Celio puts a notebook face on a smartphone
Here's a new twist in the ultramobile computer concept.
The Redfly Mobile Companion from Celio is a mini notebook-size device that effectively serves as a hand- and eye-friendly shell for Windows Mobile smartphones. It has a larger, relatively standard keyboard so you don't have to thumb type and an LCD screen measuring 8 inches in diameter. Connect the Redfly to the smartphone and the data going to and from the phone shows up on the larger screen instead.
The Redfly from Celio costs $499.
(Credit: Celio)You can also type e-mails or surf the Web while talking at the same time, explains CEO Kirt Bailey. Thus, the Redfly enables you to isolate yourself in the digital cocoon that you have come to love at home and work while at the airport too. (Granted, you can type and talk simultaneously with current smartphones too, but it takes coordination and one heck of a lot of thumb strokes.) The Redfly connects wirelessly via Bluetooth or through USB cords.
The idea behind the company is to free people from the physical limitations of the smartphone, but not sell them a full-fledged notebook. Technically speaking, the Redfly functions like a thin client for the phone, which becomes a server. The phone handles the processing and communications functions. The device itself essentially scrapes data from the phone and blows it up for the larger screen and conveys keystrokes to the phone's processor.
The device flips on relatively quickly too because it doesn't have an independent operating system, he added. (Bailey, by the way, worked for years at Intel.).
So why not just use your notebook? For one thing, you don't have to worry about finding a hot spot or carrying an EVDO card. Your notebook also doesn't get beat up in overhead luggage bins because you don't have to carry it on business trips. The Redfly only weighs 2 pounds.
The Redfly begins shipping in March and will be targeted at corporate customers. It costs $499. That's hundreds less than most mini notebooks, but more than most peripherals.
The price, Bailey admits, raises some eyebrows, but mostly among individuals, which Celio isn't targeting just yet. Corporate customers, he argues, will focus more on functionality than hardware acquisition costs.
It's a neat idea. If you want to use your phone for your mobile work, then this is a nice interface. You can carry your phone normally, but when going on a plane, instead of using a completely separate computer notebook to work on, you just bring this and all your data is in place and you don't have an extra device to sync with. Or if you are going to a coffee shop or something and want to surf the web while out, instead of spending money on an extra processor that won't get used most of the time, you are just buying a keyboard and bigger screen.
It's like a dock for a laptop, but actually provides a real service instead of just being a powerstrip-like device for all your peripherals.
"Well, if you use an iPhone instead of Windows Mobile, then people will like it."
Why does the iPhone suddenly make this more likable? The Apple halo effect sure is annoying sometimes:)
I don't think using an iPhone (or any other phone for that matter) will give any advantage for the scenario that Celio is addressing. Ideally, the Mobile Companion should abstract away the phone entirely.
- You can do this....
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by keyringwest
February 1, 2008 5:42 AM PST
- With cellular card and notebook, one can do more than high-speed
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(7 Comments)data. You can actually palce and recives call all-in-one....