 |
|
|
|
|
|
 click to enlarge
This is a very short review of the £160 UbiSurfer based on current publicly available specifications and information, and our experience with the CnMBook which has very similar hardware.
I certainly wouldn't buy the UbiSurfer myself since it seems to be priced around £60 more than the CnMBook for a very similar specification with less storage (1GB instead of 4GB) with the main difference that UbiSurfer has GPRS built in and a year's free GPRS connection with Vodafone. GPRS is the older mobile phone network data connection, sometimes called 2.5G as it was a makeshift solution before 3G was available. The free data connection allows for 30 hours a month surfing (quite how this works out since GPRS is charged by the Kilobyte not the time connected I do not know). After the first year the price is £30 a year for the same data allowance.
GPRS browsing is via Datawind's own proxy server which optimises web pages for the slower connection. This level of indirection might introduce other issues that you wouldn't have with direct surfing.
The UbiSurfer uses an ARM processor and runs a variant of Linux and there are 2 web browsers, UbiSurfer's own browser, and an old version of Firefox (called IceWeasel). UbiSurfer's own browser kicks in for the GPRS surfing via proxy connection. The UbiSurfer will suffer from similar issues to the CnMBook, e.g. no Flash support in web browser, low quality mobile version youtube video playback, etc.
There have been reports of software updates which fix issues, and other software updates which remove functionality, e.g. removing IceWeasel altogether.
My recommendation is that you do a lot of homework and research before buying this product, search for Ubisurfer review on both google and youtube (there are certainly mixed reviews), read customer product reviews on sites like Maplin, and try to see a demo in the flesh and test the keyboard and browsing of your favourite sites first. If possible, get your supplier to apply the latest updates, and test this, before making a purchase.
Why am I not so keen on this device? Mainly I see it as too similar in hardware to the CnMBook internally and externally (the outside case looks exactly the same) and as such there will be issues (I personally couldn't recommend the CnMBook, or clones, at this point either). My other bug bear is just the support for GPRS and no 3G or no 3G+ (HSDPA) mobile data connection. This puts it in a similar category as the cheap mobile phones with slideout Qwerty keyboards that only have GPRS too, and quite frankly it is now possible to get a touchscreen Nokia 5800 with 3G+ and wifi (a phone which we are currently using and like), with a decent browser that can play flash and youtube for around the same price, if not cheaper than the UbiSurfer (T-Mobile less than £150) with free mobile internet if you top up £10 per month on your normal mobile phone call credits, or a Google Android based T-Mobile Pulse.
UbiSurfer Review by Paul Ireland, 2 Jan 2010
This article is copyright Abstract Worlds Ltd 2010 - you do not have permission to reproduce, or cut or paste, this article onto any other website, forum or any other electronic or printed media.
Back to previous page
|
|
|
|
|
|
