pocket surfer

[ike]

Hi folks Has anyone any knowledge/experience of pocket surfers? I can buy one for £60 which includes 20 hours free downloads in the UK per month for the first year. An account is needed for access abroad. They are about the size of a large-ish spec case. We wouldn't use it for much abroad - mainly weather forecasts and catching up on the odd e-mail. I don't particularly want to buy a laptop so something like this seems ideal. It's had mixed reviews so any advice/experiences welcome. Thanks in advance

ike

[Bazza454]

Hi Ike,

I had one a couple of years ago and got rid on E-Bay after a few months, fortunately got most of my money back, they're hopeless, too fiddly to use and to download a page can take anything up to 3 minutes.

For travelling you would be much better off with a netbook, obviously this would cost you quite a bit more but coupled with a dongle on a good contract it's probably all you would need.

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.206-8355.aspx 

[breakaleg]

Hi Ike,

I looked at the pocket surfer, but dismissed it, the size of the screen would make it unpleasant to view.

We bought a 10 inch acer netbook and a vodafone payg dongle, £15.00 a gb, and so far lasted over 6 months, only twice been unable to connect to a network, but to expensive to use abroad.

Netbooks been great, you can view the entire web page, unlike the pocket surfer where you need to scroll to view.

Pete

[flicka]

I don't know how good or bad the Pocket Surfer 2 is, but the original is very dissappointing.

Very often I got the message that the network was busy and could not get on-line.

Then when I managed to get on-line the unit frequently froze and "Network busy" came up again.

I had intended using it mainly for campsite info, whilst touring but eventually gave up.

Note :- you can not access @hotmail, @yahoo, @live, @goolemail e-mails (amongst others)

The biggest problem was on 1st year renewal, I had to return the unit to Pocket Surfer as the protocol changed, cost a fortune in phone calls before they accepted their upgrade *-) :'( was not compatable with the original units.

Note also that you need to keep logging in on a regular basis otherwise your details get lost despite your current subscription being valid.

[jakeontour]

I have a Pocket Surfer2, having upgraded (without any hassle) from the original PS. If you accept it for what it is designed for, then I think it's a useful piece of kit.

 

It's functionality lies somewhere between a mobile phone browser and a laptop with a dongle / wi-fi. A lot better than the former and not as good or quick as the latter.

 

Unlike a mobile phone with web browsing, it loads normal webpages. It works using the Vodaphone mobile network. Seems to need a slightly stronger signal than a simple phone, but connects on a weaker signal than a laptop 'dongle' needs.

 

If you get a 3G mobile connection it's very fast, otherwise on standard mobile it can be slow, especialy if the web pages have lots of photo's. Generally hitting the 'tab' a few times gets pages through at an acceptable speed.

 

You get about 2/3 the width of a normal full page view, but it's easy to move around the page.

 

So why get one? It's much cheaper, easier and better than accessing the web using a mobile phone. It's very small and light (will fit in a standard window envelope); charges through a 12v lead; allows you to access and reply to emails through most mainstream ISP's; allows you to surf the web in it's normal format including secure banking etc sites; doesn't need any sort of virus etc protection; is simple to use.

 

Not something to use as your only device, but when you're away in the van and just want to check emails, do a bit of banking, find a site and book it, etc, it works almost anywhere there's a mobile signal without the size, weight and security implications of a laptop.

[catinou]

We had the Pocketsurfer2 and it was useless - very slow and difficult for arthritic fingers to hit the right "buttons" - not to mention the tiny screen. Ended up selling it on e-bay for £20. *-) We now have a netbook and in the UK use my iphone a huge amount for internet and email when out and about. B-)

[lennyhb]

I looked at them but decided it's too limited screen & size keyboard didn't look too good.

It only connects via GPRS not 3G and every site you call up goes via their Canadian based server where the data is compressed then relayed to the pocket surfer, if they go bump it's a bin job.

Restricted access to a lot of sites compared with a netbook even taking into account the price difference it's a no brainer.

 

Better off with a netbook such as Samsung NC10 & a dongle.