- No 802.11 N?
- 2 GB of storage?
- Non-standard OS?

This thing looks cool, but specs out to a low end netbook. They'll cut the price by 50% once they realize that nobody is going to pay $700 for a low-end, low-quality machine. And if they do - it might be worth dishing out the $350 (read: "might")

I just bought this laptop at FutureShop.

STAY AWAY!

After spending half an hour trying to find the system on their support site (to download drivers), I decided to contact support and ask for their help.

"We're sorry, your system isn't registered. I cannot give you tech support. Please register first by providing me with the following details."

So I provided them with my details - minus my phone number, because I'm in the process of a move, and don't have a phone number to provide them with at present.

Despite a half dozen attempts to explain this, they are refusing to even point me to the section of their website where I can find drivers for this system - because they "Cannot register a new system without the purchaser's phone number"

Their support is HORRID!

Not real - Anyone that has taken their 3G iPhone apart should know this.

Of course, I guess that's really not most of us. Errr, most of you.

I'm the dumb one that did JUST THAT, in hopes of intalling one of those 3rd party after market housings. That's EXACTLY what this is. An after market housing.

Either that, or the next version of the iPhone has EXACTLY THE SAME internal layout as the current version - right down to the tolerances and points of plastic ribbing. This looks identical (talking about the inside shot on the READ link) to the 3rd part housing I tried to install - I have it right here in front of me.

Engadget - shame on you for not doing the math.

2012, assuming it could be a December 31st online-date, is 4 years away (minus a month)

If the trend in supercomputer speeds is a doubling every year, then:
1.105 x (2^4) = 17.7 petaflops.

So we should EXPECT a nearly 18 petaflop computer by the end of 2012.

They're claiming they'll have a 20 petaflop computer. Big difference? No. About 10% faster than where we'd expect to be by then. Considering that the claim is being made 4 years ahead of time, that 10% could vanish. Even if it doesn't, it's hardly anything to write home (or on a blog) about.

Frankly, I think the onus is on Engadget not to post links that only a subset of their audience are allowed to see.

Put aside all the commentary on the relative genious/lameness of the campaign, and lets just talk about its impact:

1) I haven't met anyone that knows what "er" means
- This could be good, because it generates "talk". People ask each other "What does the ER mean? I don't get it!"
- But because Bell has the image of being such a lame company in Canada, everyone I've talked to (be it on the subway, walking on the street, wherever) expects the explanation to be just as lame as Bell's image, and pretty quickly stops caring.
- RULE #1: Viral/guerilla marketing DOESN'T WORK if the public perceives your company to be uncool, and figures out that you're conducting viral/guerilla marketing for attention.

2) I saw one of those Bell adds proclaim the Samsung Instinct to be "The most anticipated phone of the summer"
- It's irrelevent whether you think the iPhone sucks, the Instinct sucks, both suck, both rock whatever - The absolute reality, is that the Instinct WAS NOT the most anticipated phone of the summer. In fact, that Instinct was barely on anyone's radar. It may be a great phone, it may not, but you'd have to live under a rock to not realize that the iPhone was without any shred of doubt, FAR more anticipated than ANYTHING from ANY other phone manufacturer.
- By lying, when it's such a blatent lie, and one that EVERYONE in Toronto would know to be a lie - Bell kills its own credibility.

Bell has misdirected a LOT of money that could have been used much better elsewhere in their organization.

Do any other Navigon users find the interface / gui / menus really slow and sluggish to respond to key presses? Like there's a delay?

It might be because I have the low-end Fujitsu/Siemens Pocket Loox with Navigon, but it's really deadly.

Hello good sir or madman,

I am king of many rich far away nation. I have available gift to you of 13 million (thirteen million) dollars worth USB memory device, in plastic shape of country Nigeria. Mr Block will enjoy gift much.

I wish meet for you with JFK airport on New York. Reply soon. I am busy much as king, and time is value as you sure to know.

Thank you for your patronage, I hope we speak soon.
(I am above 18 years age, and resident the united great states of american, in continent north american)

Further - Has anyone seen the batteries inside a standard MP3 player? They're tiny.

If this "fuel cell" device is only going to charge a Nano 3 or 4 times over, why does it appear to be MANY times larger than 3 or 4 lithium Nano batteries?

And of course, the next logical question - who wants to bet that this device IS just 4 lithium batteries inside a bulky case, with a chunk of lead inside to make it feel more substantial? (I actually bought a cheap camera as a child that epoxied a lead weight inside the case to make it feel more valuable.

Yes - but this isn't 5 years in the future, it's now, and right now this isn't a good product - so why not criticize it?

For what it's worth - this is a stupid product NOT because it's brand new early-stage tech, but because it's a dumb strategy.

1) The device is ugly, nobody wants to carry around an ugly dehumidifier, just to get extra talktime out of their elegant iPhone / Blackberry.

2) Quick price evaluation - 60 extra hours of play time on my Nano would be roughly 3 to 4 charges. So $20/3 and $4 amounts to roughly $5 to $7 per charge. Stupid.

3) Environmentally unfriendly business model. Not reusable? Fine. Stupid, but fine. At least they're recycling the units you send back to them right? It's not like it costs money, wastes resources, and consumes energy to transport packages back and forth to who knows where. Why on earth don't they just sell you a bottle of fuel?