The only thing I can really see that would take this product waaaay over the top would be a touchscreen in a convertible shell setup. Any way this might happen?
Touchscreen/Tablet?
- Thread starter MAgentieri
- Start date
EdFrmBrighthand
New member
I'm of two minds about this.
I have a convertible Tablet PC, and while I've used it as a tablet a few times, I mostly lost interest in this functionality within a month of getting it. Unless you have a job that requires you to work while on your feet, there just aren't many times when using a large tablet is convenient. If you're walking you want something small, and if you're sitting you want a keyboard.
On the other hand, my Tablet PC is roughly twice the size and weight of the Redfly, and puts out heat like a furnace. I might have found more uses for the tablet configuration is it was much smaller, lighter, and cooler.
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I have a convertible Tablet PC, and while I've used it as a tablet a few times, I mostly lost interest in this functionality within a month of getting it. Unless you have a job that requires you to work while on your feet, there just aren't many times when using a large tablet is convenient. If you're walking you want something small, and if you're sitting you want a keyboard.
On the other hand, my Tablet PC is roughly twice the size and weight of the Redfly, and puts out heat like a furnace. I might have found more uses for the tablet configuration is it was much smaller, lighter, and cooler.
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A touchscreen with a convertible tablet form factor is one of many, many product variant ideas that have been discussed for possible future versions of the REDFLY. A lot of the decision will come down to R&D costs vs. demand. I’ll put a vote in the “yes” column for you MAgentieri.
I've had my redfly for 6 days. I still find myself finger poking it nearly everytime I'm using it. "hand smacking the forhead"
Def. put me in the yes column. This may be the only thing holding me back. I use a convertable tablet daily. I am very much used to the interface, and would really notch the Redfly up for me.
Honestly, I think there isn't much holding me back, with as much as I travel and use my phone already, this could be a life saver. I'm at ~300 REAL emails a day, most of which require some response, I do alot of responding on planes and in cars, the Redfly would prb make that a great deal easier than trying to unpack the laptop or type on my Treo...
KP
wodin
New member
Another nice plus to a convertible touch is if someone wanted to use another usb keyboard. In that scenerio the ability to fold back the built in keyboard would be a benefit.
I've posted a few times on these forums about my old friend the Intermec 6651. (Two more posts and I'll be able to provide URLs and images in my posts, yay!
)The Intermec was years ahead of its time. It's a Redfly-sized HPC2000 device with a touchscreen, onboard camera, and the ability to fold itself flat and be used as a tablet.
I didn't use the tablet functionality all that much, largely because I got my Intermec as a refurb from eBay and it was sans a keyboard-cover accessory that would've helped prevent keypresses when the Intermec was in tablet mode. Plus, I used the Intermec largely for internet surfing and word processing, neither of which could I accomplish with the touchscreen alone.
However, the touchscreen feature was something I made extensive use of. THAT would be a hardware feature that I think people would be pleased with in future versions of the Redfly.
I've tried to use my 11-inch laptop for taking notes but it can be a pain when some of the notes involve atypical symbols (mathematical and whatnot). Some of those are available via special keystrokes, but not all are and those that are take too long to conjure. Having a tablet device (but with the size, low heat, and high battery life of my 11-inch laptop) would solve that problem - plus my notes would be searchable and require no paper.
Sexy.
Been there. Done that.
Character map may be your friend, but for me, it's just a fond, forgetful associate.
It's still not fast enough or fly enough - certainly not as fast as just drawing the succession of math and engineering symbols and figures I used throughout the day. And it doesn't have everything I need.
I'm glad it works for your purposes, but it's not practical for mine.
What about keeping a resource file handy that you can copy/paste your favourite characters from? Just thinking out loud ...
Thanks, but the flow of information doesn't support that - largely because of the figures showing containers, heat flow, circuitry, etc. I even considered just creating figures on regular paper but keeping the regular character-heavy content on the computer. Doesn't work (for me). Fractions and formulas make me spend too much time organizing and parenthesizing instead of keeping up with the flow of information.
Hopefully not changing the topic too much, but you know we started out at $499, got the price down to $399, and now the C8N with the added media port is $299 - all in the course of 6 months. So with that in mind, what would you actually pay for a touch screen version of the REDFLY?
