If you are planning to buy the latest celphone with all the perks here is what you normaly get: on most latest phones you get an ARM11 based processor running on aroun 300 to 400mhz processors. Nokia runs on Symbian OS which is basically limited with what thirdparty applications offer to specific series model. I own a pocketPC and it runs on a windows mobile 5. Most of these units have 320×240 screen resolution with around 2.8 inch TFT screen. And yes you have the normal numeric keypad or a touchscreen. But basically all of them are crammed up on that small device which you can put into your pocket.
And the advertising battlecry: You can go online anytime anywhere with your celphone, enjoy browsing the internet, play multimedia, etc. But are you really enjoying it? First of all it is a struggle to click on the keypads to type words. Your emails and documents ends up with text style shortcuts. Its ok to watch videos alone on you celphone, but its stupid to cram up all bigheads of your friends just to watch a video on a small screen. your friends always end up watching them one by one instead of together. Such a waste of time. Imagine laughing and commenting on a video when half of your friends are still lined up to watch the video.
So you want something better than a phone. Good thing this subnotebooks came out. Actually the palmtop PCs were in the market for some time but it was only recently that it hit a score. There may be other brands amd models, including those which are part of the PC for every schoolchildren project but I find ASUS eee a better alternative.
The model name eee stands for the three “e”s. Easy to learn, Easy to work, Easy to play. Around the size of a usual school notebook (7” more or less). The screen is 7 inches with resolution of 640 x 800. A 900 mhz Intel Celeron-M processor with 512 memory. But when I visited the local store they already have the equivalent of 1.6mhz processor with 1gb memory.
It doesnt have the normal hardisk that we know of. It employs a 2gb, 4gb and 8gb solid state storage. But who needs a big memory when you can always plug in an external hardisk thru USB or a memory card with its built in MMC/SD card slot. It also has a built in webcam, wifi, 3g, built in speakers, Lan, Modem, and 3 usb ports. Compatible with windows XP SP2 or Vista, linux or macOS.
The price is only around P15,000 ($350). And this will definitely go lower as newer models and competition will come up. But definitely lower than a celphone with similar functions. So why buy a high end mobile phone when you can have a PC so small that it is easy to carry. Oh yes, you will probably need a phone to call. So I suggest you get a cheaper mobile phone with some of this basic functions – one with modem so you can connect to your eee via usb and surf the net when there are no wifi available. And a camera coz it will look funny taking pictures using the webcam of you eee.
So why not buying a full laptop? Well, for me I wouldnt want to bring a hunk of a thing with all features on the go. Only the things which can be done quickly or temporarily. I will have everything finalized in my office. All I need on the go are checking emails, checking sites I manage, a small presentation thing for clients, a little entertainment such as games and multimedia. So why bring to much for these basic things. Besides the reason why I am out is because I want to get away from work.
So what do you think? Convinced? Now I should get a comission form Asus for writing this article. LOL.
