The review of this device, along with a Roku XD and Boxee Box, is all for a giveaway my company is doing (full details here) and as I mentioned last time, this box was the one I was most excited about.  The Revue is especially hyped because it is supposed to fully integrate with your current media equipment in an attempt to be a “media hub”, if you will, for all your entertainment / information needs.  A tall order no doubt.  As many other bloggers have mentioned, Google doesn’t necessarily want to REPLACE your cable TV with their Google TV; they just want to add to it.  I don’t know that I totally buy that just yet, but at this point in the game, that’s where we’re at. So what does this thing do? Let’s check it out.

Chrome… So shiny

    To compare the Revue, or any Google TV device, to the Boxee Box or the Roku devices is almost to compare apples to oranges.  Almost.  All the devices fit neatly into the “internet TV” appliance category, but the three go about it in fairly different ways.  The Boxee Box and Roku are heavily focused on the apps, while the Revue seems to hang it’s hat on the fact that it has a full blown, fully functional, Chrome browser built on the box.  There are a handful of apps that run on the device today, don’t get me wrong; and with this device being built on what is basically the Android OS, new apps are sure to come in the near future (Google is apparently saying early 2011 you’ll be able to install apps yourself)… but when you’re done fiddling around with Netflix, YouTube, and Twitter… you start reaching for Chrome. And then you stay there; or at least I did.

    Several people had previously asked if ESPN3 was available on any of these devices, so I checked on the Revue.  It doesn’t have an app built in, but never fear, you can just browse on over to the website and start watching whatever sporting event you were looking for (I was checking out part of the DePaul vs. Stanford basketball game).  While you’re on the website, you can make it easy on yourself to return here later by just clicking the bookmark button right on the keyboard.  From there I bounced all over the internet; checking out Facebook and seeing what my personal website looked like on the big screen.  Pretty cool stuff. 

    I’ll pause here and say that at this point my wife became interested… which is something to note, as up until now she was annoyed by these new devices sitting around the living room taking up space and cluttering things up.  Suddenly this keyboard floating around the room seemed useful to her.  Marketing people take note; that’s the big sell right there.

    After messing around with the internet for a while, I fired up Pandora and found some Christmas music so we could decorate the Christmas tree while listening to some classics from Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, and the like.  Shortly after finishing up the tree though is when disaster struck.

Party Foul

      While decorating the tree, my wife mentioned a video she’d seen on Hulu she wanted to show me.  I pull up the website from the Revue and am greeted by the message below:

Yep, that’s right… Hulu is taking note of what type of system you’re connecting with, and blocking you from accessing their content with the promise that they’ll let you pay for it soon enough.  So to be clear, I could hook my laptop up to my TV via a HDMI cable and watch the video… but I hook the Revue up via the same HDMI cable, and they won’t let me.  Make sense to you? Yep, me either.  Clearly Hulu wants you to pay for their service (which oh by the way, still has commercials) but the fact that they’re discriminating based on the system type really gets on my nerves… and unfortunately Hulu isn’t the only site doing it.  ABC, CBS, and NBC have apparently also joined in the party and are blocking Google TV as well.  Why would they do that? Great question.  I would assume they feel the same way about Google TV potentially replacing the cable / satellite providers as I do and are trying somehow thwart that, but I can only guess.  By the way, if someone from the big three are paying attention, what you’re doing actually encourages pirating. People want these devices, and they want to be able to connect to the same websites with them they can from their computers and other web-enabled devices.  You need a different strategy.

Conclusions

    The Logitech Revue and its Google TV-ness; I like.  The keyboard; I could get used to.  Subsequently Logitech also makes a smaller keyboard that I’d love to try out and think I’d like better, AND they’ve created an iPhone / Android app that allows you to control a surprising amount of stuff right from your phone… which was very impressive.  The user interface, which gets knocked around a bit from other reviewers, I actually found to be very satisfactory.  It was easy to navigate and modify, and while it isn’t as app focused as the other two internet TV devices I worked with, I found it to be just as useful and friendly to get around in.  With time as apps become more prevalent, your use of the browser may slow somewhat… but really I didn’t find this to be an issue at all. It is a slightly different approach, but as I mentioned, just as satisfying of an experience.  Oh… and speaking of apps, if I could play Angry Birds on my big screen, I’d be in love for sure.

