Engadget’s been harshing on the Celio Redfly pretty severely since its debut; I suppose anything that’s even calls to mind the Foleo is going to leave a bad taste in their editorial mouths. When I first saw the device, though, I thought that $200 would be a key price point for something marketed as a smartphone accessory, so Celio will certainly pick up some interesting data points in October. At least some commenters on the Engadget post announcing the promotion think they might give the device a try at $199.
I’ve also been trying out the Redfly for a couple of weeks. It’s definitely not for everyone at this point and most consumers would be better served by a netbook that is closer to its (non-promotional) price. But one glance at the company Web site’s mention of “TCO” tells you that the company is targeting enterprise users for now. At least it is solidly positioned as a terminal, unlike the Foleo that tried to be both a smartphone companion and a new platform.
I was pretty harsh on the RedFly as well. Saw it in action at CTIA last spring. At this lower price point, it becomes a much more interesting product – as a budget netbook (replacement). I’m wondering how usable it is powering a remote desktop (LogMeIn, etc) and how the browsing experience is via PocketIE or Opera. If they work well, either of those would make it a reasonable alternative for me. Still waiting to hear back from Celio if my Blackjac 2 6.1 WinMo build is supported.
Dave, working well with the BlackJack 2 running WinMo 6.1, hoping to try remote desktop soon.
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I got the Redfly at the reduced price and I’m glad I did. It’s extremely useful to me, because I frequently would take notes on my PDA phone and that’s extremely cumbersome.
Typing on a device that’s almost exactly the size of a netbook makes life a lot easier, particularly when I’m typing notes or taking meeting minutes in realtime.