REDFLY Mobile Companion gets previewed

Still mourning the passing of the Foleo? You and the other couple of dozen people on earth that need something like that might find a winner in the REDFLY Mobile Companion unveiled at CES this year. The device offers external control of Windows Mobile 5 and 6 devices over Bluetooth 2.0 or USB, with a full keyboard, 8-inch 800 x 480 LCD and some USB and VGA plugs for tapping into external drives and an external monitor. ZDNet's Matthew Miller got an early beta version of the device to test out, and while he admits he's in the minority of people willing to shell out $500 for something like this, he was fairly impressed by the build quality and usability of the device. The biggest drawback is that you can't use the device on its own without a phone, but if you're a heavy browser user or need to do some serious text input, but aren't doing anything serious enough to demand a real laptop, the REDFLY might just hit some sort of sweetspot for heavy Windows Mobile users. Or it could sell 12 units, it could really go either way.

[superfresh @ Mar 19th 2008 9:30AM]

I think sales of these would pick up if they were bundled with the phones from jump street, or at least offered as an option by wireless providers. Maybe even slap their own logos on them (Blackberry, AT&T, Verizon, etc.).

[Devon @ Mar 19th 2008 9:35AM]

If they price this right ($250-$350) I would buy one.

If I can already use the data plan on my phone (Sprint $15) without getting a PAM plan count me in.

[Erwos @ Mar 19th 2008 10:12AM]

Good point that I never considered. With this, you could dodge tethering entirely, albeit at the cost of getting less usability than a real laptop.

I'm not sure I'd jump on it, either, but at the right price, it could make for a good "second laptop", that sort of thing (with the caveat that we're a Windows Mobile household right now).

[Bob @ Mar 19th 2008 11:10AM]

Good point, it would dodge tethering, that's a plus. Although, the right price would be $30-$60, about the cost of a bluetooth or dockable keyboard for a PDA/smartphone (and probably about the cost of just the screen in the REDFLY).

[Alan Strangis @ Mar 19th 2008 9:40AM]

I'm guessing it's going to be selling south of 12 units.

Why use a $500 device to be a 'big screen' for your phone when you can get an actual mini-laptop like the EEE PC for up to $200 less?

I've had my 4G EEE PC (dual booting nlited Win XP and the original OS) for just about a week now, and can use my WM6 phone as a 3G modem when in XP (using the USB cable is the fastest and saves battery life, but it also works with Bluetooth)

Devices like this and the Foleo MAY have had a chance before the EEE-revolution, but it's too little too late, what with all announced EEE competitors lining up for a piece of what will (and should) be the next real revolution computing.

Of course, whoever comes out with a convertible tablet device with EEE specs will win my heart.

[tom @ Mar 19th 2008 9:54AM]

I agree EEE does make a huge revolution on the computer industry, but they really need to make a keyboard that i can type onto. Trying out EEE in a store, I have great difficulty reaching typing speed to 15wpm. REDFLY's keyboard looks generous to type onto

[Bob @ Mar 19th 2008 11:06AM]

Haha, as soon as I read about this I thought of the $300-$500 laptops out there that can actually run Windows (or a flavor of Linux)... Why wouldn't I just get one of those? I'd say they sell 0 units.

[Homeboy @ Mar 19th 2008 9:45AM]

Damn this is one hell of a niche product, the worst idea I've seen in ages. It's much better to buy a proper laptop and sync the content like excel spread sheets and emails over bluetooh. If you want to use your phones data plan then that works fine as well over bluetooth or by cable.


Predicted sales this quater: 0

[coffee @ Mar 19th 2008 12:25PM]

agreed, we don't need a completely new hardware device to talk to Windows Mobile, just a better software solution to control it over bluetooth/USB with a normal laptop that we already own.

[Jon Acheson @ Mar 19th 2008 9:54AM]

I wouldn't compare this to the Foleo, which would have had standalone functionality and merely synced its data with the smartphone. Also, the Foleo had a better screen.

I do think it will sell poorly, though.

[spam_from_engadget @ Mar 19th 2008 10:16AM]

I bet this table gets screwed up....

| Foleo | Eee | Redfly
-------------+---------+----------+---------
Screen res | 1024 | 800 | 800
OS | Linux | Linux | Proprietary
Keyboard | Largish | Smaller | Largish
Battery life | Longish | not much | 8 hours
Weight | 1kg??? |

[spam_from_engadget @ Mar 19th 2008 10:18AM]

Ha! It screwed it up, but even more than I was expecting. I used a less-than sign for the weight of the Eee, and the whole of the rest of the post was chopped. You'll have to guess what my conclusion was. Hint: I won't be buying one of these...