–Dan Thompson

–Dan Thompson

    This week I’ve reviewed the Roku XD, the Boxee Box, and then Logitech Revue, and so I thought I’d give a quick little wrap-up here to go along with the video from this morning’s WBIR spot.  After looking at each unit it seems that each has a place in the market depending on what level of integration you are looking for.  If you want no frills and don’t have content on your home network you want to play, check out the Roku.  If you’re looking for more integration and functionality checkout the Boxee Box and the Logitech Revue.  Is there an absolutely perfect solution?  Well, the jury is still out.  I’m thinking that the Revue but with a Boxee Box style remote would be the ticket; but after I get to fully play with the Revue’s keyboard I may change my mind.

    Personally, I am going to join others in saying I believe we will see a battle for the operating systems running on TVs.  With Sony setting the tempo and putting Google TV on some of their higher-end models, it would not surprise me at all to see Boxee showing up on TVs as well.  I really believe this is the future.  If we look at DVD players today, a lot have Netflix built in and some TVs are starting to do this now as well.  Why would these manufacturers not continue to push the envelope as to what content they can get straight to the TV.  In reality it is just one more small system board to put in the device; much the way cable tuners are built into TVs.  Could you totally replace your cable TV today with one of these setups ? Well, maybe.  If you have a Netflix account, that would seem a little bit more plausible, however I’m not sure it’s quite ready for the mainstream. 

    While I’m on the subject of Netflix; these guys are making out like bandits.  Netflix is now the de facto for streaming television programs and movies from over the internet.  I was a little offended that the Boxee Box didn’t have Netflix yet (however it is coming soon) which really just goes to show how much people like the service.  Netflix is currently showing up on all sorts of devices like TVs, DVRs, and BluRay players and the influx of the “me too” companies (Vudu, Hulu Plus, the rumored RedBox streaming servivces, etc) further proves my point.

    Check out the video below for my interview this morning on the WBIR morning show, and make sure you get signed up for the great Claris Christmas giveaway (click here) for a chance to win one of these devices!

–Dan Thompson

    Of the three devices I tested for my company’s Black Friday giveaway (details here); the Roku XD, the Boxee Box, and now the Logitech Revue powered by Google TV, this last one was the one I was most interested in seeing first hand.  With Sony already picking Google TV up as a built-in feature on some of their new TVs, it pertains to be the clear front runner in the space with Boxee Box being the scrappy underdog.  Did it live up to everything I was hoping for out of the box?  Well… that’s a great question.  The unit we purchased is apparently bunk; yep, that’s right… it doesn’t work… totally.  Good times.  Needless to say we’ll be sending this one back at which time I’ll REALLY be able to tell you if you want one or not… until then though, I’ve got some immediate notes I’ll share and then I’ll fill in the blanks later.

What’s in the box?

    The largest and most expensive unit in the bunch (currently $299 on amazon.com), the Logitech Revue is a well appointed setup.  The device itself is obviously in the box along with a Logitech keyboard with a built in mouse pad, arrow navigation pad, and a slew of other nifty buttons.  It also came with it’s own HDMI cable, power cables, an IR extender in case you want to tuck your Revue away in an A/V rack somewhere, and various manuals. 

    The unit itself is about 10 x 7 and stands a little over an inch off the table, and one of the first things you notice about the back of the device is that it has an HDMI In and and HDMI Out… yep, it is meant to sit inline with whatever TV provider you have; more on that in a minute.  The device also is equipped with 2 USB ports, 2 remote IR ports, and an Ethernet port, although the device can also connect wirelessly.

    I’ll admit that the keyboard throws me for a bit of a loop.  I’ve always equated a keyboard on your lap while sitting on the couch as something for only the ubergeek crowd (not that I’m above that) and not something that would be adopted by the masses.  The jury is actually still out on that for me, but I will say that the keyboard is quite functional.

