Celio REDFLY drops to $400, still not useful

We just don't see the Celio REDFLY Windows Mobile "companion" appealing to a lot of people as full-featured netbooks continue to flood onto the market, and it looks like the ol' invisible hand agrees with us: the REDFLY's price just dropped 20% to $400. That's a solid $100 lower than when it went on sale just a few days ago, but we're not convinced it's enough to sway people from an Eee or Wind -- anyone planning on buying one of these now?

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 13th 2008 9:45PM]

I think the problem here is this device would be amazing at say $149 or $199 - then it might be seen as useful. But the issue is that it's performance is wholly dependant on the phone it's linked to - and right now - most Windows Mobile Phones are just painfully slow.

That said - since most of my tools are web-based - I could see chucking my laptop while out and about and using something like the RedFly - but then the second problem crops up - the browser on most WIndows Mobile phones is just not compatible with most current sites so I wouldn't be able to do my work anyway.

Nice try but just don't see this moving at anything over $200.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 14th 2008 12:06AM]

While the rest of you are buying up netbooks, the RedFly just gets cheaper. This time next year when cell phones have even more processing power, the RedFly is still useful, unlike your dead-dog-slow netbook from yesterday.

[Robbie Hottie Posted Aug 14th 2008 5:43AM]

i bought a used laptop at Goodwill yesterday just for the hell of it cuz it was $25. turns out it works perfectly. it has windows 95 and works with my bluetooth adapter. it only has 144MB RAM and 2 GB HDD, yet it manages to usually pass the "5 second test" for loading web pages.

so does anyone need a netbook or redfly? well thats up to you. but check out ebay, craigslist, goodwill, etc first because for 1/16 of the price you may be able to find an alternative.

enjoy your redfly guys. but im syncing and browsing with PAM just fine over here with something that has a real OS. (well I guess you can call Win95 that now. just not when it first came out. lol.)

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 14th 2008 7:48PM]

I love the "pro" arguments:
'Hey guys, i am getting pwt by bad and/or expensive service, so instead of un-sucking myself I'll buy more of that horses... substance ;) and will hide being owned there behind being owned here" ;)

Seriously, 400 bucks for a combination of keyboard (~15$), not-that-good LCD (~100$ on a good day), and horrible design (- ~ 20%-30% on the package is pretty fair discount for being ugly)... Go buy it now, people?

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 23rd 2008 3:52PM]

I bought the Redfly to see for myself whether it is useful enough to justify the price. I have a 30 day money back warranrty so why not. I am using it with a Sprint HTC touch recently updated to WM6.1. The Redfly unit is well made and the screen is very good (800x480). The bluetooth connection works awsome with this phone and the processing speed seems adequate for browsing via Opera and working with Office mobile apps. I use the WM RDP client to connect to Windows 2K servers and XP computers and the large screen makes it all much more useful. With the Redfly, you can leave your computer at home and access it remotely to see and use all your stuff. I will try some overclocking of my phone to see if it is worth the extra speed and since the phone charges from the Redfly when connected via USB, this may end up being a great combination. You can also use the Total Commander by Grisler (freeware) for complete FTP functions.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 3rd 2008 6:49PM]

I am hoping the price falls a little more. When I travel, I really only need my phone. I do my email, browsing, my bank accounts, IM, camera, gps, all on my Tilt. It would be nice to have a bigger screen and full-size-ish keyboard.

Are laptops cheap? Sure... but while RedFly at $399 is an expensive interface to the functionality of a phone, a $400 laptop is a bit much for something to just make typing easier (in my case).

I brought a laptop on my last week-long biz trip. It sat on the desk in my hotel room the whole week. The only time I used it was in the evening to answer longer emails that typing on the phone was inconvenient, and for looking up places I needed to go. In reality, I could have used the computer in the Guest Business Services room of the hotel or stopped in a Cyber Cafe, or just used my Tilt except I'm an old fart and can only take so many hours starring at a little screen and typing with my thumbs or stylus.

I agree, it's NOT for everyone. It's NOT a replacement for a Laptop. But if you already have what you need on your phone, and just want a little convenience, this seems like the ticket.... as soon as it drops to about $150.00. I hate to be selfish, but if the idea fails, that's even better for me. Someone will end up blowing them out for $99.95 and I'll buy one and use it until it falls apart.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 8th 2008 11:18AM]

No. I have no plans to buy it. And anyone that is considering one should look at the MSI Wind instead. With some phone-synch software and associated utilities, it will be far more functional than this silly device. I tend to agree with the large list of good reasons presented here:

http://techlahore.wordpress.com/2008/09/05/celio-builds-a-business-around-the-worst-idea-palm-ever-had-maybe-doing-the-same-thing-over-and-over-will-produce-different-results

In particular, the points about slow display refresh, lack of entertainment (poor video) and the dual battery hit...

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 26th 2008 5:52PM]

Dudes,

I just ordered one for US$ 200 ...

Grtz,


B@njamin

[Spartan2x Posted Oct 14th 2008 7:13PM]

I did the 30 day trial as well.

I used it with my ATT Tilt which has served me well, unlike the 8125, and 8526 I had previously.

It was very please with the construction, I wish netbooks would be made to feel as sturdy. The ability to plug my usb thump drive/hard drives was cool, but with a 8gb SDHC card, I have never really found myself needing to use larger files. I do not use my tilt to watch movies, and the 2 gigs of music mix that I used on occasion at the gym suits me just fine. The keyboard seams to be smaller then the one found on the eee pc, and that's the smallest keyboard I would ever use. I am a big guy, but my hands are not abnormally large. The Keyboard on the refly may be faster then my tilt keyboard, but it was not a pleasure to use. The touch pad was also very annoying as the sensitivity was not adjustable. Some programs also did not re-size to the screen...boohish.


Heres why I thought I could use the redfly as a student and why it did not work out.

-I wanted to take notes in WORD from class( but the keyboard is so small I made lots of errors, and the program can not keep up with how fast I type)
-Use the power point viewer to look over the slides to study( I can do this, but I can only view them, not edit. Wghich I like to be able to do on my laptop when I have that(notes section and correction))
-use excel to look over new schedules emailed to me for work (this worked ok)
-browse the internet at the coffee shop or at school instead of taking my hp tx2000 ( this really sucked, it was sooo slow, way faster directly on the pda, and lag for scolling was hell)
-reply to multiple sms's faster, and emails.( lag for typing was even worse then word. I would have the entire sms typed in 8 seconds and it would sit there doing a charactor a second, even slower then it goes when I use the thumb pad)
-wow factor ( it did that for sure)

so it did 2/6 things

I'll wait till its $100 as well.