September 05, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: The road ahead for Oliver Rist
Business is business It's an all mobile phone week for Tom Yager, who after completing a comparative review of seven enterprise models brings up the topic of how to get a better deal when buying one. Act like a business, and not like a consumer party, is Tom's advice in his Ahead of the Curve column.
The Road Ahead? All good things come to an end. If you enjoyed Oliver Rist columns take a good reading of this one because it's his last. Oliver parting gift to his readers is a look at what's coming with Windows in the near feature and how to prepare for it. Was he trying to mimic (or mock) "The Road Ahead"? Perhaps. One never knows with Oliver.
Posted by Mario Apicella on September 5, 2007 09:13 AM
April 30, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Review: Not flipping for the FlipStart micro PC
Vulcan’s entry into the burgeoning mini PC, micro PC really-small-thing-running-a-full-PC-OS-almost market has a lot about it that's small. You can see just how small in the photos of the unit next to my fat hands that ran in my March 8 preview.
Unfortunately, the smallest thing about the FlipStart is its reason to live. I think it's Klingons who leave the no-purpose runts of their litters on rocks as otherworldly snacks for predators. That way, the kid can go back to Sto-Vo-Kor and try again. (Yeah, I looked that up and probably still got it wrong.)
Vulcan needs to try again, too. Because I'm nuking the FlipStart itself, not the micro PC concept -- though I have yet to see one I respect. For me, respect requires purpose. And so far, while colorful little dwarven PCs certainly look cool, they can't sing "hi ho hi ho off to work we go" because, well, they're too small for work. Sony's UX, OQO's 02, and the FlipStart are all too small to serve as effective work machines. And it's not about horsepower, or even the display: it's all about the keyboard.
I've only seen the OQO's annoying keyboard, but I've handled both the Sony's and the FlipStart's, and they're impossible for more than a few SMS-style taps. Writing a report -- hell, even just editing a report -- will put you in a church tower waving an AK-47 in less than an hour. And it's not just my fat male fingers that are troubled by FlipStart's keyboard. I lent the device to a dainty-digited female acquaintance (hey, it could happen) and she couldn't work it accurately either.
But let's put that aside for a moment. Let's pretend you can work on a FlipStart. And not only that, let's pretend there's an application out there that's not only specifically designed for a micro PC, but it's even useful. I would still drop the FlipStart for the following reasons:
Anemic hardware. A 1.1GHz CPU and 256MB of RAM? That's going to have to jump to 2GHz and 1GB of RAM. I didn't just play Cheers videos on my FlipStart. I loaded Office documents and a 1.84GB Outlook mailbox downloaded from my backup machine. The Flipper hiccupped a bunch during standard Office duties, but it choked hard after loading that mega-Inbox.
Scant disk storage. I actually rubbed my eyes when I read 30GB hard disk. Are they kidding? My Archos handheld media player has 60GB for crying out loud. Since media playing is really the main thing this little thing is good for, sticking a tiny disk in there truly doesn't make sense.
No broadband wireless pre-installed. The boys at Vulcan really stepped on their hoopas in that department. Web surfing is the only other thing the Flipper might do well, so limiting connectivity is kooky.
A mere 8MB of video RAM. Where are we? 1998?
Short on battery life. Small things are supposed to run for longer peri-ods. At full media-playing blast, this thing gave me three Cheers episodes and a third of Inside Man before it died hard. That would have been okay for the native battery, but that was with the long-life battery attached.
I did have a few fun experiences with the Flipstart. The integrated 1.3MP Webcam turns the Flipper into a decent Skype video phone. The bundled port replicator gives you two USB ports and a video port, though the latter failed to drive any of my flat panel displays, which Vulcan says is a beta bug. Though with 8MB of video RAM, I'm not eager to see this thing drive a big screen anyway.
The Flipper also proved useful at a trade show at which I was doing long-term coverage. Since I wasn't responsible for reporting breaking news, I only needed e-mail access during the day -- just enough to type "Thanks, I'll get back to you tomorrow" to the really important messages. For that, the FlipStart is great, since hauling even a 15-inch MacBook around a trade show all day is lethal for the lumbar. Had I really been covering the show, however, with an article or two due from the show floor, I'd never have taken the little thing.
In sum, the Flipstart isn't too late, but it is too little. Except for one aspect: Its price tag. An oversized PDA running a full copy of Windows sounds cool on paper, but it just isn't worth $1,999 in the checkout line. Fix the problems above; maybe add an expandable keyboard that wouldn't have me going Hannibal Lecter on the passenger next to me in less than 15 minutes; add a stacked optical drive; some cell phone on-demand action; GPS and tablet functionality... now for that I'd pay two grand. Maybe FlipStart 2.0.
FlipStart 1.0
Price: $1,999
Verdict: Vulcan's FlipStart makes a push into the ultra-cool world of full-featured micro PCs. Too bad it's neither cool enough nor full featured enough to make us think the price tag is worth it.
Posted by Oliver Rist on April 30, 2007 06:00 AM
March 22, 2007 | Comments: (0)
A Bluetooth speakerphone for your mobile
A little larger than the typical cell phone or PDA, the Spracht Aura Mobile BT conference phone is a versatile little unit. You can use the Aura as a Voice over IP (VoIP) conference speakerphone for Internet phone calls with a Bluetooth enabled PC or Mac -- without the need for any additional software to make it work. If your computer isn't Bluetooth enabled, you can use the included cable to connect the Aura to your computer's headset and microphone jacks. The Aura can convert a cordless landline phone into an instant conference phone as well.
Best of all, though, the Aura can turn your cell phone into a professional-sounding speakerphone. I'd been using a Bluetooth headset in my office for conference calls, but even in my very quiet office, I was often told (not always politely) that my headset wasn't cutting it. After using the Aura on a few calls, I was hooked. This 9-ounce, full-duplex device really packs some decent sound, and the 3-watt dual speaker pushes the volume far beyond where your ears are willing to go.
On the downside, I sometimes had trouble making the Bluetooth connection. To be fair, it's possible that my Treo 700P was to blame, but I experienced a few false starts connecting the device to the phone. Still, the Aura easily beats the Treo's built-in speakerphone, and it has other nifty features to boot. At $149.95, it's not a bad deal overall.
The Aura comes with a wall-plug power adapter, car charger, VoIP cable, cordless phone cable, and external microphone. It gives you up to four hours of talk time between charges and even has a nicely integrated car visor grip for hands-free calls while driving.
Victor R. Garza
Victor R. Garza is senior contributing editor to the InfoWorld Test Center.
Posted by Victor R. Garza on March 22, 2007 11:34 AM