Setup and… crash

    The setup of the device is where it gets interesting.  Like the Roku and Boxee Box you’ll sign in with your Google account if you have one or create a new one if you don’t (unlike the Roku though, this can all be done without an additional computer) and properly adjust the screen size.  The setup then starts quizzing you about your cable or satellite TV provider, what zip code you live in, what type of cable / satellite set-top box  and DVR you have (if applicable), what type of TV you have and what port the Revue is plugged into on that TV, and finally what type of receiver you have (if any) and what port the Revue is plugged into that device. Whew!  I wasn’t expecting a collegiate level final!  After all this leg work though, I’m left with something brilliant; that Logitech keyboard can now turn on and off my TV, DVR, and receiver as well as raise and lower the volumes on all of the above and change between the inputs on all of the above.  Oh yeah, and it even labeled the port on my TV menu that it is plugged in to.  Pretty flip’n sweet!

    The idea with all this is that the Revue can interact with and control all your other media devices… making itself the “media hub”, if you will.  If you’ve got Dish Network as your satellite provider, it totally integrates itself with all the current set-top boxes and DVRs and apparently will allow you to search through content on the web and on your DVR / upcoming programming guides to help find what you’re looking for.  You can set up DVR recording right from the keyboard with the touch of a button and a plethora of other neat things.  Like the Boxee Box, you can also access file shares on your network and play / view certain file types off USB devices.  That’s a pretty stellar line-up.

    Does it actually do all that stuff?  Well, I trust the reviews I’ve read, but I haven’t seen it first-hand yet.  After you complete the setup there is this neat commercial about the device you just bought that you HAVE to watch before it turns you over to the awesomeness (Really guys? I mean, really? I bought it… I know what it does already, I don’t need to watch a 3 minute commercial about it), and a minute or so into the video the device crashes.  Pretty cool huh?  I’ve been through the same routine at least 10 times now and it hangs at the same place every time… and there is no way, at least that I can find, to get around it. Sweet!

    Soooo, that’s what I know so far.  I’ll be sure and pick back up where I left off with the Revue review once we get the replacement, but until then, you’re all stuck with the same cliff hanger as myself.

– Dan Thompson

Want to win a free Logitech Revue (that actually works… hopefully)? Click here for details

    The second of the internet streaming boxes that I’m reviewing for my company’s Christmas giveaway (full details here) is undoubtedly the most hyped of the trio; the Boxee Box by D-Link.  Boxee has a huge internet following and is quickly becoming the HTPC user interface of choice.  Boxee makes applications for Windows, Mac, and Linux that create a nice user experience while sitting on the couch and looks great from across the room.  This allows you to hook up a computer to your TV and not necessarily have the Windows or Mac desktop showing on your TV, but more of a simplified user friendly look and feel.  Enter the Boxee Box.  Now you don’t even need the computer, you simply hook this box up to your TV and you’re ready to go.

What’s in the box?

    The Boxee is a bit of a step up from the Roku XD and comes with more features, an easier user  interface, and of course… a higher price tag.  So what all comes in the box?  Well, obviously the  Boxee Box itself, the awesome remote (more later), a HDMI cable, the required power cable, and a various array of manuals.  In my personal opinion, all makers of devices that require or use HDMI cables should include them, because despite what all the electronics stores are trying to tell us, they are not expensive cables.  I’m glad to see that D-Link provided one here.  That actually made my day (ok, so not really).

    The Boxee Box itself is a rather interesting shape… think a cube that is sinking in quicksand and you’ll get the idea.  That is actually the first thing people notice about it when checking it out; it is interesting to look at.  At just under 5 inches tall and just over 6 inches wide on angle (the best way to position it so you can get to everything), the device is larger than the Roku XD, and will definitely be in a unique place in your A/V rack… most likely the top.  As far as connectivity is concerned, we’ve got some things to play with.  Of course it has an HDMI port, left and right stereo RCA jacks, optical out, two USB ports and… drum roll… a SD/MMC slot; which is super cool in my opinion.  If you’re having friends over and you want to show off those new birthday pictures or pictures from your last vacation, no problem.  Just pop the memory card out of your camera and straight into the Boxee Box and view your pictures right on your TV.  Beautifully simple.

