra-mobile PC with a full suite of fixed and WWAN connectivity options.
posted October 2nd 2006 9:35AM
For anyone who might run across this thread, I would like to issue a strong warning to not deal with these people. I have been trying for three months to get a custom V5 put together and they have continued to lie and put me off. They took their payment two months ago and at this point they will not even answer my emails.
Deal with them at your own risk.
my flybook battery doen't get me anywhere.
it couldn't reach more then 5% of it's max load
so, i stuck myself with an electricity cord at home.
can anyone please tell me how to repair it?
"Instead, Dialogue goes with Widows XP and some Ritepen handwriting recognition"
Widows?? Typo, typo... Wouldn't be Engadget without them. :-)
I still prefer my practical Thinkpad X40. Six hours battery life, 2.5lbs, 1.5GHz Centrino, and all the other beautiful things in Thinkpads.
I do realize that this laptop has different uses, but face it: it really is no more than a show off toy.
Absolutely love this form factor. I've owned and used both the OQO as well as the Dell 700m (not touchscreen, but smaller notebook) and I love the flybook's size. Not to small to make it completely unusable, but not nearly as large as my 700m.
The touchscreen is a bonus to me on the flybook, while I wouldn't use it heavily it's a nice feature to have available. Too bad the price is sky high for this thing, otherwise I might consider dumping my current lappy for it.
OH, and the 2 hour battery life... LETS all hope they come out with a high cap. battery.
This sounds almost exactly the same as the Fujitsu P1510D. Just picked one up on Ebay for under a grand, and other than the WWAN, the specs seem very similar for a computer that's a year older. The P1510D also gives you Tablet PC OS and is 2.2 lbs (and has a 6-7 hr extended battery)...
"just prepare to re-calibrate after each screen rotation"
Hehe, as opposed to my tablet which I have to re-calibrate when I change the screen orientation... or let it go to sleep, or restart it, or look at it wrong....
Let's hope Dialogue improve their after-sales for this one.
I bought an original Flybook directly from their stand at Computex in 2004, and had no problems with it until the internal fan got extremely rattly. This got louder and prompted me to email them - many times in total. I tried calling, but unfortunately don't speak Chinese. All I wanted to know was whether this was normal (I still don't know), and how to get inside and fix it - or whether a local distributor could repair it for me.
The internal drive eventually went into meltdown and died (conveniently whilst on holiday). I eventually gave up on them, located the part at an electronics store, and after much head scratching took the beast apart and replaced the fan (including some resoldering), and the hard drive. I'm a little ham fisted, and due to Dialogues lack of response, had resolved to buy a VAIO if my repair attempt went norks-up. I got lucky, and the machine runs fine again. I really like my Flybook (particularly the touchscreen), but won't be buying another one.
I wonder if it'll run Vista, and act like a "real" Tablet PC?
The same posting from a year ago?
http://podcasts.engadget.com/2005/10/27/flybook-v3-subnotebook-with-swiveling-touchscreen-display/
Snizzle Weazleteats @ Oct 28th 2005 6:49AM
Let's hope Dialogue improve their after-sales for this one.
I bought an original Flybook directly from their stand at Computex in 2004, and had no problems with it until the internal fan got extremely rattly. This got louder and prompted me to email them - many times in total. I tried calling, but unfortunately don't speak Chinese. All I wanted to know was whether this was normal (I still don't know), and how to get inside and fix it - or whether a local distributor could repair it for me.
The internal drive eventually went into meltdown and died (conveniently whilst on holiday). I eventually gave up on them, located the part at an electronics store, and after much head scratching took the beast apart and replaced the fan (including some resoldering), and the hard drive. I'm a little ham fisted, and due to Dialogues lack of response, had resolved to buy a VAIO if my repair attempt went norks-up. I got lucky, and the machine runs fine again. I really like my Flybook (particularly the touchscreen), but won't be buying another one.
WTF?