Explaining the Redfly

Matt Miller from ZDNet has a great video on YouTube about the Redfly. After watching it I realized that his device has some physical improvements over mine. He just got his and I have had mine for about a month. I don't think it would be fair to post a video of mine if its not the current beta (and I'm too busy this weekend).



The Redfly is a laptop that has no information on it. It has no memory, no processor, no OS. "Well why would I buy that?" Well maybe you wouldn't. Here's why I will and why I think many companies will:
1. Security - Laptops get stolen, get lost, get destroyed. The Redfly has no information on it so their is no risk of information loss. If you normally carry a ppc and a laptop, you have cut your security risk in half by switching to a Redfly.
2. Cost - I know that people have been throwing around 500.00 as the price for this. It might be, but nothing has been formally announced yet. Think about this though. What else will you need to buy for this device? Here's an example. When I bought Tabby, she only had a trial version of MS Office. I had to buy it. Crikes, I was miffed, I already spent 1900.00 on the thing. My i760 was a fraction of that and it had Office (Office Mobile). The Redfly uses what I already paid for. I will pass final judgment on price when I see for sure what it will be and what the final hardware looks like and what the device compatibility will be.
3. Simplicity - Dip-simple is a word I keep using when I describe this device. Anyone who uses this already knows how to run a ppc. Everything you do on the Redfly will be on your ppc. No syncing. It is instant-on and I can be on the internet way faster than it takes for me to wake up my laptop and tether to my i760.

I have thought about buying an Advantage or a Shift for a while now and even bought an Ipaq 210 recently and have owned a Nokia 770 tablet for a year.
I end up with another device I have to sync and maintain or in the case of one of the HTC devices, I pay another data fee (and we have crappy GSM service here).

Even before the Redfly came out I have been looking for something in between my laptop and my pda. I use Tabby for my many meetings and for making funeral arrangements with families. However I spend a lot of time on the phone. I am taking notes while I am on the phone, checking and making appointments, setting tasks, and responding to emails. When I do have a few minutes, I update my website and blog, surf a bit, and check my RSS feeds. I am in my car, outside, in a restaurant, in the bathroom (you know you do it too so don't even start), all over the place. The most important thing is that all the info I need has to be on my i760 because that is the device I always have with me. That is what the Redfly does. I think Celio is on the right track.