    A second ago I commented on the fact that the remote is awesome… and I will say again, it is awesome.  One side of the remote (pictured above) has the navigation buttons on it, and the other side has a full keyboard.  If you’re used to using the keyboards found on most smart phones today, you’ll be right at home with this device.  I have heard a common complaint that the play / pause and menu buttons are easy to accidentally press while you’re using the keyboard on the other side; which I will agree with.  I went menu surfing a few times on accident while trying to type something in.  Once you understand what is going on though, it is easy enough to avoid this mishap… so while it can be a problem, you’ll work around it quickly.

Setup and Use

    Initial setup of the Boxee Box is a breeze.  When you first connect the device and power it on, it asked me to update the operating system… which is really cool in my opinion.  Mainstream devices need to do this automatically.  Once the update is complete you’ll need to use the onscreen tool to adjust the unit to your screen size and then login or create a new Boxee account. And unlike the Roku unit, not computer required.

    One thing that jumps out at your right off the bat is that Netflix is missing from the user interface.  Nope, you’re not seeing things… it’s not there.  Boxee promises it will be there by the end of the year, so a near future update should fix that (is it just me, or is Netflix quickly taking over the universe?).  If you were thinking maybe you’d satisfy those cravings with Vudu, you’ll also be disappointed to find that, while there is a link to a Vudu app, when you click it, it informs you that it is coming soon.  Again, Boxee promises this will be out by the end of the year (actually in a couple weeks from this writing) so never fear.

    So what all kinds of content can you get to?  All the usual suspects from the Roku box, like a (native) YouTube app, NHL, Revision3 TV, as well as Twitter, Facebook, and tons more apps / shows.  If you can’t find quite what you’re looking for by default, browse the internet for Boxee Repositories and find what the fans on the internet have come up with.  To do that, simply launch the apps from the main screen and then go to the menu button.  You’ll see Repositories there, which you can punch in a URL and it will download the Repositories from the website you’ve entered.  Pretty cool stuff.  From the digging I did, boxeehq.com is the ticket for finding a good listing of Repositories… but at the time of this writing it is unfortunately down, so I have no idea what all they offered.  Check out the forums at Boxee for some ideas though.

    The Boxee Box itself isn’t limited to just internet content.  In addition to the SD/MMC card reader on the side of the unit, you can plug USB hard drives or memory sticks into it as well and play all your downloaded content right on your TV.  If you have a large MP3 collection, you can play those as well… as a matter of fact, it plays just about any file type you can think of.  Heck, you can even attach a USB hard drive to the Boxee Box and use the device like a NAS if you want to.  Don’t worry about saving files back and forth… just save it straight on the Boxee across the network and carry on with your day! Pretty freaking sweet!

Conclusions

    The Boxee Box is admittedly more expensive than the Roku HD… about $120 more to be exact (as of this writing, Amazon.com has them on sale for $199), but you get everything on the Roku, plus a lot of cool stuff which in my mind makes it worth the extra cost.  I would personally use the extra features and the ability to use network content in addition to internet content, but I totally understand that some people just wouldn’t.  That said… I love this box.  The keyboard on the back of the remote was genius, and the user interface is clean and easy to use.  The one thing I would hope they improve on is that some of the apps don’t buffer very well, leaving you with a lot of starting and stopping of video… kind of annoying… BUT, if you have a fast internet connection (5MB or faster… I’m on 1.5MB DSL currently; don’t laugh) you may not notice it quite as much as I did.  Still though, not all the apps suffered from this and the video stream came in just fine.

– Dan Thompson

Want to win a free Boxee Box? Click here for details!

    Alright, I’ve thumbed through loads of leaked Black Friday ads, been privy to some insider information, and the best deal of the season I’ve seen so far is at (believe it or not) Staples.  They’re going to have an early bird special on an HP laptop with a 15.6” screen, 3GB of RAM, 160GB Hard drive, and pre-loaded with some Windows 7 goodness for only $299.98!!!  This deal will only be available in stores, so I’d recommend showing up early.  I have talked to a representative of the stores and they claim they’ll have plenty in stock for the morning rush… but I’d count on those going fast.  While you’re in the store, check out the Garmin Nuvi they’ve got for $119.99 if you’re in the market for a GPS (that’s $100 off!).  They’ll also have an HP 8GB flash drive on sale for $12.99… and you KNOW those make great stocking stuffers for computer geeks.

