User Reviews of Redfly Mobile Companion

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Windows Mobile Mobile Companion

User Reviews of Redfly Mobile Companion

MSRP:	~~$499.95~~
You Save:	$300.00 (60%)
Price:	$199.95

Manufacturer: Redfly
Works with: Alltel PPC-6800, Touch / AT&T Tilt / Cingular 8525 / HTC TyTN II, Touch, S620, Touch Dual / iPAQ 910 / Motorola Q9m, Q9h Global, Q9c / Treo Pro, Treo 800w, Treo 750, Treo 700wx, Treo 700w / Samsung BlackJack II, BlackJack, SCH-i760 / Sprint Touch, Mogul / T-Mobile Dash / Verizon XV6900, XV6800

Part# A4062 Mnf# CRF-C8
In Stock

30-day 100% Money Back Guarantee!

52 total ratings

65% rated
15% rated
2% rated
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Why dont you own one yet?

User: Gabe Bennett, Oct 21, 2008

Pros:	Compact, light, functional, great battery life
Cons:	Keyboard is somewhat on the small side, key layout could be better

For years Ive been carrying a laptop around. Its an older one as Ive refused to buy a new laptop for primarily business use, and relatively little of it. Most of my work is done on my desktop, and when Im away from that most of its done on my Palm (700wx previously, and currently the 800w).

But there have always been a few functions that my Palm cant handle well. Word and Excel, browsing certain internet sites, reading PDFs, etc. Dont get me wrong, I *CAN* do all the above on my Palm, I just prefer to be able to read/edit more than one line at a time.

So when Im on the road or away from home out comes my 10 lb laptop (if you count the bag, second battery, charger, and all the other goodies I need). Of course neither of my batteries last more than 15 minutes (one of which I purchased as a replacement, only to see its 45 minute life drop to less than 15 minutes in 3 months), so Im essentially always tethered to the nearest power outlet, despite all that Ive invested into making my laptop "wireless".

Enter the Redfly.

Fate smiled on me, and I was one of the lucky ones to pick up a beta unit. I honestly wasnt sure what exactly I was getting, but I was envisioning something a lot like a typical laptop, only with the added hassle of connecting your PPC/Smartphone. And having gone through all sorts of hoops when connecting other devices (such as my bluetooth GPS puck) I really wasnt looking forward to it.

When I received my Redfly package in the mail, I thought at first that it was either an intro package, or perhaps some accessories. Upon opening it up, I realized that everything I had expected was wrong.

First off was the size. The Redfly isnt any bigger than a typical hardback book, and much thinner than most. The weight was another surprise, its not a whole lot heavier than said hardback book.

Itll comfortably fit into my cargo pants pocket, though it is a bit too big for my jackets pockets. Its quite easy to tote around, making it a very nice change from my beast of a laptop.

And unlike my laptop, it really is wireless. Celio claims an 8 hour life for it, Ive found that my use far exceeds 8 hours, though I use far stricter settings than default to help extend power life. Ive taken my Redfly with me on 3 day trips, and not needed to charge it once. Thats not to say that you wont ever need to charge it, but if youve ever used a laptop like mine (where you might have enough power to check your e-mail before it dies) then its huge change. It took me several months before I realized that I was carrying around the Redflys charger....and never using it!

The Redfly allows me to use my Palm in the same way I used my laptop, for word documents, surfing, e-mail, and reading books (yup, Im an e-book addict!). Only now I can do it all through my Palm, which means as long as I have service Im connected (no more hunting for WiFi hotspots).

Plus I now can keep everything in one spot. No more having to dig through my laptop to see if I saved a document there. Everything goes onto my micro SD card, and its extremely easy to either plug my 800w into my desktop or pop in the micro SD card if I need to pull something off my Palm.

Unfortunately everything isnt all sugar and spice with the Redfly, it does have its failings.

The biggest is, in my opinion, the keyboard. While I can forgive the small size (there is only so much room to play with, and Celio did a good job of making use of the room they had) the layout leaves much to be desired. The Send, End, Left Menu, Right Menu, and OK buttons are all buried onto the same row as the function keys. This means that anytime I want to use one of those I have to hunt for it. It would have been relatively easy to add those keys around the touchpad, similar to the current right/left mouse buttons.

The Redfly settings button is another disappointment to me. Its prominently displayed, which is great for initial setup. But once youve set up the Redfly, you never need to touch it again. That spot would have been much more useful as another button (perhaps the OK button) thats used far more often.

