GreyWater's Full Review: 3Com Audrey-Linen Handheld
If you like the idea of paying $500 to be a beta tester, Audrey is for you.
I got one for my wife because she saw it on TV and thought it could be useful in the kitchen. I read some reviews and there seemed to be a general consensus that this is a sweet little machine. Here's what I found:
...Problems from square one...
You can tell who this product is aimed at as soon as you fire it up. There's some music, a giggle, some more tinkly music - not a Linux box, to say the least. Enjoy this process, because you have to live wth it every time Audrey is power-cycled. As you will see below, this was a common occurrence for me.
Audrey first walks you through your internet set-up. This is where you really need to get religion, because prayer will be very useful as she tries to connect. I kept getting IPCP error messages. This means the modems couldn't negotiate a protocol. I go back to the days of the Volksmodem 300 baud external modem, and I have never seen this problem -- until now.
There is nothing in the documentation to help you with this. I called tech support and they said try "ATS32=98" in the "extra settings" box. What does this command do? The techie didn't know (it turns off the V.90 and X2 protocols). I still got the IPCP error message. I tried some other access numbers for my ISP since it has numbers for V.90 only, X2 only, etc. With V.90 and X2 turned off I connected successfully to the number for modems using *V.90 and X2*. Go figure.
At this point I am no longer wondering why 3COM stock is falling like a stone: They built a net appliance that can't connect to the internet even though they bought US Robotics. Connection problems have been posted by others on UseNet groups.
The "S32=98" is an S-register command used by the USR Sportster. I figured they used that technology for the modem, so I tried tinkering with some of the Sportster command set and see if I couldn't tweak this puppy a little.
Here's what I found out: Many of those commands don't work. If they do, there is no way of telling because Audrey is bullet-proof to most tinkering. There's no terminal program where you can send commands to the modem and see what it says. There's no modem speaker that I could find (I tried the ATM and ATL commands without success) so you can't hear what's going on unless you have a phone handset connected. With some handsets off-hook for listening in Audrey couldn't detect a dial tone. An old Slimline phone worked best.
The only reason I can say that some commands DON'T work is that if you use them you will get a message that Audrey "connected but couldn't communicate with the answering modem". Actually, Audrey didn't even dial the number. I found that Audrey gives this message a lot when it doesn't really connect, such as when the ISP modem doesn't answer. Misleading message to say the least.
...E-mail purgatory...
If you have multiple accounts, forget it. Audrey will only accommodate one user profile and one access number. 3COM says in the docs that this is because Audrey is a family unit. Hello? Ever seen a family with more than one e-mail account? Whatever e-mail Audrey downloads, you'd better be ready for the whole family to see it because she only handles one account. In the internet configuration screen there's a box called "select number" which implied to me that maybe someone planned on having multiple access numbers. Poking this button does nothing that I can see.
Ever write an e-mail, hit "send" and then decide to edit it before you connected? Well, forget that with Audrey. You can't edit unsent e-mail that's sitting in the outbox. You'll have to copy the old text, paste it into a new e-mail and delete the old one.
You can't filter e-mail so hopefully you're the one person on the planet who doesn't get spam. There is also no way to sort e-mail by sender, date, subject, etc.
...Poor dialing setup...
Does your area require 10-digit local dialing? Many metro areas do, but obviously not where Audrey's programmer lives. You enter your ISP's area code and phone number and then select the check box marked "local call", which dials the 7-digit number minus the area code. If you leave this unchecked Audrey dials (1 + area code + 7-digit number). So, how do you just dial (area code + 7-digit #) without the "1"? It's a simple kludge that you can figure out all by yourself if you go back to the days of DOS 1.0 and know work-arounds for poorly written setup programs.
There is a box for dialing prefixes (*70 to disable call waiting, 9 for outside number, etc). You just put the area code in that prefix box, check "local number" and it will dial the area code as a "prefix" to the 7-digit number. If, however, you are Audrey's computer-illiterate target user you will have to call tech support to get this little pearl of wisdom. Why they couldn't have a check box for 10-digit dialing escapes me. For that matter, I don't know why a box intended for the kitchen offers you the opportunity to add the "9" prefix during initial setup -- whose house are we talking about here? Do you dial 9 to get an outside line at your house?