   If that is not quite what you’re looking for, here are some links you’ll want to check out before you go shopping to make sure you’re getting the best deals:

black-friday.net – Check out the bar down the right-hand side for the stores you are thinking of stopping by.  The links take you to all the known sales they’ll be having.  This site is updated regularly, so pay close attention!

bfads.net – Click the ad scans link at the top to check out all the leaked ads that will be in Friday’s news paper.  This is a great way to start planning your morning shopping sprees.  Also check out the guides link at the top for some helpful information on the differences between products.  This might help you make up your mind if your stuck on something.  This site has been around for a few years and is always a reliable source for good information.  Write this one down for next year!

cybermonday.com – If you know exactly what you’re looking for but want to make absolutely certain you’re getting the best deal; check out this site.  Put in the item you’re looking for in the search bar and it will go out and find the sales on that particular item that are currently going on.

  In addition to these, I’ve recently reviewed two products I think are going to be a big hit this holiday season: the MiFi mobile hotspot and the Motorola Droid.  Give those a look if you’re struggling for ideas on what to get those hard-to-buy-for techie people!

Keep your eye on this blog as I’ll be posting the videos from my WBIR morning show interviews on all the Black Friday deals real soon!

– Dan Thompson

    There seems to be a whole lot of buzz surrounding the new Motorola Droid phone, so much so in fact that people are now referring to it as the “iPhone Killer”.  With all that hype I just had to check one out for myself and try to answer the question; does it have what it takes to knock the iPhone off it’s perch as the coolest phone on the market?  Since I’m including it in my Black Friday series for the WBIR Morning Show, you have probably already guessed that I like it… but just how much do I like it?  Let’s take a look around the device and see what it’s strengths and weaknesses (Hint: there aren’t many) are, and I’ll let you decide for yourself.

What did you say?

    Before we dive in, lets take a quick vocabulary break, as this has the potential to get a little confusing.  Android is an operating system, designed by Google and the Open Handset Alliance, to run on phones and like devices… much the same way Microsoft Windows runs on your PC.  Droid actually refers to a model of phone manufactured by Motorola and is currently available on the Verizon network in the US.  So, while there are several phones on the market running Android, there is only one Droid phone.

    Now that we’ve got that cleared up, I know there is another question looming in everyone’s mind… YES, there is a fart app.  Moving right along.

It slices, it dices!

   Lets cut right to the chase.  From a feature standpoint, there was nothing I wanted the Droid to do that it couldn’t do.  The Droid can be configured to check multiple email accounts, including your corporate Microsoft Exchange account (Android 2.0 supports this natively now), and then leaves it up to you whether you want see all those emails in a combined inbox or in separated mailboxes… and you can easily change this view at any time.  In the combined mailbox configuration, email accounts are assigned a different color flag which is displayed to the left of each message, so even though all the emails are displayed at the same time you can still decipher which account the message came in on.

Composing emails can be done with an onscreen keyboard in either portrait or landscape layout, however if you don’t particularly care for the touch screen, slide it over and there is a keypad underneath (although, call me crazy, but I swear I can’t find the question mark on the keypad).  This is a particularly nice feature as some people seem to just not quite get the hang of the onscreen keyboard. I would suggest that new users at least give it a shot though, as the word recognition seems to be pretty intelligent at determining what it is you were meaning to type… even if you fat finger the word pretty badly, and doing so in portrait mode is really the only way the phone can realistically be operated with one hand. 

    If you are using an Exchange account, all your contacts and calendar events can by synced to the phone in one easy step, which greatly simplifies day one of using your phone.  You will note, however, that you now have a “Corporate Calendar” and a “Calendar”.  The “Corporate Calendar” is obviously the one from your Exchange environment.