[Khris @ Mar 19th 2008 10:19AM]

Taking a losing concept and applying it to Windows Mobile isn't going to make it any more successful.

[Tired_ @ Mar 19th 2008 10:57AM]

I'll bet the people at Palm are kicking themselves (and cursing you, Engadget), for canceling the Foleo, now that they see all the second generation Eee PCs and other devices that look almost identical to their Foleo concept, sans the 'phone companion' marketing.

[trumpton @ Mar 19th 2008 11:38AM]

I'd still buy a Foleo if it ever saw the light of day. It would be perfect for my business trips.

[[[curse Engadget's big know-it-all mouth]]]

[dirk @ Mar 19th 2008 11:50AM]

"Still mourning the passing of the Foleo? You and the other couple of dozen people on earth that need something like that might find a winner in the REDFLY Mobile Companion unveiled at CES this year."

Why do you guys at Engadget go out of your way to put down the Foleo? I think you would of been surprise to see how many people wanted something like it. You guys at Engadget most times sound like jerks and would look like fools if the Foleo came out and did well!

[tehh @ Mar 19th 2008 5:01PM]

It keeps me wandering. There was a time when Foleo was on plan then some super analytics wrote here how pointless it is to have a small device with downgraded usability. Then Palm canceled the Foleo project and Asus announced Eee PC wich bacame a real hit. And now again the same story about 12 customers?! Learn your good damn lesson will you. There is a unfilled market for this kind of gadget even thou it's not your ever dreamed macbook-mini-my-ass.

[Forrest @ Mar 19th 2008 2:08PM]

Everyone is saying 'Just get a laptop' if you want a keyboard and/or bigger screen. I already have a laptop, and because of the software I have to run on it, IT IS GIGANTIC. It's a pain in the ass to lug around, to take it out of the bag, and the battery life on it is almost non-existent.

Because of that, I use my Touch to send email, surf, etc when I'm sitting in airports, having lunch, riding along in a car, etc. I don't want to carry around a second, smaller laptop for non-intensive applications when my phone already does all of that.

Just because a product doesn't cater to the OMGROFLCOPTER!!1! crowd doesn't mean that there's not a place for it. I'd love to see a lower price point, but niche products are always a bit more expensive due to the lower demand.

[rgraham @ Mar 19th 2008 6:29PM]

Hats off to Forrest, who is right on the money (literally and figuratively). Smartphones have enough capacity to meet relatively low-intensity computing needs (internet, e-mail, remote access, word processing), but much of that capacity remains untapped (no pun intended) because of the small size. The Redfly will make more smartphone features more useful to more people, especially those who currently have to rely on a notebook for tasks that a smartphone could do (but for the size factor).

I am definitely getting a Redfly as soon as it is available. Whether it will be as much of a hit for others as it is for me, I have no idea. While I do not think it will tank as badly as the article suggests, I can see it suffering the same fate as the Newton (i.e., it gets shelved after poor initial sales, then somebody else takes the idea and runs with it). Dropping the price to $200-$300 would definitely move a lot more units, but getting it to work with Blackberry (as opposed to just WM) would have every lawyer in the hemisphere salivating for one.

[Adam @ Mar 25th 2008 1:14PM]

I do see a compelling use case here, especially when teamed with Application Delivery methods like Citrix XenApp and Citrix GoToMeeting to provide security and access to application that don't run natively on the mobile device. With the bigger screen, keyboard and mouse you can get a full PC-like experience from your laptop. Or just use your laptop if you don't buy into this concept. Given the enterprise focus from Celio, seems like a nice fit to target Citrix customers. Check out some blogs on the Citrix community site to help fill in this picture:

http://community.citrix.com/blogs/citrite/adamma
http://community.citrix.com/blogs/citrite/chrisfl

Chris's "The Nirvana device a Smartphone as a PC alternative" has a call out to RedFly as part of this post.

Redfly to me is an enabling technology, and doesn't need to be a direct replacement for a laptop, unless you want it to be. I don't believe that there will ever be a single device that satisfy everyones wants, but devices like the RedFly give me the type of options I'm looking for.