FS [Global]: SmartBook G138

I would say that it is yes. Given that the 900c and the G138 both have Office readers, to do real editing you will need SoftMaker Office (a review of the 2006 version is coming soon). Email, as I've seen, is about the same so it is pretty much a wash. Both email and web surfing are easier though given you have LAN connectivity built right into the G138.

Bottom line though is the display on the G138 obliterates the one on the 900c. There is absolutely no comparision both in size (800x480) and clarity. The G138 has a TFT display.

The G138 isn't perfect but I think it's substantially better than the 900c personally.

Hope this helps

I've looked (roughly) through the review of the G138. Must say it really does look like an impressive device. What I liked _A_LOT_ is the possibility to use this as a phone. (But since I'm not going to live in Europe for more then another year at tops, that's ruined when I return to the states.) As I've stated before, I use the Nokia 9500, and hopefully a E90 when that is finally released.

And at first, I was looking at the Foleo to help me with editing my office documents on my communicator, but maybe a G138 could be a replacement for it as well? This would allow me to do all my work and communications in one portable device. However, it is rather large for use as a mobile phone replacement.

One thing I didn't catch in the review, does it have bluetooth? WiFi?

Solidus

Ah... While it is highly subjective, I'd say yes. The keyboard is almost as good as the Mobile Pro, but the screen is a ton better on the Smartbook. While the screen size is similar, the Smartbook has 150% more pixels than the Mobile Pro (800x480 vs 640x240) and the quality of the TFT is much better than MP's DSTN. In size and weight, they are about the same. Down side of the Smartbook is it has only a CF slot and no PCMCIA, and battery life cannot match the Mobile Pro either. Smartbook has built-in GPRS/GSM modem, instead of the MP's phoneline modem.

edit: no it does not have BT or WiFi built-in. You'd have to add it using the CF slot.

And it does not practically function as a mobile phone either. While it does come with applications to make and receive voice calls, the device must be turned on for it to receive calls, i.e. it has no standby mode.

Edited by takwu 2007-06-29 1:32 PM

No, it has neither although that's solvable with CF cards.

The battery life is about 1/2 in my testing (granted, early days though): 4.5 hours versus around 8.

Having the nice display, you pay for it in battery life. I'd still argue it's worth the cost.

Do you think a bluetooth handsfree will work with the unit? That way, I can carry it around in my bag and use the handsfree unit to talk. I'm seriously getting hyped up lol.

Great question but I don't know the answer for sure.

Chris, any thoughts?

I am afraid I have to show my ignorance on that one, bluetooth is a technology that I've never used with any interest. I would suspect not. cmonex would be a better candidate to ask re the presence of a gateway.

nono, i wouldn't bet on this. also, as clinton says, the battery is less good than the 900c battery so it wouldn't be viable as a phone, sorry.
i do find the phone function pretty cool, the sms is quite usable, too bad you can't have the thing in standby.. but what really rocks is you just have to insert the sim card and off you go surfing.

that leads to the next point: the browser is lots faster than on the 900c - opera on the 900c helps lots though. same for the gui and for textmaker. this thing (smartbook) is the only device where textmaker does load quite fast. not that it is unacceptable on the others (but on the 900c you need to work around if you type too fast).
this is due to a well implemented video chip in the smartbook and due to the big amounts of ram. CE and especially IE can fly with 128mb. i know, because the bsquare phh also has 128 and it also flies with IE. same for nexio though bsquare is slightly better maybe. none of my 64mb's are like that. takwu can confirm this (though sig3 is not bad at all, thats where our opinions differ!)

now enough hype?

to remain objective, i need to mention the problems too.
the keyboard isn't nearly as good as on the 900c - can be personal preference, but i prefer even the sig3 keyboard to the smartbook even though sig3's is smaller.
the battery is weak-ish, and is built in, sadly. i'm going to rebuild mine with 2600 mAh cells soon, though. that will give it 5-6 hours, and that's quite fine.
(my battery hasn't had problems until now, unlike the other old smartbook batteries. but now it charges up to 93% ... but that's my fault too, letting it discharge for a while recently with the other problems in life didnt have time to play with it )
another thing, it only has 1 slot, now that can seem too little if you need wlan or bluetooth *and* a memory card. the 128mb ram helps somewhat with this..
one last point, i sometimes think the software could be more stable too, on some machines. could be it depends on settings though.

all in all i think it is definitely more of a joy to use than the 900c especially for your tasks, but the 900c has many advantages too. (more expandable, more slots, usb host, better battery, parts more readily available, and.. more hacking, hehe.)

so now it is up to you

If it was able to communicate with a bluetooth headset, my mind would be made up. I'll have to look further into it. Because this would be my personal "dream machine."

But since that's not the case, it still seems like a good product for office documents. I may just drop my 9500 and purchase a smaller, sleeker phone and use this beast as my main document editing system. But that adds to the bulk. 1x phone 1x hpc. (Where as the Nokia 9500 is both.)

I'm gonna have to think about it guys. But I appreciate the time ya'll took to help me out. I'm going to take a little more time to look around before making up my mind.

Two thumbs up for the help!

Edited by SOLIDUS 2007-06-29 3:48 PM

Yeah, actually altho both Smartbook and Nexio have 128MB of RAM, the Smartbook seems to use up less of the RAM from a clean boot. That and the video config mentioned above are what I think makes the Smartbook even faster than the Nexio with IE. However the Smartbook is a bit slower running CPU intensive programs, such as video decoding and gaming/emulation, compared to XScale devices like the Nexio and Sig3.

Now I can't wait to see how the Compal will perform... with 500+mhz and 256mb ram it might just blow all the current/old HPCs out of the water

the smartbook's ram usage is strange. it constantly tells me it is not using a XIP image, but shadow. i.e. the OS is loaded into ram. yet you have only 3MB consumed?
actually maybe it is more, try to move the slider to the far right, you can't do it. smartbook ram applet is cheating
even more strange, you can't move it to the far left either. so you don't actually have as much program RAM as you'd like. maybe that's why i don't think it is faster than the bsquare, with IE.
and i dont even get why it wouldn't be XIP because it has true NOR flash so why not take advantage of that. so i'm sure it is XIP too, otherwise it would use much more RAM. *shrug*

off: yeah, can't wait for the compal.

Edited by cmonex 2007-07-02 6:48 PM

Can the G138 not act as a USB host?

no

For the benefit of my existing buyers, I have uploaded the 4.1 English ROM, as well as the original Chinese app suite to H/PC:Update, along with a few other things which were not on the CD's that came with the devices.

The US ROM is up there now as well for interested American parties.

I still have a couple of them left if anyone is interested.