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Originally Posted by plainsong /img/forum/go_quote.gif
That's just it - in a different room.
Well with a Pocketpc, smartphone, iphone, PalmOS, umpc, even one of those useless Nokia internet tablets - anyone of those I can actually take from room to toom. I don't need to stay tethered to a power cord. The freedom of wifi with the form factor and power supply of a kitchen appliance? No thanks.
Now granted, a qvga smartphone is slim on resolution, but there is a landscape mode, just tap a little icon and there ya go...or slide out the keyboard, depending on your model. But if you get a vga device, well it's going to have everything over the Chumby.
I know this is a little bit cheaper, but there are so many discounts if you get a ppc/smartphone as part of a cellphone contract.. it starts to become a no-brainer.
Even a Nintendo Wii does all this stuff if you have opera installed. Even a PSP does all this!
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Well, what if I don't want a smartphone? They're expensive, and data plans here in Canada are even worse. And they're very bulky, which is something I don't want in a cell phone. No good for me.
And PDAs aren't much better. The decent ones that would have the kind of functionality as the Chumby are expensive, and you're usually locked into a proprietary operating system with a limited selection of programs. Plus I wouldn't have much use for one on the go, so why would I pay all that extra money for something that's going to be mostly stationary?
As for the Wii, well, that's more expensive again, and it's not as open or configurable as this little unit.
What I find really cool about the Chumby is how simple and configurable it appears to be. It's kinda like an Apple device, only it can be made to do the things
I want it to do without too much effort. I would
love to be able to wake up to a local weather and traffic report
on demand. I know that my alarm clock/radio can deliver both of those, but there's no guarantee that I'll be able to get it right when I wake up. It would also be really nice to get a constant news stream while I'm doing my homework or just on the computer.
The only thing I can think of that might be better for me than the Chumby would be Asus' new subnotebook that they announced a few weeks ago, the Eee PC 701. It's a fully functional, very tiny laptop, and while it wouldn't be as simple to work with as the Chumby, I think it could come pretty close. More importantly, I plan to get one as soon as they come out anyways, so I'd save myself some money by using it in the Chumby's role. We'll see.
