CTIA: pcEdge internet device review

At first glance, the pcEdge had a similar “wow” factor as the Polymer device that featured a roll-up / out screen as profiled here and seen as the WMC in February.

With only rumours of the 3G iphone coming in June and no sign of any real iphone killer or really fantastic next generation blackberry, this is the one device that stuck out the most to me this week.

It looks like a motorola razr - but much larger with an impressive 6 inch by 3 inch display and about 1/2 inch thick. That’s about double the screen space as the iphone.  It’s thin, it looks cool… but it falls short in my opinion of being a must have device.

Although the browser allows the full desktop web experience in the palm of your hands, my first instinct was to touch the massive screen for action. Sadly, it’s not touch-enabled, so you have to do everything - including navigating around a website with their keyboard. Try doing that on your laptop without a mouse or pointer device and you’ll quickly see how the user experience falls short.

The device is GSM based - although the SIM card is hardwired into the device… which means data roaming would be expensive for anybody travelling on the road. There’s also no micro-SD slot - so you can’t leverage the awesome screen to watch movies on a plane or your favorite Lost episode on the train.

The device boasts impressive downloading speeds (7 to 9 seconds for typical webpage) and all you can eat data plans for about $30 / month.

You can buy the device in Europe and now in the U.S. - no word on a potential release date in Canada.

Check out the video demo below: