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Best Wi-Fi Portable Browsing Device?

Posted by timothy on from the deep-in-the-stacks-desire-mounts dept.

foxxo writes "I'm a library worker, so I get lots of questions about our collection when I'm out in the stacks. I'd love to be able to access our online catalog and give patrons more comprehensive guidance without directing them to the reference desk. What options are available for a portable device with Wi-Fi connectivity, full-featured Web browsing, and (most importantly) no cellphone-style activation and service fees? Size is important, too; I need something I can carry in my pocket, not a micro-notebook with full keyboard. (And I am a library worker, so low cost is key!)" One device that sounds interesting in this category is the GiiNii Movit (not yet released, but shown off at CES). What can you recommend that's out there now?

25 of 426 comments (clear)

  1. Nokia n810 by murph · · Score: 5, Informative

    No recurring fees, I just picked one up for $222.

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    1. Re:Nokia n810 by Kamokazi · · Score: 5, Informative

      Seconded. Very nice device, and has a physical keyboard, unlike the other one likely to get mentioned a lot.

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    2. Re:Nokia n810 by bluephone · · Score: 5, Informative

      Except the N810 is smaller than the N800, has 2GB of storage built in, and the kb slides out like many cell phones for text message addicts. It's an incredible package.

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    3. Re:Nokia n810 by monopole · · Score: 4, Informative

      Amen to that. I've got the 770, n800 and an n810. The n810 wins out for this app due to the keyboard, and the size which is small enough to put in your breast pocket or in a belt holster. WiFi is good and the display is fantastic. Onboard GPS sucks but otherwise an excellent device.

      Boot time is a bit long, but power management is sufficient to leave on for a long time.
       

    4. Re:Nokia n810 by despisethesun · · Score: 5, Informative

      The N800 also has the advantage of taking regular SDHC cards, rather than the miniSD used in the N810. The full size ones are cheaper, and the N800 can hold 2 of them. And they can be set up as part of the root file system, if you're technically inclined. Plus miniSD cards can be a pain to find in decent capacities, they're kind of the red-headed stepchild of the SD family.

      The on screen keyboard on the N800 is not bad either. Obviously not as good as a physical kb but more than adequate. It's tough to go wrong either way, though, as they're both excellent devices. Definitely the best handhelds available for their purpose.

      (Typed out on my N800. :)

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    5. Re:Nokia n810 by despisethesun · · Score: 4, Informative

      You've clearly never actually used one of the Nokia tablets. They're plenty usable at their size and they fit easily in a pocket. I've gotten a lot more mileage out of mine than I expected when I bought it, and it's become an indispensable tool for managing the network at work. They are, without a doubt, exactly what foxxo was asking for.

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    6. Re:Nokia n810 by maxume · · Score: 5, Informative

      The miniSD thing isn't that big a thing:

      4GB for $8:

      http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211343

      16GB for $42 (which is only about $12 out of line with regular size SDHC)

      http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134912

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    7. Re:Nokia n810 by itomato · · Score: 3, Informative

      With the n810 you can have the best of everything (almost):

      - Full Debian installation, including GTK and KDE apps
      - Android
      - Newton OS via Einstein
      - Any platform where an emulator is available for ARM
      - Bluetooth, WiFi, Webcam, Skype, built-in GPS (lousy)

      All in all, it sounds like the ultimate development package. The major downside is the speed. Application response is a good 10% slower than it should be. A second negative point might be the GPS performance, which is widely reported to be weak, which I can attest to first hand, It's kind of fragile, and doesn't respond well to gravity checks, but the slide-out keyboard and brilliant flip-out stand/finger sling make it usable in a wide variety of situations - standing at a bar, sitting down, plus it comes with a novel vehicle mount. I assume the developers counted on the use of the device in its fulle GPS capacity. No doubt, it would be awesome, but it's just not quite there..

      Fifteenthed.

    8. Re:Nokia n810 by theillien · · Score: 3, Informative

      Or you can get an 8GB microSD with a miniSD adapter. I bought a Kingston kit which came with the microSD card, a mini adapter, standard adapter and USB adapter for $16 from Amazon. I believe the 16GB kit was $25 or so. That said, I thirded the n810 notion. I have the Wimax edition and I'm quite happy with it.

    9. Re:Nokia n810 by carlzum · · Score: 4, Informative
      That's something I've never heard of, but according to Wikipedia people really walked around with slide rules on their belt.

      Some engineering students and engineers carried ten-inch slide rules in belt holsters, and even into the mid 1970s this was a common sight on campuses. Students also might keep a ten-or twenty-inch rule for precision work at home or the office while carrying a five-inch pocket slide rule around with them.

    10. Re:Nokia n810 by 5pp000 · · Score: 3, Informative

      Word on the Net is that the 16GB cards do work, even though Nokia hasn't updated their Web site to mention them. See for example Internet Tablet Talk for confirmation.

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  2. Low Cost? by icebike · · Score: 3, Informative

    iPhone or iPod touch, assuming what you want to access is browser based.
    Low price? Not so much, but if you have one anyway... Or were looking for a tax write off this might be the way to go.

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  3. iPod Touch by erayd · · Score: 5, Informative

    Gotta say the cheapest iPod touch is probably going to be a good bet here, particularly as it's a wifi-only device; you don't have to buy a whole cellphone at the same time.

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    1. Re:iPod Touch by jmorris42 · · Score: 4, Informative

      > 1. $229 new from Apple, or you can get it cheaper used on eBay, Craigslist, etc.

