Thin Client

The stripped-down "thin client" devices, such as Celio's Redfly C8N, offer companies big savings on hardware costs and software support

By Cliff Edwards

As we head into the fourth decade of the personal-computer revolution, there's a growing class of technophiles who rarely hunker down in front of a PC. Millions of Internet-savvy users now manage a lot of their multimedia hobbies, social networking, and even business tasks on smartphones from Apple (AAPL), Samsung, and other companies.

For a long time, consumers were driving this trend, but corporations are now starting to think about trading PCs for smartphones or other kinds of hybrid wireless devices known as thin clients. These look like notebook computers, but some are designed to connect with a smartphone and share its operating system and software applications. As a result, the thin client doesn't require its own internal processing or storage capability.

Companies are attracted to this approach for two reasons: Thin clients are cheaper to purchase than full-service laptops, and the corporate buyer can exert much stricter control over the software they run. Unlike laptops, both smartphones and thin clients can be tightly controlled by companies, so they don't get cluttered up with thousands of programs and media files downloaded from the Net. That makes them less vulnerable to viruses, hackers, and other security threats—saving companies money on tech support.

For the past few weeks, I've been looking at one of the first entries in a new class of mobile thin clients. Celio's Redfly C8N has an 8-inch screen and is designed to pair wirelessly with a smartphone running the Windows Mobile operating system. That means you can use the C8N to work on Word and Excel documents, e-mail colleagues using Microsoft (MSFT) Exchange Server, and do most other things you do at the office. Measuring 6 in. by 9 in. and 1 in. thick, the device is too big to cram in a pocket—unlike an iPhone or most other handsets—but I found it a lot more comfortable for business uses.

The Redfly is lighter than most netbooks, and at $299 it is far cheaper than ultrathin laptops. When the Bluetooth connection is on, the battery lasts about nine hours, nearly double what you get on most energy-efficient laptops. And if you need data or programs that are only on your office network or your desktop, there's remote-access software that will let you log in safely.

All of this makes Redfly very appealing, but there are some trade-offs: not least, an extremely cramped keyboard. During my tests, my typing accuracy rate dropped below 50% as I surfed the Web and took notes using Microsoft Word. Asus, Acer, and other netbook makers offered similarly tiny keyboards in early products, and shoppers returned them in droves.

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