Coby $85 smartbook feels like a hundred bucks (hands-on)
By Joanna Stern 
posted March 3rd 2010 9:58AM
posted March 3rd 2010 9:58AM
posted March 3rd 2010 9:58AM
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Why is the bezel around the screen so big?
Looks terrible lol.
@DoctarPeppar perhaps a bigger screen would've added 5 dollers to the costs.. i mean... its just 85$ O.o
@DoctarPeppar
maybe to fit the smaller screen to lower costs... im not sure >.
$85 dollars of beeezeeel!
@One Love BEZEL!
@DoctarPeppar
I think it more has to do with making the top match the bottom (keyboard and trackpad surface area, etc.)
@Kaboof
A smaller keyboard and less bezel would also have lowered the price and made it more attractive
@Kaboof
A smaller base and keyboard and less bezel would also have lowered the price and made it more attractive
@DoctarPeppar
Holy Bezel, Batman!
@chadw Hey, that sounds like reasoning to me!
@DoctarPeppar The bezel on that thing just made the iPad queef all over it's panties. It was designed to prevent leakage and will keep you feeling safe, active and secure throughout the day.
But boyfriends/husbands/whipped puppies alike should still be exempt from having to pick it up.
@OCEAN CLAK But then the keyboard would probably have been too small to use. I bought one of those $180 cheapie laptops last year, and the keyboard was completely awful.
@DoctarPeppar
Oh stop your pissin' and moanin'! Its an $85 smartbook.
Some people are just impossible to please.
@Zac89
I'll moan and piss over\on anything I want...TY.
@One Love I bet that bezel size was patented.
@J Acheson
well personally i prefer this version over that bezel disaster
http://www.cobysz.com/newEbiz1/EbizPortalFG/portal/html/ProductInfoExhibit.html?ProductInfoExhibit_ProductID=c373e91fae986b548fea6cf251e6dcb6&ProductInfoExhibit_isRefreshParent=false
its the same, but with a bigger screen and looks better
@recharged95
By Apple? Coby should expect a lawsuit soon.
Shoot, I'd carry of these for email, evernote, and light surfing for 85 bucks.
@steel
I was going to say that you could do all that on a smartphone but then I though of the price difference between a $80 netbook and a $550 smartphone haha xD
@BubblegumBalloon
Indeed... and that's not counting the required data plan... even for a phone i buy at full price and bring to a network...
@steel exactly what I was thinking. I still have a prepaid 3g usb modem lying around somewhere.
@steel
Which, more than anything, begs the question: Why does a smartphone cost $550?
The answer, of course, is because the cell service providers (AT&T and Verizon, with Sprint and T-Mobile simply following suit) want to lock you into a contract. But why would anyone willingly lock themselves into a two-year contract? Oh, because they want that nice, high-end phone. So why not just buy the phone outright?
Why not indeed. Because the cell service providers want to lock you into a contract. And since they're the ones that have the channel for selling you the device, they tell the phone manufacturers to inflate the MSRP for the device (because...what do they care, they make the same amount of money either way, it's just a fake number), and then the benevolent service providers "cut you a deal" on the price of the phone...if you're willing to sign their contract. Want to break that contract? No problem...but you pay the balance of the subsidy (which, until the last year or so, was not even prorated).
This is one of the biggest scams in America. Back to the point, look how cheap this thing is. Look how cheap entry-level netbooks are. Look how cheap an iPod Touch is (which is basically an iPhone with the cell and camera chipsets removed, saving about $30-40 total cost). If the service providers were prohibited from selling devices, and Apple, HTC, Nokia, Samsung, LG, Motorola, RiM, etc. had to start selling their devices in Wal-Mart and Best Buy, and on Amazon, you'd see within a quarter or two that the "price" of smartphones is actually about half of what the service companies are foisting upon us.
@steel I'd walk down the street juggling two at that price. Of course, I can't juggle, so after dropping the first I'd probably just whistle or something :)...can't whistle either...
@Hexydes Ride your coattails for a second, I like how after your contract is up and any "subsidy" has been paid off they don't reduce your rate...goes against their original justification for inflating the price and essentially gets you into the snowball of upgrading the phone for latest/greatest all to be done again.
@Hexydes Uhh......no
@Hexydes The phones cost comparable (usually higher) prices in countries where getting the bundled discount isn't as popular. If you didn't notice the smarthphone market is pretty competive, If HTC, Motorola, or Nokia could make a phone comparable to a Droid or an Incredible that could sell for 100-200 dollars you better believe they would make it. Just maybe you are talking about state of the art devices though and they cost a lot to design and make. Fitting all of power into such a small device and keeping it cool, building higher pixel density screens, and designing smaller lighter batteries can all be expensive and engineering intensive.
No thanks, I'll stick to my Sorny at home and Panaphonics at work. This Coby isn't even in Magnetbox's league!
@Sweet Dude But if you like to browse your internet, and I mean "really" browse it, you want the Carnivalé...
wow !! this is better than an ipad :)
@phearme It has flash.
@phearme
HAHA yeah it probably is, at least it can run more than one application at the same time.
@DoctarPeppar yep. probably has also a USB port :)
@DoctarPeppar maybe...
lol though i guess its just as powerful as our old windows 98 computers (pre pentium 4 era atleast)...
This is down into impulse buy-cause-it-looks-cool-even-though-i-own-a-netbook territory. I'll probably take 3.
@phearme
It has 3 USB ports and SD Card slot
Wow...anyone can make a laptop these days eh? Jeez, Coby products are the worst imo, lol. Better make sure to get a 5 year warranty with that ish.
@Plazmic Flame
Why do you need a 5 year warranty on an $85 product? If it breaks, buy a new one. If it last less than 6 months, don't buy another one. :P
One problem I have with warranties is the "HP TX1000 Potential"... You pay a ton for an extended warranty on a defective product, and when it breaks and they fix it, they use the same faulty hardware.
mmm bezel....
@Peytral Mmm jailbait
@Exbloder LOL. My thoughts exactly.
...looks to me like they just attached a keyboard to a digital photo frame and call it a day
beat this OLPC!
@detonator
Nicholas Negroponte must be PISSED.
I have that same screen on a Coby portable DVD player.
@joelaf - thats not something I'd brag about... ;-)
@prodeziner
Hey, it's $85 before it's discounted.
It like the canary, cheeep.
Lets see, ipad vs. Coby "netbook"
Webcam- check
SD slot- check
Keybord- check
USB- check x3
Flash- check
@yankees368
Hella Bezel....
Check!
(oh dear, this is rather embarrassing for apple, turns out you can buy just as much bezel for about a 5th of the price)
Make a good project device. Hack it in all sorts of ways. Add touch screen like on the EEE?
I was about to write "CE? Geesh, when was the last time they came out with a new version of that?". Wikipedia shows 6.0 came out in 2006. Then after a little digging, discovered 6.0 R3 came out just last year. Zune HD is apparently 6.0 R2. http://www.microsoft.com/windowsembedded/en-us/products/windowsce/default.mspx Got silverlight, flash, etc. May not be a bad deal. They should take those Windows Phone 7 series themes from a few days ago http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/01/windows-phone-7-series-themes-for-winmo-abound-in-dev-forums/ and tweak it out for what this machine has to offer.
@NXTwoThou
Old or new, the real question is why they would go with a non-free OS over a free one? Had they gone with Android, they could have shaved another $10 off the price, or whatever MS is charging for a WinCE license these days.