 

    Surfing the internet is extremely easy as a Google search bar is built right in to the home screen.  Tap twice and your recent searches are displayed.  Favorites can be saved and placed right on the desktop as well, so you can quickly get to the websites you visit often.  Non-mobile enabled websites render very well in the built in browser, and while the zoom feature is nice, I will admit it’s not quite as sexy as the iPhones’ two finger zoom in / out feature.  Zooming is done by double-tapping the screen and selecting the zoom in / out button for the function you’re after.  The browser will also log in to Google Wave as well, despite there being pretty stern sounding warning that it is not yet supported on the Android browser (apparently this is possible on the iPhone as well).  While I was playing around with Wave on the Droid, the browser did crash a few times during certain actions, so clearly this is still being sorted out, but the mobile version of the page promises to be very user friendly and easy to navigate.

 

    These days, everyone is concerned about the amount of apps that are available for a particular phone, and this is certainly an area where the Droid doesn’t leave anything on the table.  Verizon claims there are over 10,000 apps for the Droid, and while I didn’t count them all, I can say there are a LOT of them out there.  Android has a “market”, which is similar in functionality to the Apple App Store, that allows you to download apps and install them to your phone (which, like the App Store, may be free or have a small fee associated).  One edge the Droid has over the iPhone (unless of course you want to void your warranty by jail breaking the phone) is that you don’t have to get your apps from the Android Market… you can download them from anywhere.  I personally appreciate the openness of this platform in that light, however users need to be aware that installing apps that aren’t written very well could cause overall stability issues.  All the popular apps; like Facebook, Twitter (checkout Twidroid), Pandora radio, YouTube, and so on, are readily available from the Market… some even come pre-installed on the phone (like Facebook and YouTube).  Want to tether your phone to your laptop so you can surf the internet there (queue famous and now trademarked slogan regarding apps)?  Check out an app call PdaNET.

    An app that really stood out to me as a “game changer” was the total integration with Google Voice.  If you haven’t checked Google Voice out yet you should really give it a look.  The service allows you to consolidate all your phone numbers in to one number which can then forward to all your phones should you choose to set it up that way.  The (free) service also provides visual voicemail and call blocking just to name a few.  With the Android phones, you can configure the dialer to dial out as your Google Voice number or  your actual cell number and there are no extra apps to launch before dialing… just open your address book and call someone.  This is a great improvement over Google Voice integrations I’ve seen with other phones out there (read: Blackberry and iPhone).  Additionally, the integration can be configured where it does not even prompt you, it simply dials everything through Google Voice (or not at all). 

     GPS / Navigation, while not singular to Android phones, is also another cool feature of the device and one of the more impressive apps.  Using the maps from Google Maps, and audible turn-by-turn directions, it is as good or better than any of the dedicated GPS units on the market today.  Turn on the satellite layer and zoom in and it will take you all the way to “street view” where the image on the screen is literally what you’re seeing out our windshield (FYI, this image doesn’t advance forward as you drive, you actually have to zoom back out to continue with the visual navigation.  I would venture a guess that as hardware and connection speeds increase, this will be changed).  Pretty amazing stuff really… so much so, it could be a little dangerous!  I’m kind of a map geek anyway, so playing with all the functionality is best done in the parking lot… or the passenger seat.  Oh, and by the way… because I know someone will ask, I had my wife drive me around while I was jumping between nav views and grabbing screenshots.  I was not operating a vehicle AND doing all that at the same time.  I have to draw the line somewhere.  Note to entrepreneurs out there; someone make a windshield mounted holder for the Droid like all the other GPS units have and you’ll make some sales I promise (I require a 10% royalty fee for the idea though).  In addition to driving routes, you can also search walking routes, bus routes, find local favorite restaurants, movie theatres… you name it. 

 

…But is it the iPhone killa?

