Netbook Pro things

So far I'm liking my netbook pro but as in life there are always things that annoy one.

It's ugly, it reminds me of a very cheap and dull v-tech type kids computer toy. I know the styling is from 2002 but surely they could have made something more attractive. It's a dull grey cheesy looking device.

MAJOR DISLIKE (might be the deal breaker)

Considering the physical size the keyboard is sub-par. The keys have a decent shape but are scalloped too much for my liking and the tactile feel is poor, borderline rubbery.

BUILD

The build quality seems good, but not exceptional. My 6651's are better made IMO. They are my gold standard for build quality. Think of it. They have this weird hinge thing going on that generally, stands up to ridiculous abuse. If I could get the NBP motherboard in the 6651 case I would be one happy guy.

THE KEYBOARD MAPPING

So the DELETE key is actually the BACKSPACE key. What gives? Why can't I hold the shift and use the arrows to highlight text? nevermind, that appears to be an opera issue. I also just discovered using the Fn + delete to do an actual delete so ignore.

General SOFTWARE

Using the old 8.65 Opera here, the one modded for the 900c and it works OK once I set the clock back. Has onyone gotten either Opera Mini or Opera 5 working on the NPB? So many WM5/6 programs don't install, but some seem to. Is there a hack to force a WM5/6 program to install for testing?

Finally, THE OS

How needed are the net.cf files? It looks like it uses a lot of RAM. Can it be installed to a flash card and work properly? I haven't encountered a lot programs that require it so far but that may be me.

I have an old ROM build on my rig. It's like 4-5 major builds old.

For those of you that have updated the ROM how was the process? Scary? Difficult? The Psion site doesn't seem all that clear to me as to what image to use and how to do it. Yes, I only skimmed it but a major thing like flash updating should be concise and clear.

Well, thanks for reading if you'ver stuck it out this far.

Edited by wallythacker 2011-03-13 3:33 PM

If updating the OS is anything like updating the Epoc OS on the netBook, I'd say it's the easiest thing to do. Like I previously mentioned, I don't have a .net version, but the Epoc version of the netBook. Mine's a darker gray and truth be told, probably one of the more stylish devices I've owned. (Just had to say that. )

I wish I could be of more help, hopefully someone who has used the netBook Pro can put your worries to ease.

The OS update is pretty easy.

My views are somewhat different. I like the feel of the keyboard, though I never liked the fact that there's no Windows key. ('Course, the Windows key wouldn't have been of much use in the original Epoc version. ) The way the persistent registry is set up (similar to the SIMpad) is also weird for a system that has a suspend mode.

.NET CF 1.0 comes standard in the core CE 4.x .net OS IIRC. Not a problem IMO on a device with 128 MB of RAM. CE 4.2 supports .NET CF 3.5, which the majority of Windows Mobile apps I've come across lately use. You can install it to a memory card, but then the apps need to be in the same folder as the runtime files, or you need to edit the system path in HKLM/Loader.