Celio REDFLY Mobile Viewer Beta – What it does and how it can be useful
One of my colleagues at Enterprise Mobile noticed the press release from Celio on a new piece of software from Celio, the makers of the REDFLY Companion hardware add-on for Windows Mobile devices. This new PC based software was announced at the CES 2009 in January with a delivery date in March.
This peaked my interest and wanted to figure out what this piece of software could do. Specifically how does it assist with using the REDFLY devices if it is running on my Windows XP or Vista machine?? So I went to Celio site and downloaded the public beta.
How it works
The installation was painless and quick on my Vista machine.
When I first ran the application it brought up this screen with the familiar logo and graphics, just like on the hardware REDFLY devices. Please notice the bottoms at the top, which mimic the traditional buttons on a Windows Mobile device.
I did have to allow my Vista firewall permissions for the application to access the network:
Once I connected a device through USB and the Vista based Windows Mobile Device Center (ActiveSync on Windows XP) came up, I clicked on the Connect button. The REDFLY Mobile Viewer application then promptly attempted a connection through the USB connection to the device:
..and brought up my device screen right away:
Findings
Through my quick testing I found that the beta software appeared to be very stable and didn’t feel beta to me what so ever. Simple to use and easy to install. I didn’t try my Bluetooth connection from my laptop to see if that wireless connection method works as well..
Usage Scenarios
What many are now asking is why would Celio release such a piece of software and what is the reasoning behind it. I don’t know the official answer, but can come up with several scenarios where I feel the REDFLY Mobile Viewer could be very valuable:
Demoing – Through the use of the “Auto hide toolbar” option and a webinar session, you could quickly discuss and display the same experience as you would have on a real hardware based REDFLY device. This is something that has been lacking when working in our virtual “less-travel-is-better” business world.
Application Development/Testing – One of the frequent questions when evaluating the hardware REDFLY units is how will my business applications running on the Windows Mobile device work and look like on the REDFLY unit? I believe with the REDFLY Mobile Viewer this support could be better tested and tried, without the need to have the actual REDFLY hardware. This could potentially broaden the number of software vendors who support the REDFLY and the larger screen size formats.
Wrap up
Bottom line, think of the REDFLY Mobile Viewer as your virtual REDFLY emulator that can come in handy when trying to explain what a REDFLY device is, how it works, and what it can do for your business. I can only hope Celio will provide it free of charge after the beta period. :-)
Also wondering if the current or newer Celio drivers could work on a Windows Mobile Device Emulator, then you could emulate the entire experience without hardware.
BTW, Celio also released updated REDFLY drivers to a bunch of devices today as well. Please see more information here and here.
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