I picked up a REDFLY several months ago, when they first lowered the price to under $200 (thanks Matt Miller for encouraging my gadget habit).
I’ve used it a bit, but not much. Took it on a trip or two where I didn’t want to take a laptop, but didn’t want to be constrained to my Motorola Q screen for e-mail and the web.
A few weeks ago I received an e-mail from Trent my “account manager,” he asked a few questions and I just got around to responding to them. In the spirit of the social web I thought I’d post the e-mail chain here (contact information removed of course).
Dear Ross,
Congratulations on your recent purchase of the REDFLY Mobile Companion. I wanted to follow-up on your purchase and introduce myself as your account manager. If you have any technical questions or support issues please contact 1.888.4REDFLY or you can email technical support at XXX@celiocorp.com.
As your account manger I am interested in understanding if your purchase was for personal use or for a corporate evaluation. What was the driving factor behind your decision to purchase the REDFLY Mobile Companion? I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.
Trent
My response:
Personal purchase with a mix of personal and business use. I'm an IT consultant and on the road most weeks away from home. It's a convenient way to use the connection I already have via my phone when I'm in a location where there isn't wifi readily available.
Honestly though I haven't used it all that much, the biggest factor in picking it up was the price decrease. However I've kept in my mobile arsenal as my client/travel needs may change in the future. I don't see it replacing the need for me to carry a PC, except on small trips (mostly leisure) where I want the ability to hit the web, or check e-mail and don't want to bring the PC. But anywhere that I'm doing "serious work" I don't see myself leaving the PC behind. Windows Mobile is still a bit too under powered. This may be somewhat addressed as my company migrates to Exchange 2007 and I gain more functionality in Outlook on WinMo.
I did speak to one of the IT buyers for our company, and he had played with one, but didn't see a lot of benefit to it. Because again he expected the workforce to still need to carry a PC with them. I disagreed with him, I do think it's a good companion device. But since we're traveling for a week at a time, it's not something our workforce would probably use. If we away and back to home/office every day, or multiple times during the day I could see a different dynamic.
One hardware thought user replaceable batteries are key, it gives the option to stockpile extra batteries and keep going through out the day. Also the design of the power adapter is fairly inconvenient. I'd like to see a standard laptop - "brick" type adapter, as its more flexible.
I know no one really reads this, but on the off chance that people are looking at a Redfly, that’s my quick and dirty impression.
Related Links:
