Okay, so the Groupon spam thread is gone...

[wurwolf]

And so is my reply. I'll try to write from memory here.

I am in the market for an android/smartphone/netbook/whatever and my friend just showed me this link.

http://www.groupon.com/deals/gg-crystal-view-netbook?utm_medium=afl&utm_campaign=3272441&utm_source=rvs

I know nothing about this sort of thing and I'm wondering if it's a good deal. I feel like it is, considering I paid my $300 for my increasingly slow netbook a year and a half ago, but I don't really know if this product is any good, or if Groupon is a reliable place from which to buy this sort of thing.

Thoughts or comments, anyone?

[MartyS (Gromit)]

Can't find any reviews for this CrystalView netbook.

Looks like that thing is sold under several different brand names, wolvol and iview have units that look identical and get generally bad reviews.

If it's that cheap it's probably old stock, so probably as old as the one you have.

[RVR II]

Thoughts or comments, anyone?

Groupon sounds like.. Nevermind

[wurwolf]

I know nothing about netbooks other than that they're too small for me to type on. Is this your laptop for home?

I have a netbook now that I carry with me between PA and NYC. It has been adequate for my needs but I would like to have a more portable device on which I can download apps, play games and send and receive texts, in addition to web surfing and listening to music (which is pretty much all I do on it right now).

Can't find any reviews for this CrystalView netbook.

Looks like that thing is sold under several different brand names, wolvol and iview have units that look identical and get generally bad reviews.

If it's that cheap it's probably old stock, so probably as old as the one you have.

Thanks for looking that up for me -- I didn't even think of doing that. I was suspicious of the low price myself. I'll hold out for something better.

[wurwolf]

Sounds like you're more interested in a tablet. Groupon has those on occasionally too, but I think I'd just go to Amazon for one. I had my eye on one that was about $130.

A tablet? I thought they were just for artwork.

[Variety of Cells]

This all sounds very much like an infomercial set up...

But I agree with Imrahill, sounds like you want either a tablet or a smart phone.  More a smart phone especially if you want to send and receive texts.  But it sounds like you don't want to pay a monthly fee.

[wurwolf]

This all sounds very much like an infomercial set up...

But I agree with Imrahill, sounds like you want either a tablet or a smart phone.  More a smart phone especially if you want to send and receive texts.  But it sounds like you don't want to pay a monthly fee.

I'd like to avoid a monthly fee, but I think I will probably need to just bite the bullet and get a phone with a monthly plan. I don't want to make or receive phone calls, but I don't mind texting. And I'd like to be able to have internet access without having to search for wifi. I don't see myself doing much internetting on a phone or whatever -- between my work computer and my netbook I'm online all the time now anyway. I only want it on a phone for when we're traveling, like to look up local restaurants, sites, etc.

I guess a 4g smartphone with a low plan would probably wind up being the best for me, although I actually like the size of the tablet better than a phone. Onil has a Kindle Fire and I like that size, even though I don't want a Kindle.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

This all sounds very much like an infomercial set up...

But I agree with Imrahill, sounds like you want either a tablet or a smart phone.  More a smart phone especially if you want to send and receive texts.  But it sounds like you don't want to pay a monthly fee.

I'd like to avoid a monthly fee, but I think I will probably need to just bite the bullet and get a phone with a monthly plan. I don't want to make or receive phone calls, but I don't mind texting. And I'd like to be able to have internet access without having to search for wifi. I don't see myself doing much internetting on a phone or whatever -- between my work computer and my netbook I'm online all the time now anyway. I only want it on a phone for when we're traveling, like to look up local restaurants, sites, etc.

I guess a 4g smartphone with a low plan would probably wind up being the best for me, although I actually like the size of the tablet better than a phone. Onil has a Kindle Fire and I like that size, even though I don't want a Kindle.

Sounds more like you want a tablet with a 3G or 4G connection.  I've seen pay-as-you-go tablet plans for $30 a month.  All those plans have fairly low caps and crazy overage fees, so not good for streaming video but fine for browsing and email.

