Mobile Ministry Magazine

For the past few weeks, I've had the opportunity to live "life on life" with the Celio Redfly. For the uninitiated, the Redfly is much like the defunct Palm Foleo. It is a mobile companion that simply seeks to enhance the users Smartphone experience by adding a few luxuries. In the case of the Redfly, those would be a nice 8 inch screen that doesn't just zoom in or blow the devices screen up to an ugly pixilated blur, it actually changes the resolution! So those spreadsheets or word documents become easier to edit and create on the run, but it does have its limits, but more on that later. It also adds a larger keyboard, a VGA-Out port for monitors or projectors, and 2 USB ports which are very useful!

The hardware itself doesn't do any of the processing work. In fact, as far as I can tell, the only thing it runs on its own is the video processing. So apart from using this with a Windows Mobile device (which at the time of writing this was the only device supported), this thing is utterly useless unless you like to stare at the nicely portrayed "Redfly" logo.

Which is not a bad thing! Say you're at your local Starbucks and someone decides to swipe it... the thief actually makes off with an expensive paperweight, because all of the data and processing power comes from the Smartphone. So to make it perfectly clear, the device itself does absolutely nothing, but when used in conjunction with a Windows Mobile Smartphone, it makes that Smartphone look pretty nice.

The Hardware

The hardware itself, I have to say is very attractive. From the decorative raised curves on the top, the prominently displayed "Redfly" logo, the sharp looking reflective burgundy coloring and matching track pad, to the lovely screen, this thing doesn't look like a simple cell phone add on. In fact, anytime I've been seen in public with this thing I get quite a few comments/questions/curious looks. The most common responses I get are "that's cute" and "it's a WHAT-'fly?". Let me tell you... trying to explain what it is and what it does to the "less than tech savvy" is a task. For most, the curiosity tapers and thins when I tell them that it isn't actually a laptop. That says a lot about who is buying this thing.

For the average consumer, a netbook or a laptop could probably be best. Even when shopping for a case in a computer store, I was stopped when comparing the carrying options to the device. "What is that?" the store rep asked (two of them). I tried explaining what it was and they pressed me for more information. "Is it a Windows machine? No... That must be Linux..." the other rep added. I pulled out my AT&T Tilt and said, "nope... it's neither. It's my cell phone". At that, they both quickly lost interest. So cosmetically at least, this thing has been a big success with others, myself included!

The two features I was the most curious about before ordering, were the VGA and the USB ports. My mind raced with USB possibilities. The first thing I did once I got it back to my office was plug my 60GB USB drive up to see if it would work. It was a no-go. However, every USB Flash drive I tried has worked flawlessly. The day I bought my case I also picked up a 4GB flash drive. It worked perfectly! The next day I took the flash drive back to exchange for a 4GB micro SD to replace the 2GB micro SD I currently used. I got home, swapped the cards, put the 2GB card into a USB flashcard reader and plugged it in. The Tilt picked up both cards perfectly. I even transferred some of the data from the 2 GB card over to the 4GB card with Resco Explorer. It took a little while but it did the job!

I also tried out a wireless keyboard and mouse I have laying around the house, and they both worked flawlessly. I also attached my computer monitor which worked expectedly. So all in all, the hardware itself does exactly what it’s supposed to.

Stay tuned for the next section of this review when we talk about the Softare and Performance of using the Redfly as a day-to-day tool.

Labels: ceilo redfly, Hardware, review