I think the device has tremendous potential. And no, that's not just because I've been drooling on my keyboard reading the specs for the past month or so.
Why? Because we're moving towards urban wifi in a big way. Chicago's taking unprecedented steps to ensure network neutrality and open infrastructure in their wifi RFP. In the United States, I will soon be able to say that pretty much everywhere I need it to work, a wifi device will work for me. That will justify the $350 tag for me easily. Being able to get online on a screen a little larger than a phone is nice, but wifi is better...because it frees me from having to pay a cellular service for my internet data. This means I can check email from anywhere, everywhere. IM and browsing are nice too, of course...and if you're a Drupal user, this means you can add content to your site while you're stuck on the train. Who needs GPS if I can do Google maps on my wifi? For that matter, how long before someone develops software that'll track your location and movement anonymously for muni wifi networks to act as pseudo-GPS, complete with ultra-local advertising? The killer app will be Google talk. Why? VOIP. This means that, theoretically, I'll have free cellular calling on wifi...no bills. If I want to be able to do true mobile phone calls, I'll have to pay something like $5 a month for an incoming number ($5 a month for free incoming calls is nothing to sneeze at, especially for parents with kids) or wait for a provider like Sunrocket to figure out how to interface with the system, in which case I'll pay $16 per month for unlimited local and long distance, incredibly advanced voicemail, and two incoming lines. The catch? Wifi is a bursty protocol, and my experiments with Sunrocket over a wifi link have not been very promising. It'll take some major bandwidth and a very reliable connection for VOIP over wifi to be anything approaching reliable. For someone who never uses a cell phone, like me, it'll be cool...but for most of the world, it's not going to replace cellular all that soon. For developing nations or rural locations, it may be much harder to justify the cost of this device given the difficulties in locating wifi infrastructure...the inherent mobility of the hardware may be lost, since you may be tied to the few wifi locations available. I'd question its use in India, for example...in most parts of India, you'd be deploying the device and then deploying an accompanying wifi connection for it to work from, meaning that you've effectively purchased an overpriced, tiny-screened desktop computer. At the price range, I'm also not entirely sure it's particularly innovative...how does it compare to say, a Dell Axim with built-in wifi and bluetooth? Same price range, the Dell's got a significantly faster processor, the Nokia might have a larger screen...other differences? And while we're at it, the Ipaq line's probably in the same price range as well. I'd expect mobile wifi to drop into the $150 price range in the near future for entry-level devices, which should make it significantly more affordable to deploy. I also expect the developing world to jump on the wifi bandwagon quickly (faster than the US if this country isn't careful, given how much control the telcos have over legislation here), which means that though this device may not have immediate significance as an educational tool for much of the world, it (or devices like it) will very soon. Dave. ------------------- Dave A. Chakrabarti Projects Coordinator CTCNet Chicago [EMAIL PROTECTED] (708) 919 1026 ------------------- Brian Russell wrote: > What do educators think about students using mobile internet devices for > education? For example the Nokia 770. <http://www.nokiausa.com/770> > > Its an internet tablet with wifi built in, 800x480 touch screen, Linux > based OS, bluetooth, Opera web browser, GTalk (VOIP), IM, email client, > word processor, and I've even seen a Citrix client for it. > <http://tinyurl.com/lae6e> Keyboard is not included but has been known to > work via bluetooth. Retails for $359.95 USD. > > I haven't used this device but I thought it could be handy. Here are more > URLs about it. > http://maemo.org/maemowiki/ApplicationCatalog > www.internettablettalk.com/ > > -Brian R. > > __ > /__\ > \__/ > || > || > || > \__ > \_ Brian C. Russell > Media Activist/Tech Advocate > AudioActivism.org > ChapelHillWireless.org > PodcasterCon.org > Yesh.com > \__ > \__= It's a Mic... > > _______________________________________________ > DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list > DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org > http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide > To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE > in the body of the message. > _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