I tried using Audrey on the road during a 10-day vacation since I don't own a laptop. She's small enough to pack. You'd better have an ISP with 800-number or local access, because there is no way you can plug in all the numbers you need to use your Sprint 800 number. Even if you could Audrey doesn't recognize standard modem string pause characters like "," or "~". So there's no way you can have her dial your long-distance access number, the area code and phone number, and then your PIN. At least not with Sprint, which uses your home phone plus a 4-digit suffix. I did manage to figure out a kludgey work-around that uses Audrey's dialer plus some manual dialing from the phone handset, which only took me several long-distance calls to my ISP to tweak and troubleshoot. Conclusion: Audrey is a stay-at-home type of girl.
...Not really a Pilot for the kitchen...
If you bought Audrey because of the convenient integration with your Palm Pilot, get ready for disappointment. The synch process does work, if by "work" you mean the "to-do" and "memo" modules don't synch. There are no "to-do" or "memo" modules in Audrey. IMHO, a to-do list is "de rigeur" for tracking domestic chores.
Do you ever attach notes to your Pilot calendar entries ? Very convenient -- you can just poke the note icon and read the attachment. Not on Audrey. With this girl you have to drill down through several menus to read the attached note. You select the appointment entry, then "edit", then "details", then "note", and THEN you can read the attachment.
The "datebook appearance" setup screen has *one* setting: start time. My 15-minute appointments just show up as spaces - no text, and no way to adjust it. In the datebook page there is a lot of wasted space. One quarter of the screen is devoted to a little weather forecast window. You can simply dial to Audrey's AccuWeather channel for that. There is a big sign at the top of the datebook page that says "DATEBOOK" in case you didn't realize you were looking at a datebook, and large buttons at the top for switching between year view and day view. If you shrunk down or removed that stuff and removed the weather forecast, you'd have a good piece of real estate for a TO-DO LIST on your datebook page.
...Interface? We don't need no stinkin' interface!....
Well, actually you do need an interface but all you get is a mediocre one. There are no DEL, HOME, END, PGUP, or PGDN keys on the keyboard. I am an old Pilot user from way back and I was very frustrated because I kept wanting to write Graffitti on the screen. OK, they never said you would be able to do that. But you can "scribble" an e-mail. Would pen-based character input have been THAT hard to add? If you are trying to get away from the classic computer paradigm and towards a more friendly machine, one would think pen-based input and no keyboard requirement would be a priority.
This is a device that you might use while sitting and might use while standing and leaning over it on the kitchen counter. IOW, the viewing angle will vary not only from user to user, but also for the same user. Even the cheapest LCD laptop has a mechanical control to adjust for the viewing angle and ambient light. Not our girl. You have to push the "setup" button, poke the "Audrey Options" box, then the "contrast" box, which calls up a virtual (screen-based) slider bar. However, there IS such a device for adjusting the sound level on the back of the unit. I think they got this backwards: you will need to quickly and easily adjust the lighting more than you will need to adjust the sound volume.
...Channels...
Audrey comes with several pre-loaded channels which are automatically updated according to your set schedule. Of these, 6 can not be disabled: ABC News, CBS Marketwatch, AccuWeather, ESPN, Mr Showbiz, and Digital City. Audrey will download these whenever you update your channels and there is nothing you can do to stop her. The channels take a while to download at analog modem speeds, and if you have limited minutes through your ISP they can eat up a fair amount of time so be careful and watch your times.
The only other channels available at present are Food.com, Drugstore.com, and CyberBills. The latter doesn't actually do anything at this time, while Food.com and Drugstore.com don't really have much function without connecting to the net. The channels have ads running at the bottom of the screen.
Personally, I don't see the charm in this feature. These companies never seem to learn that people don't want to be locked into proprietary features. Maybe in the future there will be AvantGo compatibility for Audrey, which is far more robust. I use AvantGo to download content to my Pilot and I think it would have been far better if Audrey had that capability incorporated. I guess that would mean no advertising fees for the proprietary 3COM channels or perhaps having to pay Avantgo royalties for the client software.
...A techno-trip down memory lane...