Speaking of buttons, the center button (the one found in the middle of the directional pad on Palms) is completely missing. THis means that when I connect my Redfly via bluetooth, if my screen is locked (which it is most of the time) I have to dig my Palm out to unlock the screen. A minor inconvenience, but there none-the-less.

My beta unit also had some issues with the mounts used to attach the screen to the body. First, the screws backed out making the screen feel lose and wobbly. Then (at a later date) one of the inserts that provides tension for the screen (what keeps it from falling shut after you opened it) worked its way loose.

Both were extremely easy to fix, but it was still a slight annoyance. Ive been informed that the whole area back there was redesigned, so its likely that the issue has been addressed on the production units.

Some final thoughts.

The Redfly feels slightly cheap when using it. Its got some heft to it, but the amount of plastics used means it just doesnt have that solid feeling I prefer. The Redfly has held up extremely well to my abuse (including dropping it), and I dont have any concerns that its overly fragile. I still think that the use of some metal instead of plastic would make the device feel more solid.

All that aside, the Redfly is a device that does exactly what it claims to do, and does it exceedingly well. Most people when I tell them about it dont get why its useful. I understand, I didnt either....until I used it. Try it out. I doubt youll be disappointed.

Satisfied Customer!

User: RedFly User, Aug 12, 2008

Pros:	Simple, Effective, Valuable
Cons:	-

Excellent device! I could have purchased an "Eee PC", but whats the point??? I didnt want ANOTHER place to store all my data... I already own a laptop and a smartphone. With the RedFly I can now leave my laptop at the office and can "truly" be mobile. I have all my data at my fingertips, and can even get access to my office computer while on the road. Not to mention the security aspect of this device. I can also charge my WinMo smartphone from this while using it AND while its in the overhead of the plane! I land and I have a full charge on my cell phone with plenty of battery left on the RedFly. Thanks for an outstanding tool for the road warrior! Waiting to do my web based expenses and CRM till Im back at the office is a thing of the past. This has made me more productive and responsive. Great job!

Ultra-mobility with zero hassle

User: James Morman, Sep 10, 2008

Pros:	-
Cons:	not all apps work with it.

I have been using the Redfly since March of 2008. This is a sweet piece of equipment. Its a laptop form that doesnt need rebooting, defragging, spyware, anti-virus. It turns on and has internet in a matter of literally seconds. The only maintenance it needs is to be plugged in and charged every few days. I love being able to talk on the phone while taking notes with my phone and also while charging my phone.
No its not for someone who needs full laptop capabilities. There are times when I need my tablet pc. Many times however I need to be on the go with something in order to answer emails, look at my RSS feeds, create documents. I spend a lot of time on the phone and have to set appointments and take notes while I am talking. The Redfly lets me do all these things quickly and efficiently and when I am done, its all on my phone.

Does what its supposed to do

User: Jonathan Coupal, Sep 26, 2008

Pros:	Great interface for traveling
Cons:	Cant do video

This is a great product and ideal for someone who is on the road a lot. I travel between cities in upstate New York and this allows me to communicate and be connected using my Windows Mobile device. It works as advertised and is a great product (especially with its great battery).

Its a shame my slingbox client doesnt work, but theyre pretty clear about the up front. Other things, like remote desktop, SSH, etc. work great and allow me to do tech work while on the road, allowing me to support my clients.

	Great device!
User: David Telesca, Oct 6, 2008

I love the Redfly. I didnt like lugging my laptop around to schools (Im a district administrator), but it wasnt easy to do my work just typing on my Treo. This device allows me to be truly mobile - and I can use Logmein to access my laptop while outside of the office as well. I havent taken my laptop off my desk since I got the Redfly.

The Perfect Mobile Companion

User: Dan Demers, Oct 11, 2008

Pros:	Lightweight, Big Screen, Big Features
Cons:	Power Supply A Bit Large For Travel

Although I read some mixed reviews before purchasing, I love Gadgets in general, and this item, the RedFly, was much needed.

Some reviews questioned the need for this "Mobile Companion" comparing it to the Palm Foleo.

But for me the screen on my XV6800 was too small to use effectively. As was the built-in keyboard or the software based ones.

The RedFly solves both those problems and is very compact. And since it has no CPU, etc. using the ones on the PPC, battery life is great.

I have tried most of the software on my PPC and most work flawlessly including Resco File Viewer (even in Touch mode), remote pc access, puTTY, IE (although I am eagerly awaiting for Opera 9.5 support), etc.

The wireless Bluetooth support for connecting to the PPC is great also.

The only con so far is that the A/C power supply could be smaller and have retractable prongs so it is better for traveling. Of course, more video support would also be appreciated and I hear it is in development.

