PocketSurfer2 - I got my replacement

It's certainly fast - downloads pages quickly (a few seconds) - they look as they do on a PC - ie properly laid-out web pages.

Images are not as good as on a PC - Images are okay - but sort of grainy - nothing shocking or offputting. I cannot find any mention of what colour-depth the screen is. Text is nice and legible - text is even readable when you zoom the page out to full width.

Interestingly, I noted I can dual log into this site with it and my PC - ie this site doesn't report that I am already logged in - interesting.

The screen light on the device cuts back into a power-saving, low-light, after 30 seconds. Even when the screen backlight is dimmed it is still readable. More annoyingly, the rather nice ice-blue backlit keyboard light cuts out after about 4 seconds. I'm not sure if there is an option to increase the time or make it stay on.

The eye-catching LED icons and LED lettering on the outside of the case only come on when you turn the device on and off - they don't appear to stay on when the device is in normal use.

EDIT: The GPRS DOES NOT WORK - IT JUST STAYS ON THE SPOT WHERE THE DEVICE WAS ACTIVATED - THRERE IS NO POINT TO IT.
The homepage on the device has a Google map with your GPRS location (all the usual Google zoom and scrolling buttons) - it's pretty accurate to about 20 feet from my home location. This is very handy for not getting lost (or if you are lost). Bare in mind that this device uses mobile phone reception so it will work in a lot of places - the UK has pretty much 90% coverage - this device may prove very handy, considering there is no contract to pay.

It has 25GB online storage which is open-access, ie you can access it from your PC or allow other people to access it. So, you can be out somewhere downloading files from your PocketSurfer2 then, when you get home, log in with your PC and transfer the files.

You can remote access another PC with it - which is kind of cool to be able to access the desktop of your PC at home - ie your desktop appears on the screen of the device.

I'm very pleased with it so far. My first real test is to see how long the battery lasts. It's quoted as 4-5 hours, but some people claim they got more like 2 hours use.

I've been using it an hour and it is about 2 thirds full - which seems okay.

Just need to read the manual and learn all about it.

Looking good so far - could actually end up being something you cannot live without once you get used to it - it's small and light - easy to carry around in your pocket.

For someone who doesn't want to get tied into contracts and registrations, it is an ideal device. It's plug and play - you don't have to register it as such, ie give your name and address, bank details etc. When you power it on, it asks you for your first name and last name, an email address and a telephone number. As far as I can tell you could type in "Mickey Mouse" and it wouldn't matter - they cannot possibly relate the name you put it to an email or a telephone number - plus the device activated itself straight away.

In fact, I'm sure it could be put to mis-use - the only way of tracing someone is by the GPRS location - but then how do you prove who's been using it if it doesn't have to be registered to anyone? Mmm.

right stuff for you to have a look at for me :) does http://webmessenger.msn.com work? or failing that http://www.ebuddy.com/ ?

Also what about flash video sites, such as youtube?

Yep, I can access both webmessenger and ebuddy.

EDIT: and it took about 2 or 3 seconds for each site - this thing is that fast.

Flash (to a point), instant messaging, emailing, remote access, etc is fine. However, the way data is shunted to the device means that you will get rubbish frame rates for video playback. Official reviewers have reported they have watched Youtube videos with it. I just tried, but the footage is barely moving. In fairness, the makers of PocketSurfer2 claim it is not ideal for videos, etc. Plus, the device has no sound output.

The reasoning behind this is logical. They have 20 or so patents to deliver the fastest web data to a portable device. It's designed pretty much as a surfer - online board games (chess) are probably as exciting as it can get. Delivering media (sound/vision) would slow the whole network. Bare in mind how cheap this thing is - 1 year's worth of internet for free - after that £40.00 per year.

It uses IE 6 as it's browser though - that's the main thing that made me decide not to buy it. IE 6 is the poorerst browser on the market; I would have at least thought they would use IE7 - or even better, use FireFox. It will be totally screwed when IE8 comes out - it's meant to be totally standards compliant.

What IM services can be used with it? MSN?

This thing has a massive, massive, massive security flaw.

There is no log-in. I just realised - this thing is plug and play - you just turn it on and it works.

EDIT:
You have to do this yourself - the device does not prompt you as stated in the manual - you must set up log-in settings manually via the 'Favourites' button.

EDIT:
In fact, mine keeps coming up with various errors when I try to set-up a new password - including alarming Apache Tomcat errors - which are clearly device/network problems (probably temporary).

All the cookies are stored on Datawind's servers. Anyone can take this device from me and go to a web-page that I have logged into (but not logged out of) and access everything. I've only logged into this site once when I first accessed it - the cookie is stored and the site auto logs me in each time.

The manual claims that as part of the registration you have to submit a UserID and Password - mine didn't - there doesn't seem to be an option to set one up. The device seems to think I am in Canada where the company is based (Google and Youtube default to Canada), although the GPRS knows where I am.

Mmm.

Sorry, I found it myself - the 'Favourites' folder is where you do all your account stuff - I thought they meant 'Favourites' as in Internet Explorer favourites.

@"Game Boy"
With regard to the software the devices uses. Datawind ugrade you at their end. They handle all the Microsoft updates etc. I'm not sure of how to check what version of IE it uses. I'll look into this.

EDIT: I caused an error (by accident) and can see that the account settings on the device use Apache Tomcat 5.0.28

@"boomboom"
As far as I know, IM and chat are fully supported. The log-in page has multi-messenger account settings and log-ins for MSN, AOL, Yahoo, ICQ. I've never used IM (even on my PC), so I have no idea other people claim to use the device for IM.

