Comments on: Celio’s REDFLY – The Ultimate Smartphone Extension Review Part 2

By: khavalier

khavalier — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 19:36:45 +0000

Hi, I’m trying to get the redfly to work with an HTC Touch Advantage 7501. You indicated that you got it working no problem. Was there any trick? I tried the OTA install and it fails.

Thanks for any help or pointing me in the right direction,
Don

By: Clinton Fitch

Clinton Fitch — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 12:29:33 +0000

GreatDay, it’s a good point but one that I frankly don’t worry about as much these days given battery technology. The REDFLY uses a LithiumIon battery so, at a minimum, it should last 2-3 years or 300-500 charging cycles. You can extend that life by never EVER letting the battery fully deplete. Unlike Nickle Cadnium batteries, Li-Ion batteries do not build up “memory”, a chemical residue on the cells themselves that prevent full charging.

From a warranty perspective, the REDFLY has a 90 day warranty against defects.

By: GreatDay

GreatDay — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 05:24:01 +0000

Thank you, Clinton, for your previous comparative thinking on the Redfly/Advantage. I have been pondering your advice ever since, and I had actually decided to take your advice and just go for the Redfly. Today, however, I heard, for the first time, that the Redfly has a non-removable battery! What is THAT going to mean a year or two down the road? Then it Would be an expensive brick. Do you have any info on Celio’s policy regarding this?

By: alese

alese — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 10:11:51 +0000

I guess I shouldn’t hijack this thread, but it’s here, my Advantage came yesterday and I have to say it’s really nice.It’s size is just fine (I don’t want an “allways with me PDA” – I have a phone for that) it looks like a device from Star Trek and the screen is beautifull. It’s going to be an excelent reader for books and it works really nice for browsing with Opera 9.5. All in all I’m quite pleased, now I just have to decide on the ROM…

Posted from Advantage in Opera Mobile over WiFi…

By: sixftunda

sixftunda — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 14:03:55 +0000

The Redfly is a better fit for me because we have crappy GSM coverage here. Either way an Advantage would be another OS to maintain.

By: Clinton Fitch

Clinton Fitch — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 15:11:35 +0000

Alese, I must have been thinking of the BPS. Regardless, still a good deal for you.

Do post and let us know how it goes.

By: alese

alese — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 14:42:08 +0000

Actually 400 EUR is about $630 US – Euro is strong against US Dollar but not that strong
I’m actually really excited and can’t wait to get the device, hopefully before the weekend, so that I’ll have some time to play…

By: Clinton Fitch

Clinton Fitch — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 12:45:47 +0000

Alese, good job. That’s about $800 US so that’s not bad. I know Judie likes the 7500/7501 a bit better than the 7510 because of the joystick on the front and VUEFlo being built in – something not on the 7510.

By: Clinton Fitch

Clinton Fitch — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 12:43:01 +0000

GreatDay, it totoally depends on what your current device situation is and where you are wanting to go with it. If you are a business traveler, both the small device/REDFLY combination and the Advantage are great options. Keep in mind that with the REDFLY combo, when you don’t need the larger screen you can “put it away” in effect – you just have your smaller device at that point. If you have a Tilt then from a cost effectiveness perspective, the REDFLY would be the route to go. If you are looking for an excuse for a new device… The Advantage is the way to go.

Here is what I would suggest: Over at my site I have an Expansys store where you can purchase either the REDFLY or the Advantage. I would suggest try the REDFLY. If it doesn’t work, you have 15 days to return it and you will get a full refund per the Return Policy (2.5 If the goods are NOT defective and you wish to return them you have 15 days from when the package arrives to return the goods for a refund between 75% and 100% depending on the condition of the returned items. You will need to email us-returns@expansys.com with a brief explanation of the situation. A refund will be provided within 30 days after the merchandise is received at our warehouse. You will not be refunded the delivery costs. ). Note that you won’t get delivery costs returned.

Try it. If it works, great. Congratulations you own a REDFLY. If it doesn’t, well you are $499.95 closer to an Advantage!

I really like both devices honestly – it is a hard choice for sure.

By: alese

alese — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 06:35:16 +0000

I was in similar dilemma until yesterday, either go for Advantage or maybe Redfly. Even though I wasn’t too keen on either of them initially the “gadget lust” eventually prevailed and I convinced myself that I really need something like that…
At the end I decided for Advantage, I payed roughly 400 EUR on E-bay for 7500 version, the same as I would for Redfly, but Advantage is just a bit cooler with HSDPA built in, slate form factor and touch screen – much nicer for reading and it certainly handles multimedia better than my current HTC Trinity would with Redfly.

By: GreatDay

GreatDay — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 05:23:55 +0000

Now you’ve gone and really done it. I came “this close” to pulling the trigger on the Redfly just last week, but slapped my own fingers and decided, No!, I’m going to save up and get the Advantage I’ve been wanting all along—even though I have the Tilt and am very happy with it ( and might be happier with a larger, instant-on screen as a companion). The Advantage just seems to have so much more horsepower, and we’re all using those damn bluetooth headsets anyhow, so who needs to hold something up to their ear? Oh-h-h-h…..so many choices, so little time and money……..

By: alese

alese — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 03:47:17 +0000

Thanks for the answer, that’s good to hear. I’m still not OK with the price (here in Europe it’s around 400 EUR), but it looks quite an interesting device.

By: Clinton Fitch

Clinton Fitch — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 21:49:07 +0000

Video playback was good in my testing. It did a fair job on playing video files of up to 20MB in size. I didn’t test anything larger but that shouldn’t be an issue given the cache is happening on your device.

By: alese

alese — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 21:45:08 +0000

I understand that “normal” applications like Pocket Word / Excel, mail… work without a problem on Redfly, but what about multimedia stuff, like picture viewing (editing), video, games?

I understand that the device is intended for business use, but even on business trips I tend to watch a video or two in my hotel room and having such a display it would be a shame not to use it…