Smartbook G138 is here!!!

oh yeah. the sigmarion has a different cpu flag (or whatever flag), so it can only be a reference if you go to the sigmarion english users page and see what is hacked successfully
but a better reference is http://hpcnec.com and here the software section, as the nec 900c is ce.net 4.2 and doesn't need any special flag in the cab installer

Hi,
I bought mine second hand thru eBay. It costs somewhat less than a brand new unit...

There's a distributor in UK selling brand new units on UK eBay, but they only ship and provide warranty within the country. Their BIN price is 299 Pounds IIRC. Search:
www.ebay.co.uk

There's another brand "Coxion" in Europe selling the same thing as the WebBook. I believe they have the US keyboard layout, instead of the UK layout in mine. They also offer a tri-band version so it works with some North American networks.
www.coxion.com

Thanks for all the info, takwu!

Appreciate it!

FWIW, I emailed Coxion and got a very short reply....

SmartBook G138 is 1100 Euros + 50 Euros shipping to USA.....

Ouch, seems a bit steep for this unit....

That's not a bit steep... that's daylight robbery!

Especially, when you 'go down the street' to
http://pulster.de/

and get one new for 549 Euros!!

Not to mention the nice accessories that come with it....







Edited by ArchiMark 2005-06-26 6:31 PM






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It might come with German version of Windows tho

yes it's sure to come with a german OS, they say that explicitly. ehh well i could learn german i already know a little and am planning to do a language exam too.. would be great practice for it

But what I don't understand is why the German version is half the price (549 Euros) of the Coxion price (1100 Euros)???

Just seems strange that the pricing could be that much different...

Takwu,
can we have a update on the g138 please? Is life with the G138 still sweet :-)

Is the battery life holding up? I'm dying to know what happens when the battery finally dies, if its built in how do you get it fixed/replaced when or if it gives up the ghost especilly when you think that it's also the backup battery as well?

Have you found any decent PIM software as I heard that Pocket on Schedule has a few problems ( or is this a earlier version, coxion has a demo on its website

http://www.coxion.fi/eng/support/webbook.html

cheers

T

mmm, sure

As a matter of fact, I am on my desk right now using the Smartbook, even tho the desktop PC is right here. The PC is simply way too loud, especially when I'm watching TV (the PC monitor is also TV).

The Smartbook is more than adequate as my little internet machine; both IE and Messenger are great. I could check e-mail on it too. Surely the keyboard cannot be as comfy as a full size, but it works just fine.

Just last week my PC died (XP won't boot), and just as my laptop (the PictureBook above) was being "worked on" I was glad as ever that I have this trusty HPC always ready to go, so I could keep myself updated on forums and emails.

A bit of negative is that the weight gives my shoulder a work out. Sometimes I do wish it weighted more like the Jornada, as I would not go outside without carrying one. I did get a shoulder bag that's a little bit bigger; my old bag would simply be too stuffed by the SB. Oh and recently in my local PPC club meeting someone got a MP780. The two are close in dimensions and the NEC seems a bit lighter. I took pictures and will post them right away.

The battery should be better I admit. It can last the day, but then it can't sit thru the evening after I get home, so I need to plug it in. I want more quality time with it lol.

BTW I am glad that AvantGo works just fine, as I can't get WiFi everywhere while I'm out, looking for movie show times... I couldn't get Pocket OnSchedule to work, but I didn't think to try the version on Coxion site. CE Agenda works well tho.

So far I like the SB too much to think about taking it apart, risking damage {touch wood}. But if it ever happens, I'm sure you will hear it here first

Agree with most of your points about the G138, takwu, except for one that I'd like to 'weigh in on'....

While the G138 weighs more than a Jornada 720, it's still only about 2#. So really not much to carry around. Especially if you've got some sort of bag/briefcase with handle to carry it in. If someone is used to carrying around a typical laptop, then the G138 is nothing to really worry about.

As for typing, the keyboard is pretty good as it's much larger than most HPC's.

Display is great, due to it's relatively large size and brightness.

Like everything else, using the G138 is a tradeoff of larger display/keyboard vs smaller size display/keyboard and less weight of using a Jornada or Sigmarion....

Just my 2 cents...



Mark

Hey Takwu

Thanks for the quick reply

For me the weight is not the issue really, I'm assuming that the SB is about the same size/weight as the sharp hc-7000 i already have, but from various sites i gather that the SB has slightly less depth as it doesn't have the wrist rest/battery which is my main bug bear about the 6651/7000. The main reason for an upgrade would be IE6, shame theres no 3rd party that does a decent equivalent.

Maybe off topic I find it strange that Ce net 4.2 has a worse set of office software than HPC 2000 its a shame as if i did get a SB i would then need to buy some software such as CE Agenda, text maker (i have already :-) ) and Pocket on schedule to make it usable. Surely you would thing an OS comes with better software than its predecessor not worse Is there any software that you and Archimark would sugguest as must have's which work on the SB?

I agree with Archimark however that it does seem to be a good compromise between size/performance. My 720 is too small for me so the SB would be replacing it

I also have a 790 but the size is quite bulky for carrying around but it does have a great keyboard, the SB would be easily to carry, faster and easy to see which sounds perfect but will it be better than my 6651/hc-7000? mmmmmmm

hey.. i would like to clarify some things about ce.net..
the office isn't worse at all, imo.. just the opposite.
buying textmaker for ce.net won't make any sense if you're happy with hpc2000 pocketword, since wordpad in ce.net is the same (i repeat: the same!) as pocketword in hpc2000
and you get a really nice word viewer as a plus! it lets you view the pictures in the document... excel viewer too. ok, they haven't retained pocket excel in ce.net, but most of the OEM's offer another excel editor in ROM. for example NEC gives you a spreadsheet app made by bsquare (?), netbook pro gives you spreadCE etc...
powerpoint viewer shouldn't be any worse than the pocket powerpoint in hpc2000. and you get a nice, fast pdf viewer and a cool image viewer as well. (if only the pdf viewer would be compatible with all pdf's! but ansyr primer works. acrobat reader works no longer on ce.net 4.2 but it will on 4.1. though i'm working on it on ce.net 4.2)

oh and CE Agenda isn't free but you can use it for an indefinite time (=for ever)! sometimes a little nag screen for a second.. nothing more

toekneeb:
about the 790's size ... i think it's similar to the SB or the hc-7000, so i don't get it really. or i might be wrong i never saw a SB.. just the specs for the size.

whether it will be better or not than your intermec 6651? depends on your preferences. if you don't mind the only CF-II slot as expansion and the poorer battery life and you're desperate to have ce.net, then go ahead and buy a SB.. otherwise i'm not sure i prefer the NEC 900C (more slots - important for me and incidentally it was available in hungary for cheap when i wanted one! )

Well, the MP900/C are just as expensive on eBay. I agree it is better in just about everything, except for the old screen and that it is a little bit larger. The screen makes a big difference in web surfing tho; I wouldn't have used an MP like I used the SB last night. The lack of slots is manageable, I guess especially since I was used to that on PPCs. You might need adjusting if you're used to HPCs tho.

Ok, here are pictures of SB versus MP780. Was going to post last night "right away" but figured I didn't install any image editing utility on my SB, so waited until I'm on PC now. As you can see the depth is almost the same; the SB's back sticks out a bit for the internal battery. You can't tell from the pics that the MP is an inch longer, but a hair slimmer and lighter. The keys are bigger on the MP too, again not by much.









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