Overall, a great "mobile companion".

This thing is incredible

User: Karl Marsh, Oct 17, 2008

Pros:	Now I can leave the laptop at work
Cons:	-

This thing really is incredible. The first thing that struck me is how solid the build quality is. It feels more sturdy than my Dell laptop. I could not believe how easy it was to get up and running. Took me all of 5 minutes. I have been using it with GoToMyPC and it works perfectly. So many of my Windows Mobile applications are much easier to use on the redfly. I could go on and on but you get the idea.:-)

Just the thing we were looking for

User: Gary Wilke, Oct 23, 2008

Pros:	compact, easy to use, intutive
Cons:	-

We have been looking for a small portable computing solution for some time. We tried the usual route: Notebook computer with power supply for the truck and then we went to a slate tablet hoping to get all the things done we were wanting done.

They both failed due to the size and boot time.

Enter the Redfly. Like many who read these forums we read everything we could about it and watched the video reviews.

At the beginning of this process we were using Palm OS treos and were reluctant to make the switch. This is the thing that made us want to do the switch. Yes, there is a learning curve but using the Redfly made the transition very easy.

We now have 2 units and are considering another when the budget permits. I have to admit the current price of $199.00 was what made it possible for us to make the transition.

If you are thinking about a mobile solution this may be just the thing you were looking for.

HPC2000 fans Rejoice

User: Todd McCormick, Oct 24, 2008

Pros:	Great form factor, easilly read display, USB enabled
Cons:	Not all Mobile software displays correctly

I had always been a big fan of HPC (horizontal display with full qwerty keyboard) format PDAs. When Microsoft chose to discontinue the HPC format in 2002 I started trying to figure out what was going to take its place. I found it useful to be able to actually read an Excel spreadsheet, or work on a Word document. None of the PPC format PDAs offered a workable display and keyboard. My old HPC (an Intermec 6651) also had USB "out" connector, which could be used to plug in thumb drives.

The Red Fly brings all of the features I love back to the PDA. The large 800 by 480 makes editing Excel and Word a breeze. The larger keyboard makes allows touch typing, as versus one finger hunt and peck on current PDAs. The dual USB ports on the back of the Red Fly allows you to transfer data from most thumb drives (and some USB hard drives). No longer do you have to use active sync to move files to and from your PDA. Just plug in the thumb drive and your PDA will mount it as a "network drive". Then you can move CAB files for direct installation on your PDA.

Not all applications can make use of the larger display it is up to software developers to enable image scaling to a larger display. Programs like Google Earth, Word, Excel, CE Total Commander and Nethack are all written to use higher resolution displays. Many games were written and optimized for 320 by 200 resolution, and as such, play but do not scale up. I have found a couple of applications which just dont like the larger display.

Redfly + RDP = Heaven

User: Bill Burnham, Nov 1, 2008

Pros:	Fast boot, light, bluetooth
Cons:	Small keyboard

I have been using my Redfly for a few days now and it a great companion to my Treo 700wx. With the Redfly I can leave my laptop at home and travel a lot lighter.

The biggest bonus though is combining the Redfly with RDP. Now I can access my PC desktop remotely and have enough screen real estate to easily get stuff done. A huge bonus is the ability to use my desktops browser to surf the web. It ends up being much faster to use my desktops browser via RDP than Opera or IE on my phone. In addition, I dont have to worry about site compatibility issues because the desktop browser does all the rendering. Not to mention that the Redflys screen is wide enough that with most sites I dont have to do any horizontal scrolling. I have noticed some performance issues if ActiveSync and RDP are running at the same time though.

The only major criticism I would have is that they should make it about an inch or two wider so that they can make the keyboard bigger. You get used to the keyboard but I find I have to type a lot slower to maintain accuracy. Still faster than thumbing it with my Treo, but a bigger keyboard would be nice.

Outstanding device, superb battery life

User: Donna M, Nov 10, 2008

Pros:	Document editing Ive always done on my phone is now MUCH easier
Cons:	I wish the charger were a bit smaller

I own both an Eee 701 and a Redfly. Im immensely glad I took advantage of the price-reduction offer and invested in the Redfly!

The keyboards of the two devices are identical in dimension a keyboard membrane designed for the one fits perfectly on the other. So if you are used to an Eee keyboard, youll have no difficulty with the Redflys, and vice versa. The devices external dimensions are very similar, as well. Their width is the same, their height would be the same except for the Eees battery adding to that dimension, and the Redflys depth is less. The Redflys depth is similar to the depth of JUST the part of the Eee that contains the screen, but the area containing the Eees hinges add another 1/2 to 1" to this dimension.