Hint: this will cost us more to build than the current model.
And remembering I am in engineering not marketing or sales so this is not my domain, just curious.
-Laurie
Hint: this will cost us more to build than the current model.
And remembering I am in engineering not marketing or sales so this is not my domain, just curious.
-Laurie
Consider your market.
You can buy a sub-notebook or micro-laptop or netbook (whatever you want to call it) for $300-500, easy (just looked at Asus's new one for $350 tonight).
On the other hand, consider your competition for tablet PC's:
https://forums.windowscentral.com/e...T%26cid%3D27093%26lid%3D615885&token=Q3UX5Nx2
Now granted that's just Dell's, but tablet PC's are still in the $1500-$2000 range easy.
If Celio could put out a tablet version of the Redfly in say the $500 range (and I'm not sure that's even possible), then they'd have a real winner on their hands.
Let me put it to you this way, if you guys put out a Redfly with a touch screen for $500, I *WOULD* buy one (not promising, just stating my intent!). And that says a lot considering I just bought one (in addition to my beta unit).
Now if you guys wanna send me one as a beta unit....
wodin
New member
I'm not sure what build cost is, but the fire sale price of the C8 is at about the right place.
Think about the price of a BT StowAway KB and an 8" screen (if your could get one, but think about the price of an 8" DVD player for comparison. The VGA in feature on the C8N is the cost of the jack, the rest of the stuff is already there!
Those would come in at around $200 ($100 for the KB and $100 for the screen) making the added benefits of USB ports, VGA out ports, BlueTooth and touch pads essentially value added.
Now go find and 8" touch screen overlay on the internet, and I think you find them coming in at $50 to $100 by the ones and twos. Less by the hundreds.
So the price of an 8" touch screen C8 should come in at around $250, I'd buy one for that!
Actually, I though about hacking mine to add the touch screen, but running the wire through the hing to the USB hub would be a problem.
Think about the price of a BT StowAway KB and an 8" screen (if your could get one, but think about the price of an 8" DVD player for comparison. The VGA in feature on the C8N is the cost of the jack, the rest of the stuff is already there!
Those would come in at around $200 ($100 for the KB and $100 for the screen) making the added benefits of USB ports, VGA out ports, BlueTooth and touch pads essentially value added.
Now go find and 8" touch screen overlay on the internet, and I think you find them coming in at $50 to $100 by the ones and twos. Less by the hundreds.
So the price of an 8" touch screen C8 should come in at around $250, I'd buy one for that!
Actually, I though about hacking mine to add the touch screen, but running the wire through the hing to the USB hub would be a problem.
An 8 inch LCD with touch currently retails for around $250 to $300. That's just the price of the LCD touch screen, nothing else. Have you priced overlays recently? A quick Google search shows them starting at around $150 for just the overlay (no LCD).
On top of that you need to add in the cost of a custom made motherboard, custom made case, custom made keyboard, bluetooth antenna, USB hub, custom made power supply, not to mention the cost (both in pure dollars and in time) of developing the custom firmware, drivers, testing, shipping, warehouse space, QA work, support, marketing, new development, overhead, and about a billion other things.
Your pricing is completely unrealistic.
I don't know how much Celio is making off the C8 Refly's, but I'd be willing to bet it's ranging from "almost nothing" to "losing money". The $200 is an insanely low price, and there is absolutely no way they can recoup their initial investment off that low of a price.
Personally I think it's a brilliant business move because it gets their devices out there in the wild, and word of mouth is one of the best ways of selling (especially if you have a solid product, which Celio does). But it's not something they can keep up for very long and expect to succeed as a company.
Which would you prefer, Celio who charges a reasonable amount and stays around for years to come, or Celio who charges not nearly enough and is out of business in a few years?
wodin
New member
Since I already have mine, of course I'd like them to stay around. The best of both worlds.
BTW Amazon.com still has C8s available for $199 from both eXpansys and Celio!
Virtual Villiage has an 8.9 " touchscreen overlay for seventy bucks plus $13.99 shipping.
i'd buy one
that's the type of upgrade that would make me buy a second one/replacement
maybe when the sdk come out, we can hack one
that's the type of upgrade that would make me buy a second one/replacement
maybe when the sdk come out, we can hack one
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