A wide, slim (6 by 4 by 0.6 inches HWD, 6.1 ounces) palmtop that browses the Web over a proprietary thin client system, the PC Edge uses T-Mobile's GPRS (not even EDGE!) network to connect to the Internet. It's not a phone; it doesn't have a user-accessible SIM card; and there's no onboard storage. When you press a key on the keyboard, the device links up with Datawind's servers in Canada, which push down highly compressed images of Web pages that are updated several times a second. The device is basically a remote-desktop client for Datawind's browsing servers.
The upside is that sites load faster than on any GPRS device I've ever seen. It's a true technical feat. Pages appear within a few seconds, though as you scroll down, the pages then pause to draw additional chunks. You get all the Web elements you would see on a desktop PC, including Java and Flash—though anything that shifts or changes can do so only once or twice a second, making animations mostly useless.
There are plenty of downsides, though. Graphics aren't sharp. Standard mode dithers pictures down to 16 colors, though you can push it up to 256 colors with relatively little cost in download speeds. If you click on any user elements (such as pop-up menus) on pages, it takes a while for pages to respond. And there's a long delay while typing into some AJAX-based text-entry boxes, such as in Google Docs or Yahoo! Mail. The Edge is sending each character up to the server as you type. In more traditional HTML text-entry fields, the PC Edge lets you type locally and then bundles your text together before sending it up to the central server. There's no sound and, because of the slow frame rates, no video.
The device is pretty, but it's also a bit odd. It uses a bright but washed-out 5-inch, 640-by-240-pixel passive-matrix display and a flat, backlit keyboard with a bunch of mysterious function keys. These keys control functions like zoom, navigating the Web browser, double-clicking, and activating the built-in GPS, which works with Google Maps. (Or at least it's supposed to; my device thought I was in Florida instead of New York.
The keyboard is just a bit too wide to hold comfortably for thumb-typing, and the Edge's hinge won't let you sit it on a table as a mini-laptop, either. You navigate around pages using a virtual pointer on the screen, which is controlled by a cursor pad on the keyboard. It's a little awkward, especially because my cursor would sometimes run right off the screen and disappear.
The Edge offers a bunch of links to Web applications, including an e-mail client that runs on Datawind's servers, so it's faster than just navigating to your webmail client. You also get Web-based office suites, LogMeIn.com, and an online storage system (25GB). Because it's a server-based thin client, the Edge doesn't have any onboard storage. Google Docs ran slowly, because of the Edge's delay with entering text. LogMeIn.com wasn't very usable because my desktop image was so zoomed out that I couldn't read the names of icons.
My sample device had some build problems and some mysteries. The keyboard was slightly separated from the case on the left-hand side, and the device had a mysterious rubber-covered slot next to the power adapter that wasn't mentioned in any of the documentation.
Ultimately, the PC Edge is a solution to a problem that's swiftly disappearing. At $300 (plus $20 or $30 per month data plan—depending on whether it's on sale at the moment), this device is the same price as a16GB Apple iPhone 3G , which is not only slicker but does a lot more. Yes, the Edge can handle aspects of Web pages, like Flash, that most handhelds fail to do. But navigating the Web and entering data is much easier on other mobile devices. Graphics look awful with the Edge's compression. And the Flash advantage is partially canceled out by the Edge's slow frame rates.
I can't deny the technical feat Datawind has pulled off here. The Edge is slim, and it loads Web pages quickly using an unusual tactic that represents desktop pages with great fidelity. But should you buy it? I'm not sold. For simple Web surfing, I suggest getting a Nokia N810 Internet Tablet or even an ASUS Eee PC 2G Surf instead.
SPEC DATA :
Type: Other
Screen Size: 5 inches
Network: GPRS, GSM
Bluetooth: No
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