I use the Redfly under circumstances I wouldnt dream of taking the Eee, because the Redflys battery life is so much better. I can get at least 8 hours of use from the Redfly prior to recharging. I take real-time notes during hockey games I have plenty of battery life left at games end with the Redfly. Im certain that my Eees battery would not last through the end of a game.

For years, Ive used my PDA phone for text entry and various tasks rather than haul a laptop around. The Redfly, which fits perfectly in a not-so-large handbag, makes those tasks infinitely easier. Instead of embarking on the cumbersome task of entering text on a tiny touch screen or thumb keyboard, Ive taken meeting minutes with ease, in real time, on the Redfly. Ditto for the task Ive mentioned above, the jotting down of game notes on-the-fly during a hockey game. Touch screen and thumb keyboard text entry doesnt hold a candle to using a REAL keyboard to compose ones thoughts on the fly.

The only thing that makes using the Redfly hard, when Im employing it in public, is that I keep having to stop and answer peoples questions about the device. :) Anyone who uses a PDA phone regularly for productivitys sake will welcome the way a Redfly makes those tasks easier.

Game changer

User: Doug Steinschneider, Nov 18, 2008

Pros:	Battery - ready in a second - solid construction
Cons:	Would like to modify the keyboard layout slightly

I received mine last week. Its been great using it. I specialize in providing very small companies with advanced technology including mobile access. Ive had the opportunity to test popular laptop formats including the new netbooks. The hassle of maintaining a laptop operating system, syncing data, the weight/heat, waiting for bootups and high cost kept me from ever buying one for myself.

I concluded a few years ago that a screen and keyboard for the phone would be the way to go. I had no idea it could be done as nicely as Celio has done with the Redfly. Open it, press the bluetooth button on the Redfly keyboard and a second later Im checking email and calendar, entering billing items, remoting to customer servers and looking up things on the net. It was a surprise that the performance over bluetooth would be so snappy.

	Excellent Device
User: John Welsby, Sep 13, 2008

I have been waiting for this sort of device for a long time. I have all my data accessable wherever I am, using my Ipaq 214 and HTC 620. I also get the added benefit of charging both devices when they are connected via the USB cable. The only reason I have marked it down by one star is due to the poor power connection which tends to fall out very easily.

	Works as Advertised
User: Matt Kunz, Oct 13, 2008

This device works exactly as advertised. If you are mobile and want a quick way to work without having to boot up a laptop this is a great product. I live off of my smartphone and as a result find it much easier to work from it when I am out in the field. You certainly give up a few creature comforts from a laptop but it is not supposed to replace a laptop just supplement it. The only downside is I wish Celio would release drivers a little bit faster and also start providing support for Blackberry products. They would make a killing in the corporate arena if they did this.

Nice build. Adds great functionality to the phone.

User: Todd Lusby, Oct 16, 2008

Pros:	Portable and simple (works as advertised)
Cons:	None

I went back and forth on the Redfly for a while. I was excited about the initial Foleo announcement, but pricing was a bit high. The Redfly fit based on the price drop. My instinct is to compare this to buying a netbook but that isnt really apples to apples. With the Redfly and Sevens beta offering, I have real time access to my work email calendar and contacts. With a netbook and PAM (phone as a modem) software, I would still have a VPN to connect through to manage my Lotus Notes mail and calendar. This is easy with pocket outlook on the device. Im putting this through the big test next on an upcoming trip: no laptop, just my 800w and the Redfly (may no sound like much, but I dont go on any overnights without the laptop). I got it yesterday and its been on my desk all day as my "phone interface". Ive logged 12+ hours off and on since it arrived yesterday afternoon.

Overall happy customer,

Todd

Todd

Redfly excellent addon to my smartphone

User: Lee Dietzen, Nov 8, 2008

Pros:	Instant on, ability to read usb drives
Cons:	-

I ordered the Redfly on the same day I bought my Treo800W. Adding the redfly has made the windows mobile experience quite amazing. Browsing the internet on a cell phone screen is frustrating, browsing on the redfly screen is amazing. Well worth the cost!!

	A nice idea, but...
User: johnny nobody, Aug 8, 2008

A pretty cool thing, but whats the point, really? You could easily get a "real" Eee-PC type device for the same money, with the same screen, keyboard, similar battery life, and far more capability ... including if you get a simple bit of software (still keeping within the $500 price of the Redfly), everything this can do. It smacks of an almost Apple-grade ripoff to me :-/

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