Audrey hangs every once in a while. Don't worry, your old DOS days will serve you well here too. Remember "The Big Red Paddle" method for a hard boot? Audrey goes one better. To do a hard boot you have to unplug her. Hopefully you will have outlets within easy reach, because when I was trying to troubleshoot the connection problems she seized up quite a bit after 2 consecutive connect failures. I also hope that Audrey's life is not shortened by the power surges that this technique will expose her to. Why is there no reset button?
The cold boots will also take you back to the days before CMOS, because Audrey cannot remember the date and time if you unplug her. She will automatically try to connect to the net after being plugged in so she can get the date and time. You can abort this process and enter the info yourself for the full "retro" experience. Audrey will also automatically try to download the channels when she's plugged back in, which you also have to manually abort. This can be annoying if you're trying to troubleshoot something and have to keep reseting, like I did. I didn't see any way to configure Audrey to stop doing this.
...Tech support...
Where was tech support? Well, sorry to say, their best tricks are the "S32=98" setting and 10-digit dialing prefix tricks. They also know to ask if you have to dial 9 or have call waiting enabled. That's pretty much it for tech support. They never did figure out the IPCP problem. My best guess is that it's a hardware defect. I should know after 10 calls. BTW, even the music-on-hold is goofy. I picked "blues" to listen to, but I got jazz.
...Dealing with 3COM...
Purchasing an Audrey actually gives you a little taste of the future using the device, and the quality of the support. Maybe it's because I live in Texas and 3COM has some bricks and mortar here, but I was charged sales tax for an internet purchase. I can only speculate as to the reason because when I e-mailed 3COM to ask about it they didn't have the courtesy to reply. Watch out for this if you order from the 3COM site.
I had to use the 3COM site because that was the only place you could get a color besides white or black. BTW, any color besides white costs $50 extra. The only other time I have seen this is with toilet prices. {Insert your own metaphor here ;-)}
At any rate, be very careful ordering from the 3COM site, and if you like colors other than white I hope you get $50 worth of enjoyment looking at it.
...Conclusion...
Audrey reminds me of the old saying about never buying version 1.0 of anything. The scuttlebutt I hear is that 3COM and their competitors are racing to get these things to market. I think Audrey is a prime example of something that was rushed, and I would not be surprised to see if her competition suffers from the same lack of thorough beta-testing. Perhaps a lot of my objections are fixable with downloaded software patches, but at this price I don't care to wait and gamble.
The cuteness aside, you need to decide whether this PDA is worth it versus a typical large PDA (i.e., with keyboard) or laptop to sit on the kitchen counter. Here are some pros and cons:
Whether you get a large PDA or a low-end laptop, they can all be disconnected and run on batteries, so you can use it around the house, or even outside the house. Audrey is tethered to the wall.
In terms of channels, AvantGo (www.avantgo.com) provides over 1,000 channels for Palm OS and WinCE machines. If you have a laptop, you can use the Win98 channels feature to get tons of channels. Audrey has only a few channels and 6 are not optional.
The large WinCE PDAs (Clio 1000, Mobilon PV-6000, Jornada 820, or Aero 8000) are mature products that do more for about the same price. The Clio and Mobilon have handwriting recognition in addition to being full-featured WinCE PDA's capable of net and e-mail access. Audrey is still buggy, there's not pen input, and the modem is unreliable. Try "Fox Pop" (www.foxpop.co.uk) for a good review of these larger PDAs.
At higher prices you can go whole hog for the Jornada 720 or Clio 1050, but you're getting into low-end laptop prices. Speaking of which, you can find a P166/233 laptop online for about $500-600, maybe even a faster box on eBay for the same money. These obviously have much more robust features, and you can connect them easily to your other peripherals or home network. They might be slow, but for running a PIM and connecting to the net they are easily as fast as a PDA.
Lastly, at present there is no other software for Audrey, whereas PDAs and laptops have tons of third-party software that can be used to customize the function of the unit.
What about synching with your Pilot? If you go the laptop route you can still easily synch your Pilot using the standard Palm software. There is software that can synch a Pilot to a WinCe PDA using the IR ports.
My wife likes Audrey, but at $550+tax for a beta box with limited capabilities, Audrey is going back to meet her maker and we will continue to search for a more functional family PDA for the kitchen. Audrey is too much "show" and too little "go".
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