Re: [NTLK] eMate vs. 2100

Ryan

Pros:
My wife liked the look of it so much I bought her one.
Keyboard makes bulk text input more efficient.
Interacting with a laptop through using a fingernail on the touchscreen is a
surprisingly intuitive mode. Better than a mouse.
Screen is readable in strong sunlight.
Going really cheap on ebay.
Good supply of emates (even with hinge fix)
Great battery life.
Alternative serial port means you can avoid the fragile interconnect port.
Printing to HP340 via infrared connection.
Beaming documents to an MP2x00 via infrared.
If wifi connectivity is not required then it is fast enough for word processing,
spreadsheeting.
Inbuilt PIMs are same as those for MP2x00 and so such information can be
transferred without conversion.

Cons:
Waiting for a page to render via Wifi on the Emate takes forever.
One PCMCIA slot means that storage is limited if something else is using it.
Needs good lighting or use the backlight.
HWR doesn't work
Word processor is simple and doesn't allow for headers, footers, footnotes or
endnotes. All useful for an educational market. [Aside: Did Availworks
support these features? Must check this out when I get the time]
On first opening it can take a minute to before responding to input. After that
its quite responsive.
Screen smudges after prolonged usage while using fingernail to click screen
elements.
Not as portable as MP2x00. So the MP2x00 is my constant companion. IMO MP2x00
is a better e-text reader.

I often use the emate in conjunction with my Thinkpad; emate for writing papers,
Thinkpad for viewing reference information at the same time. Gives better
productivity because I'm not swapping between applications so much if only using
one computer. Same advantage as using dual monitor setups on a desktop.

HTH

Tony

[snip]
Anyone love their eMate?  Love it over their 2100?  I know both are sort of
different.  Is the eMate that much slower?  What your responses be to this
review:

http://static.the-gadgeteer.com/apple-emate-300-review.html

Agree, disagree?

Ryan
[snip]

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Received on Fri Sep 5 08:39:55 2008