The REDFLY from Celio is a product like no other, and can be a good fit for road warriors. The REDFLY is built to do only one thing, extend the screen and add a full keyboard to supported smartphones. The little laptop has no memory, no storage and no processor; it uses those on the connected smartphone. All it does is display the phone screen on the 8-inch display of the REDFLY, and makes the keyboard and trackpad available to interact with the phone.

I was impressed with the original REDFLY when I tested it over a year ago. That model worked with Windows Mobile phones, and I found it worked very well. That is important, as a special device like the REDFLY built to do one thing has to do it well. I was excited to hear a new version was available to work with the BlackBerry, as that would be the perfect target audience for the REDFLY. An evaluation unit arrived late yesterday, and in just a short time I must say this is not a solution I would recommend to BlackBerry owners.

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Smartphones are becoming more capable all the time, with features that are beginning to rival full mobile computers. I have been following a few people online recently that are making concerted efforts to leave the laptop at home and only travel with the smartphone. It’s an interesting proposition and while I think it can be done by some folks, there must be times when a larger screen and keyboard would fit the job at hand a little better. I keep thinking back to the Celio REDFLY that I looked at a while back, and it seems to be a decent compromise of mobility and functionality for these folks mostly using the smartphone while traveling.

The original REDFLY I looked at paired with Windows Mobile phones to simply extend the display and keyboard. My evaluation proved to me that it was perfect for those times when I needed to do more extensive data entry, such as long email responses. It was also a good tool for working with spreadsheets and Word documents, something I wouldn’t even try on a phone.

The folks at Celio, makers of the REDFLY, have produced a version of the little laptop that work with some BlackBerry phones. There is a good fit with this REDFLY, given the focus of the BlackBerry on strong messaging features. I can see how the ability to connect the BlackBerry to a notebook-like device could be a good tool for those trying to travel as light as possible. I’ll soon know for certain, as the folks at Celio are sending over a REDFLY for me to try with the BlackBerry. That means you’ll soon know for certain too, as I will share that whole experience with you. Until then, refresh your memory of the REDFLY with the video overview I shot of the original version.

Here are some of today’s phone conversations I enjoyed reading or viewing on the web, along with some brief thoughts:

Nokia 5130 XpressMusic Arrives on T-Mobile (Nokia) — It’s your basic Symbian S40 candy bar with a focus on music playback. External music control keys, a 3.5mm headset jack, stereo Bluetooth and an FM Radio all contribute to the tunes. Your contribution is only $29.99 after a $20 mail-in rebate, which is amazing. I’ve paid more for a CD box set of music. At this price, don’t expect to store gobs of audio internally. For that, you’ll need to fill a microSD memory card and pop it in the slot. Just like a quarter in a jukebox, come to think of it.

Comcast aims to put TV on your phone (Yahoo!) — Now that Comcast plans to resell Clearwire’s WiMAX service, it only makes sense that they find ways to use the new pipe. While it would be nice to see television service included with a Comcast WiMAX plan, history says that you’ll likely be paying extra to watch the big screen on your small screen.

BlackBerry support coming to Celio REDFLY by mid-fourth quarter (Celio) – BlackBerry owners will have to wait a wee bit longer, but in about two months (or less) should be able to use the larger display and keyboard with a REDFLY. Expect compatibility with the BlackBerry Bold 9000, BlackBerry Curve 8900 and BlackBerry Tour 9630, with plans to support additional phones as they are released by Research in Motion.

Orange UK gets Motorola DEXT in early October (Orange) — Yes, this is the overseas version of the Motorola Cliq and yes, one can assume that we’ll see it on T-Mobile here in the U.S. around the same time period. Early October is, after all, “before the holidays,” no? Orange is offering the DEXT free to customers with a £34.26 per month, 24 month contract. You’ll get 900 any network minutes, a gazillion texts (not really, but they are unlimited), Orange Maps and web browsing to your heart’s content.

Cricket Adds New Unlimited Voice, Broadband Plans (Leap Wireless) — You’ll want to check the coverage maps before you buy, but there are two new Cricket PAYGo unlimited voice plans available. $40 a month gets you all the calls, texts and picture messages you can handle, while an extra $5 monthly adds unlimited mobile web access. Cricket Broadband is on the way for $50 a month — that’s unlimited EVDO with no contract. The Cricket A600 modem will set you back $70 and then you pay and surf as needed.

Celio is making their REDFLY device a little more price competitive, possibly the result of the low-cost netbook market. The REDFLY looks similar to today’s netbooks, but leverages your existing Windows Mobile smartphone for processing, applications and connectivity. We’ve used the various REDFLY models and they’re ideal for a WinMo handset owner that wants a full keyboard and larger screen.

The 8-inch REDFLY C8N, which sports an 8-hour battery life, can now be had for $249, $50 less than the MSRP The slightly smaller REDFLY C7 offers a 7-inch screen and five hours of battery life and is now priced at $199, a $30 savings. That $30 difference was occasionally available as a $30 rebate in the past, but Celio has now adopted $199 as an “everyday” price.

In chatting with the Celio folks, I asked about their plans beyond Windows Mobile. As of now, they’re still leaning towards support for BlackBerry devices before the end of the year. After that, Android is a potential candidate, although plans can obviously change. This approach makes sense to me since Google’s mobile OS is gaining momentum with new devices, firmware updates and customized user interface changes.