    I could go on and on about the features, but really, you get the idea.  The phone is awesome.  So how does it stack up against the iPhone?  In my opinion it fares very well against the iPhone.  It might not be as rounded, and some would argue it is not as pleasing to the eye; but does it do everything that the iPhone does? Absolutely yes.  Would this be a good alternative to the iPhone to people who want better coverage than AT&T has to offer?  I mean, after all, Verizon is going to great lengths to tell everyone their network is better (to which I would agree).  Absolutely yes.  So will the Droid knock the iPhone off its perch as the coolest phone in the land?? No.  Why?  Because in my opinion there is so much more to the iPhone than just the device.  I think people who make statements like that miss the fact that Apple turns each of it’s products into a franchise.  Their marketing people are geniuses, their brand recognition is off the charts, and THAT is something that can’t be outdone by simply releasing a device that “does the same thing”.  Six months (or less) from now there will be another phone, by a different name, and probably running Android, that will hit the market… all the while, there will always be an iPhone.  Is it possible that the sum of all Android phones sold will be greater than that of iPhone sales? Absolutely… unless of course Apple adds more networks to the fold and then I would say you can forget it. 

Should you check out the Droid if you’re considering the iPhone? YES!

   Okay, so let’s talk price.  As of this writing, the Droid can be had for $199 with a mail-in rebate and a contract commitment.  The plans for the phone start out around $69 a month ($39 / month voice plan + $30 / month data plan), which lines it up exactly with the 16GB 3GS iPhone (which I might add here that the Droid comes with 16GB of storage but is upgradable… try THAT with an iPhone. Oh yeah, and you can replace the battery yourself instead having to send it off).

That’s what I think… what do YOU think?

– Dan Thompson

P.S. Special thanks to my friends over at Cellular Sales for hooking me up with a Droid to demo… I promise I’ll give it back one day.

]]> http://techblogogy.net/index.php/2009/11/motorola-droid-the-iphone-killer/feed/ 4 http://techblogogy.net/index.php/2009/11/hey-look-im-a-wifi-hotspot/ http://techblogogy.net/index.php/2009/11/hey-look-im-a-wifi-hotspot/#comments Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:03:59 +0000 Dan Thompson http://techblogogy.net/index.php/2009/11/hey-look-im-a-wifi-hotspot/

   

    For this year’s Black Friday spots on the WBIR morning show I decided to look for a handful of devices that I thought were either going to be a big hit over the holiday season or at least had HUGE potential.  This is different from the years past when we did the “shotgun approach” of doing just quick little highlights of tons of stuff… and to be honest, I think I like this better.  I reserve the right to change my mind down the road, but for now… lets dig in.   The first device we’ll have a look at is the MiFi 2200 Mobile Hotspot from Sprint.

    Manufactured by Novatel Wireless for Sprint, the MiFi 2200 Mobile Hotspot is just what you would imagine it is… a mobile spot.  The device itself is roughly the size of a credit card and about a quarter of an inch thick (guessing here), and is about as simple as you can get.  You push a button; it connects to the internet via Sprint’s 3G network and then begins broadcasting an 802.11 b/g WiFi signal which you can connect up to 5 devices to.  Once connected, you can surf till your heart is content… or until the battery dies (approximately 4 hours of constant use), whichever happens first.  Pretty sweet.  The days of driving around town trying to find a restaurant with WiFi are over, now you can go wherever the cellular signal takes you.  Granted, you could do this with an air card of some nature as well, but four of your friends couldn’t join you (okay… so you could turn your laptop into an access point, but really, only an ubergeek would do such a thing).  Also, consider this: there are no drivers to install!  You’ll never find yourself in a bind because you just reloaded the OS on your laptop and it didn’t occur to you to install the air card drivers until after you’ve already hit the road.  You simply connect to it like you would any other accesspoint and you’re off to the races.

Setup and Use 

    The MiFi setup is as straightforward as any other wireless AP.  On first use, you connect to the wireless SSID (Sprint Mifi 2200…) and browse to http://192.168.1.1.  You will be prompted to login with the default login password (admin) and then a setup wizard takes over.

The setup wizard allows you to configure a new login password, followed by the WiFi profiles setup, and then you are finished!

