Mobile Ministry Magazine

Check out Part One of the MMM Celio Redfly Review to get up to speed.

There isn't any software on the Redfly itself to speak of, so what I want to address here, is how the software on the smartphone takes advantage of the hardware. Things like resolution, video playback, keyboard response times, sound emulation, and the like are all issues that books can be written on. Some things work perfectly, and others, way less than stellar.

First I'll talk about video playback. At the present time, there isn't any. In my limited experience with this, it seems that once the Smartphone is attached to the Redfly, all video processing is done via the onboard processor, which no developer has written anything for. This unfortunately isn't limited to just videos. Most of the games I play (Warfare Inc. for example) will not render on the device, or even boot up for that matter. All video players that I've tried will boot and render sound, which by the way only renders via your smartphone's speakers as the Redfly doesn't have any built in, but the players don't render any video. To its credit, most of the other applications take full advantage of the increased resolution. All of the Microsoft Pocket Office applications, Palringo IM, EReader, Pocket e-Sword, Olive Tree Bible Reader, the picture applications, and the file explorer for example, all worked without problems.

Internet browsing does leave something to be desired, unfortunately. While Pocket Internet Explorer does take advantage of the full screen, it doesn't improve the page rendering very well at all, and because of the video processing issue already mentioned, currently, alternative browsers like Opera and Skyfire also do not work. This is very unfortunate as most of what users will be doing will involve internet browsing.

The current version of the Opera browser (8.65) does, however, work very well. Web pages were snappy and rendered nicely as if this were a full fledged desktop browser. I love the Opera browser and hope issues with the 9.5beta version are resolved quickly as this is the version being included with a lot of the newer HTC devices like the HTC Diamond and Diamond Touch Pro.

I also tried the device with remote desktop services like LogMeIn, and it performed above and beyond what I thought my cell phone was capable of. I was even able to set the color and screen resolutions up so that it was optimal and fit pretty snugly on the screen with great readability. Now there's a great use for that 3G connection! The web page rendering speed really doesn't have much to do with the Redfly itself because it's all done on the phone, so tests on how fast web pages load won't be much different than if you were using the phone on it's own.

Speed, however, is a factor in typing. Even using the Bluetooth connection, there is no noticeable lag behind keystrokes and letters on the screen, unless you're typing a text message. I have used the Redfly every Sunday to take notes in both the new members' classes and sermon notes for the last 3 weeks. I've used applications like MS OneNote Mobile, Pocket E-Sword, and Pocket Word with much success and satisfaction.

One thing I dread using it for is typing text messages. Emails type fine however, but text messages are another story. At first I thought it may be a problem with the threading (I use Windows Mobile 6.1), so I deactivated threading and tested again to no avail. It's quite an annoying issue. I type at about 60-70 wpm (I'm sooo sloooow), and the rate the words appear on screen is utterly ridiculous. Imagine typing a message, let's say around 100 characters long, completing your thought, and ready to send… but you have to wait to see if you made any typing errors for up to a full 10-13 seconds after you finished typing (I actually counted… and it was only 82 characters.). As I said, this can be quite annoying.

As I mentioned, the reading tools I use (Pocket E-Sword, Olive Tree Bible Reader, and EReader) all work wonderfully. For consuming electronic reading material, the Redfly really does a great job with its larger screen. And with a rated 8 hour battery life, that's a lot of reading for me! I have yet to have this thing die on me when I really need it. I don't use it for long periods of time most of the time (except if I'm in a bind and really need to get some web browsing done), so I always have plenty of juice to get done what I need. On average I'd say I end up charging this device maybe two or three times a week. And mostly to top it off if I know I'm going to be using it the next day. I love to be able to listen to a sermon while tabbing between programs like pocket word and E-Sword while reading and keeping notes.

This device has taken typing to a whole new level. I didn't use Pocket word much until I got the Redfly. OneNote was another useless application to me until the Redfly showed me how useful the app could be, especially when paired with OneNote syncing. I'll save my doting over OneNote for another time and just say that I love that program, both on the Tilt and the PC. Yet, even with all of these great uses, if you're ever side by side with someone on an Asus (as I was on a recent trip to a conference with a friend who uses an Asus 1000H), you'll find that your experience in comparison with theirs… is less. While I am happy that the Redfly does in fact make using a smartphone better, it does not make it better or equivalent to the experience of using a full fledged computing platform.

While not an exhaustive list of issues I have with the Redfly, it's definitely a list of my big concerns. Given that they're promoting this device (at least on their site) to IT groups as a replacement for work laptops, I would definitely throw a fit if I was handed one of these by my local IT guy and told that this was the device I had to work from. For spreadsheets and word documents, it's excellent, but not for much beyond that.

There's still more to come! Come back tomorrow to get Brian's final thoughts on the device and get info on how he uses it in his day to day life.

Labels: ceilo redfly, Hardware, performance, review, software