I’ve been a beta tester for many company’s products, but none of them ever offered me a trip to Hawaii. That’s exactly what Celio is doing with their REDFLY Mobile Viewer software: test it, provide feedback and you’ve got a chance to win two tickets to Hawaii. You’ll need to download the beta prior to June 1, and then complete an e-mail survey of the product for your chance to win.

The REDFLY Mobile Viewer software allows your Windows Mobile phone applications to run in a full-size screen on either a Windows XP or Windows Vista computer. It’s soft of the yin to the REDFLY hardware’s yang: that device displays your Microsoft Windows Mobile environment on a 7- or 8-inch display and keyboard. (See our initial video review here) I’d jump in the contest myself, but I burn easy: a trip to Hawaii would have me redder than a REDFLY.

We’ve been all over the REDFLY since it first appeared. The REDFLY is the ultra-portable notebook-like device that doesn’t do anything on its own, but when you connect it to your Windows Mobile phone things get really interesting. The REDFLY simply shoots your phone’s screen to the bigger REDFLY screen and brings a nice keyboard and trackpad to use with your phone.

What makes the REDFLY work so well is it’s near instant-on and the fact that it gets through a full day on a single battery charge. It has no memory nor processor of its own to eat the battery, it uses the resources of the phone to run things. It’s surprisingly good at what it does and if you doubt that then you need to check out the 3-part series on Gear Diary. Carly Z put the REDFLY to the ultimate test and left the MacBook at home for a week and just used the REDFLY. The results may surprise you but here’s a teaser:

The other area that I did not expect to get so dependent on was having my phone so tightly integrated with my computer. Answering text messages, phone calls, emails, and browsing the news all without having to swap devices once was like geek nirvana.

Check out the entire series:

• Can a REDFLY replace my macbook Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

The Celio REDFLY has been an interesting device since we first got hold of it. There is a lot to be said for the ability to use a small laptop as an extended display and keyboard for a smartphone. Today’s smartphones are powerful enough to be used as mobile computing devices once you get past the limitations of the screen and tiny keyboard, and that’s what the folks at Celio delivered in the REDFLY. We got word from the folks at Slashgear that Celio’s new software solution, the Mobile Viewer, is entering a public beta.

Mobile Viewer takes the REDFLY concept and extends it to any netbook or notebook that you already own. Celio recognizes that you don’t need to buy a REDFLY device if you already have a netbook or equivalent and thus have developed the Mobile Viewer. The programs allows you to connect any Windows XP/ Vista notebook to a supported Windows Mobile smartphone and use the bigger screen, keyboard and trackpad to run the phone. This makes it possible to work on documents, longer emails and similar tasks that you might forgo given the phone alone.

According to the folks at Celio, the Mobile Viewer program will handle any display resolution up to 1024 x 768, making a full working environment for document handling. The connection between the phone and the notebook is handled using Activesync (WinXP) or the Mobile Device Center (Vista) and USB connection is supported. To see how useful this type of utility can be check out our video of the REDFLY from last year:

The mobile tech world never stops turning and we try to bring the top stories to you.  Here are some of those top stories on jkOnTheRun you may have missed:

• Hybrid Touch Book from Always Innovating adds/ removes the keyboard
• Netbook: the timeline of “genericness”
• Kindle for iPhone out- read Kindle e-books on your phone
• Celio Redfly C8N just arrived
• Mobile Tech Minutes: a Brief History Lesson
• This Week at Mobile Tech Manor #29: the iKindle has Landed
• MobileTechRoundup 164: Kindle lands on iPhone
• What’s the best e-book reader for the iPhone?
• Notebooks run much cooler today than in times past

It’s been a few weeks since the FedEx man stopped by for a visit. Maybe the joy I show with each delivery has scared him off; who knows? This time he dropped off a loaner Celio REDFLY C8N and Sprint Treo 800w to try. For those not familiar with Celio’s REDFLY: The device is essentially a larger display and keyboard that’s powered entirely from a smartphone. There’s no CPU or memory in it, other than what’s needed to render your phone’s applications on a larger screen. Your phone can be connected through a USB cable or without wires using Bluetooth, if your phone supports it.

This is the $299 REDFLY model with some beefed-up features over the base model. For example, the 800×480 display is eight inches, which offers an extra inch of viewing. The battery capacity is boosted, too: 4500mAh on this model over the standard 2000mAh unit. That adds an extra half-pound to the weight, but at two pounds in total, it’s still very manageable. This model also offers the unique media port, so I’ll take a closer look at connecting mobile media devices to see how well it works. Considering how often I’m using my netbook these days, I’m really curious to see the pros and cons of this solution over my MSI Wind. I tend to use the web for most everything I do, so it should be an interesting experiment to use a Windows Mobile-powered REDFLY in lieu of Windows 7 on my Wind.

I was impressed with the Celio Redfly when it first was released and found it served the purpose it was designed for very well.  The Redfly is a nice mobile device that provides instant-on access to data and the web when connected to a smartphone.  Check out our video review below for a refresher look at the Redfly.

The Memphis Police were obviously impressed with the Redfly too, as they have picked up 1,200 of them to deploy in the field.  The Police Department in Memphis does not use those expensive in-car laptops like some departments; instead, they have been going about their important business with smartphones.  This is a perfect fit for the Redfly as those smartphones are turned into a mini-laptop for online activity and report filing.  This is no doubt very cost-effective for the Memphis folks and it will be interesting to see how well this works for them.