    The WiFi profiles are actually a neat and interesting feature of the device.  The unit comes with three different profile types available for you to choose from (only one can be in use at a time): Open, Secure, and Temporary Hotspot.  Open is just a traditional WiFi hotspot with no security and any device within “earshot” of it can connect.  The Secure profile allows you to configure a protected wireless network with WEP 64, WEP 128 (seriously people… can we please stop referring to WEP as secure?  It’s not… let it go already), WPA Personal/PSK, WPA2 Personal/PSK, or WPA/WPA2 Mixed Mode (which is nice if you’ve got two laptops, one that supports WPA2 and one that only supports WPA. Otherwise, WPA2 Personal is what you should be using).  Think of this as your own little personal wireless network that only you connect to and one that allows you to do sensitive transactions over the air.  The last option, the Temporary Hotspot, generates a WEP 64 key that you can then share with your friends.  This is great if you are hanging out in a public place and want to maintain some control over who connects and who doesn’t.  Keep in mind though that this is using WEP, so I wouldn’t recommend doing anything sensitive over this connection.  It’s merely an option to keep the casual laptop user off your network.  A determined user will be able to jump on given enough time (which really only requires a few minutes if the person knows what they are doing).

When you go back home, or your friends leave, you can jump back in the administration interface and switch the profile back to Secure.  Really cool idea.

    After the initial setup of the device, you can also enable GPS on the unit which opens up some fun functionality.  With GPS enabled you can do searches, based on your location, for things like the nearest coffee shops, hotels, banks, and of course the nearest Sprint store.

The search results will be displayed on the selected provider’s maps page, which can then be used to get directions from your current location.  Very handy idea for those who’ll be using this as their internet access while on the road.

    Additionally you can do things like setup port forwarding, change the wireless IP settings, manage how the unit uses power, AND backup the configuration.  That is a WHOLE lot more than I was expecting.

But is it fast??

    The most common question I’ve been asked since demoing the unit is “How fast is the internet connection?”  Fortunately since it connects to Sprint’s 3G network, the answer is a good one.  I found the connectivity to be roughly that of my home DSL connection (the upload speed was actually faster) and have been able to consistently get just under 1Mb download speeds from the device as compared to 1.14Mb download speed on my Bellsouth DSL.  Now, we’re not setting any records here by today’s standards, but it is certainly fast enough to download a song or two from iTunes while you’re at the park or watch your favorite YouTube or Hulu videos.  From a business use perspective, you’ll be able to connect to your corporate email system or VPN without a hitch.

    Another common question is “What is the range of the wireless?”.  Novatel actually advertises it to be around 30 feet but I would say that is a tad conservative.  As I’m writing this, I’m actually connected to the device which is sitting in another room in my house and is definitely farther than 30 feet away and through a couple walls.  I admittedly only have 1 bar from this distance, as compared to my home wireless AP which has 4 bars from the same distance, but it is working just fine considering the fact that the MiFi has no external antennas and is drastically smaller than the ‘ole Linksys (and much more mobile!).  This is great news for businesses as they could send one device with a sales team to use while they are on the road together and it wouldn’t require them to be in the same hotel room in order to share the connection.  A lower number devices obviously equals a lower total cost of ownership for mobile wireless internet connectivity.

Okay… what’s it cost?

    Posting prices of things always gets a little tricky with blogs so I’ll say “as of this writing”; the local Sprint corporate store has them for $199 with a $100 mail-in rebate and the online Sprint store has them at $249 with an instant $100 rebate and a $50 mail-in rebate… either way you cut it, they are $99.  Both the online store AND the local store are offering a $59 per month data plan for the unit with a 2 year contract and the local store also offers a $79 per month plan if you just want to pay monthly with no contracts.  When you consider the cost of DSL plans today and then throw in the mobility factor, that’s a pretty good deal in my opinion.

 

So what’s the final word?  I personally think this is an awesome device and a great value for personal or business use (especially business use actually).  Given the size, price, and the overall functionality of the unit I don’t think you could go wrong picking one of these up for yourself or a loved one this holiday season.  Check one out and let me know what you think!  Also, keep an eye out for the spot on WBIR (and on this blog), it will be airing Thanksgiving morning at around 6:40AM-ish.  Till next time!

– Dan Thompson

P.S. Special thanks to Alissa Phillips, store manager at my local Sprint corporate store, for letting me borrow a MiFi 2200 Mobile Hotspot!

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