      Yea and an N810 is $259 and a lot more usable AS A WEB BROWSER. Yes the iPod is probably a better music player but that wasn't the question.

      > 2. The screen is large and has great resolution.

      No. 480x320 is NOT high resolution. Few non mobile phone optimized pages are going to display on that. The N8x0 series has 800x480. Do the math. Hopefully Apple fanbois can still do simple X > Y type reasoning.

      > 4. Someone (you) could write a dedicated iPhone/iPod Touch App that does just what you want

      And the Nokia runs Mameo, a Linux based open platform. Besides writing a full GTK app you can program something up in one of the SIMPLE SCRIPTING LANGUAGES THAT APPLE FORBIDS. And you don't need to get anything signed by Apple before passing it around. So your point was?

      > 5. It's here to stay.

      Because we all know Nokia is tettering on the brink of insolvency.

      > Alternative: Sony Mylo

      Discontinued, no replacement mentioned. You really should LOOK at a URL before you post it. But it really looked like an interesting product, hope Sony does get around to refreshing the line.

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    2. Re:iPod Touch by ceejayoz · · Score: 4, Informative

      These days no flash == broken.

      Uh, to many of us, no Flash == much more functional, not broken.

    3. Re:iPod Touch by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      6. It has a decent camera.

      There is no camera. Only the iPhone has a camera.

      The camera is a lie.

    4. Re:iPod Touch by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 3, Informative

      Compare to the Nokia I mentioned which runs a Mozilla based product with a real Adobe ARM port of Flash 9 on a display good enough (800x480) to display real web pages instead of a 'mobile phone' experience that often totally fails unless the site has a special reduced 'mobile' version. Sorry, Apple's stuff looks pretty but the tech is always second rate.

      You might consider actually trying the Safari browser on the iPhone or iPod Touch before commenting on the way it works. The browser displays exactly the same thing you'd see on your "real" computer, just smaller - unlike, say, the Windows Mobile version of IE (although even that is changing, finally). Most reviews of the web-browsing experience on the iPhone/Touch have commented on the true HTML rendering of mobile Safari - even those reviews that've lamented the lack of Flash.

      People do sometimes write special pages designed for the iPhone's smaller screen; but they could just as easily do the same thing for a Nokia phone or any other small device - and there's no requirement to do any of that.

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    5. Re:iPod Touch by foo+fighter · · Score: 3, Informative

      It's pretty clear you have never seriously used the iPod Touch for web surfing. I dispute your implication that it offers an inferior web browsing experience.

      Its 480x320 display is bright and clear. It's web browser is fantastic. I have never wished for or looked for the mobile version of a web site while using it. Its keyboard is good enough to let me enter this post.

      It's also important to recognize that the iPod Touch is much smaller than an n-series: about 20% shorter, 20% skinnier, 40% thinner, and 45% lighter. I often forget my iPod touch is in my pocket when going through security. When I evaluated the n800 i gave up trying to walk with it in my pocket.

      The merits of either platform are open to debate. I find the Mobile OS X platform to match my needs, but the submitter should look at both before making a decision.

      P.S. You come across as much of an immature fanboy as the gp. Please take the level of vitriol and sarcasm down a couple notches.

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    6. Re:iPod Touch by cbhacking · · Score: 3, Informative

      Heh... Flashblock is nice, but the REAL killer plugin for a handheld web browser is AdBlock Plus (yes, it's available for n800/n810 - there's a plugin repo, and it uses the standard ABP filters). Faster load times, less clutter on the screen (800x480 is a good resolution for a handheld but you still don't want to waste space on ads), and no crappy flash ads at all.

      This feature alone makes the n8x0 the best handheld browsing device I'm aware of right now, though I suppose it's only a matter of time until there's an Android browser with ad-blocking.

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  4. Sony PSP... by powerlinekid · · Score: 3, Informative

    Surprisingly its my PSP that I usually break out in situations where I need to browse the web but can't be at the computer. Yes its a game system but the wifi\browser are fairly decent if you can live without WPA2. I'm not too sure what else is out there, but a PSP can be purchased in the $150 to $200 range.

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  5. Define 'portable'? by fractoid · · Score: 4, Informative

    For sitting in a wifi coffee shop, I'd say my Eee 900 is a great compromise. Then again, having watched my friend playing with his iPhone I'd have to say that, for ultraportable / ultraconvenient / always with you access, the iPhone (or iPod touch) are probably the best you can get.

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    1. Re:Define 'portable'? by EvanED · · Score: 3, Informative

      "Define 'portable'"? Is "I need something I can carry in my pocket, not a micro-notebook with full keyboard" (FTFS) enough of a definition?

  6. Yay Wikipedia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Just found this on wikipedia:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handhelds_with_WiFi_connectivity

  7. 800 pixel wide screen a must by Freedom+Bug · · Score: 4, Informative

    I have a Nokia N810, and think the 800 pixel wide screen is its killer feature. With an 800 pixel screen you can run any web site and not be stuck in the "mobile ghetto".

  8. Archos 5 is my current favorite by russg · · Score: 5, Informative

    Have a look at the Archos devices. You can pickup some of the older models with Wifi as refurbished.
    My Archos 5 is my, surf, watch movies, store data, listen to music, and play games device. The current 5 and 7 are called "Internet Media Tablets".
    With Opera as the browser and flash support its really a nice internet experience for a small device.