Ah, you can set the quality of screen images. It has 6 settings. The default is 4.

The higher the setting, the lower the data transfer rate.

Cool - this is a nice feature.

However, this means this thing will go even faster if turned down.

EDIT:
Having said that - it is still very nippy at the highest image quality setting.

EDIT:
The battery has passed the 3 hour mark - it's in the red so, hopefully, I can squeeze it to 4 hours of continuous use. 3 to 4 hours is not bad.

EDIT:
This is the first page I have encountered that does not display as it should: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/

The info and links are all there - just the site layout is a bit all over the place. Mmm, much of it does not appear to be working. I might have to play with the device's settings for this page.

Sounds to me like the thing works by remote. They have a server that is actually browsing the web sites you request and sending you something that is compatible to your toy.

That is why the cookies are not on your device, and the web sites think you are in Canada, because it is a server in Canada that is actually doing the web browsing.

Interesting. Is what is being sent to you actually text? Or, are they sending you some sort of screenshot?

Edit: In other words, can you do a search on the local web page. Like find for a certain string?

Yep. The servers are in Canada. We access each other via mobile phone networks in the UK.

I just sniffed my through their servers all the way to the router that was sitting on the IP.

The data is crunched at their end and then rebuilt at my end - it then continues to spool the image data as you sit on the page. They have something like 20 patents with this thing. They challenged the industry to produce a faster product. Apparantly, this is the fastest product of its type.

So does it work worldwide? In particular, Australia?

I'm definitely interested in getting one but I see all the places to buy are .co.uk even if i look on the pocketsurfer.com.au site.

You can roam with it. You have to pay a something like £15.00 sterling per minute - which is not cheap.

Datawind's website suggests it is only sold in the UK and Germany:
http://www.datawind.com/

It only recently came out in the UK in the past couple of months.

A quick google suggests it will hit oz stores in a month. :)

Bah, the battery ran out.

Still, it lasted about 3 hours, 40 minutes.

They state 5 hours in the manual. However, like a mobile phone, I suppose it depends on how hard it is working to get and maintain signal. I'm pretty sure signal quality can affect a mobile phone's battery life.

I just hope that the battery life doesn't shorten over time. I've a feeling it will.

Except that in a year or two, you're probably down to 45 minutes. Lithium-ion batteries degrade pretty badly over time, whether you use them or not.

So puki. Fill us in on it's browsing capability.

Does it do animated GIFs?

Does it do flash?

Does client side java script work on it?

Can you watch a youtube video with it?

Do things like rollover images work?

It struggles with anything animated. I can bring up flash based pages- such as http://unlimited.orange.co.uk/flash/go

It will not updated fast moving objects- it does update - it's more like a 2 or 3 frames per second. That Orange page is displayed correctly - it is all laid out as it should be.

Video is pretty much a no, no. Then again, they never touted it for its media capabilities - it is purely a surfer.

With regard to Java - it has options for two engines you can toggle between - Sun and MS Java. Got anything you want me to try and access?

Not sure about rollover images - I don't think so.

I'm not too worried about cosmetics of surfing - animated Gifs, Flash animations. I just want to access a site and see it how it is meant to be seen.

EDIT:
A bit of poking about suggests the browers is in fact IE 6 - version 6.0.6.0.
Operating system is NT

Ahhh, I see. That is pretty much what I figured. Sounds like it is great for surfing though.

Did you get that info from within the device, or from a website that reported what you connected with? It is possible that is what is running on the server, not on your device?!?! I would have thought thta device was running PocketPC or Windows CE...

I am a bit annoyed.

Datawind seem to have 'doctored' images of the PocketSurfer2 in action.

One of the things that stood out about this device was the quality of the webpages (ie the images). I've yet to see any image that doesn't look grainy, like it went through a 256 colour hand-scanner (even after increasing the image quality setting).

I just checked Datawind's gallery - This image is faked:


I know this, as I downloaded the full-size version from their site:
http://www.pocketsurfer.co.uk/New%20Folder/PS2%20with%20Economist%20Site.zip

If you download the image and view - the evidence is at the bottom right side of the picture:


Why is the text slanted? That would appear to be a picture of a PocketSurfer2 with another image 'placed' over the screen.

That's bent.

I think it sucks that they doctored images to make the web content look how it looks on a high-colour home PC.

The device has a 256 colour screen. That faked image of theirs is not a 256 colour image.

I wonder if it is legal for them to do it?

Nowhere do Datawind mention the colour depth of the screen - it is not on the product box or in the manual. Why? Surely, this is one of the most obvious questions anyone would want to know the answer to? They mention the screen size, but not the colours it can display.

The screen images on the box also appear faked. I think they want people to think the screen is high-colour. Well, it would be a good selling point to make people think that.

There's probably some fine print somewhere saying the images are only a mock-up.

If they don't mention the colour depth it'll be because it's terrible. Sounds like it's 256 colours, max.

.

i dont know bout this product but ages ago and perhaps still today

when photographing tv's and CRT's you had the raster blink thingie show up
now ive not taken many shots of my lcd but all have been reletivly head on which that image isn

viewed from that angle with content on might bring up an unsigly image not good for promotional purposes, so a rather hash job photo shop is employed

same as how argos always has the same 5 simulated tv images throughout the catalogue

The product has a 256 colour output. Datawind are showing high colour images on it. People are going to be influenced into buying it thinking it has a high colour display. The manual and packaging don't mention the fact that it is only 256 colours.

I have looked at a whole load of reviews of the product that show Datawind's faked images. It would help if reviewers pointed out the obvious to the reader.

Well, people now know. I put it on Amazon's site.

but in all are you happy with the product
thats the main thing