The other option is to get a mobile hotspot + a new tablet or netbook, pretty much same rate plans as the tablet plans, you get a little device that connects to the phone network and gives you a wi-fi hotspot to connect your netbook or any other wi-fi devices you have.  Nice thing about that way of doing it is you can have several devices connected, most allow up to 5 at once, so a kindle and netbook could run at the same time.

[Darth Geek]

This all sounds very much like an infomercial set up...

But I agree with Imrahill, sounds like you want either a tablet or a smart phone.  More a smart phone especially if you want to send and receive texts.  But it sounds like you don't want to pay a monthly fee.

I'd like to avoid a monthly fee, but I think I will probably need to just bite the bullet and get a phone with a monthly plan. I don't want to make or receive phone calls, but I don't mind texting. And I'd like to be able to have internet access without having to search for wifi. I don't see myself doing much internetting on a phone or whatever -- between my work computer and my netbook I'm online all the time now anyway. I only want it on a phone for when we're traveling, like to look up local restaurants, sites, etc.

I guess a 4g smartphone with a low plan would probably wind up being the best for me, although I actually like the size of the tablet better than a phone. Onil has a Kindle Fire and I like that size, even though I don't want a Kindle.

Sounds more like you want a tablet with a 3G or 4G connection.  I've seen pay-as-you-go tablet plans for $30 a month.  All those plans have fairly low caps and crazy overage fees, so not good for streaming video but fine for browsing and email.

The other option is to get a mobile hotspot + a new tablet or netbook, pretty much same rate plans as the tablet plans, you get a little device that connects to the phone network and gives you a wi-fi hotspot to connect your netbook or any other wi-fi devices you have.  Nice thing about that way of doing it is you can have several devices connected, most allow up to 5 at once, so a kindle and netbook could run at the same time.

OIh yeah, that brings up another question I had. Those phone "hotspots". My brother has Sprint and no cell phone coverage at his new apartment. I wanted to get him something like that. How well do they work? Are good ones expensive? How do they compare to the plug in "repeaters" that cost like $250+ ?

[Thrifty]

This all sounds very much like an infomercial set up...

But I agree with Imrahill, sounds like you want either a tablet or a smart phone.  More a smart phone especially if you want to send and receive texts.  But it sounds like you don't want to pay a monthly fee.

You can send and receive texts on anything that can connect to the Internet.  Just use Google Voice.  With Google Voice, you get to sign up for a new phone number which you can then use to receive text messages on a computer.  You can also have calls forwarded to as many phones as you want.  You can have texts forwarded as well (provided the receiving device can receive texts).  Lastly, you can block any number with a few mouse clicks.

I cannot say enough good things about Google Voice.  I have a Google Voice number that I give out as my primary phone number.  The actual number to my actual phone (a land line) is something I can't remember.  If I ever feel the need to have a cell phone, it doesn't matter what the number is because I can easily set up Google Voice to forward to that as well.  Calls to the Google Voice number simultaneously ring on all connected numbers.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

The other option is to get a mobile hotspot + a new tablet or netbook, pretty much same rate plans as the tablet plans, you get a little device that connects to the phone network and gives you a wi-fi hotspot to connect your netbook or any other wi-fi devices you have.  Nice thing about that way of doing it is you can have several devices connected, most allow up to 5 at once, so a kindle and netbook could run at the same time.

OIh yeah, that brings up another question I had. Those phone "hotspots". My brother has Sprint and no cell phone coverage at his new apartment. I wanted to get him something like that. How well do they work? Are good ones expensive? How do they compare to the plug in "repeaters" that cost like $250+ ?

You're talking about the boxes that you connect to the internet and it gives you cell phone access, right?  The hotspot I was talking about is the kind that connects to the cell network and gives you a wi-fi internet connection.

I remember reading some stuff about those local cell access points (can't remember the name for them), seems like they charge you quite a bit for them and not all carriers have them.  I also remember people complaining that data usage through one of those things counts towards your cap, kind of crazy since it's using your personal internet connection and not the cell company's.  DSLreports is down, had a bad server crash, so can't look up the articles.