So I’m thinking that when we stop by the Research In Motion booth, we should take a closer look at its new Presenter device. The 3.4″ x 2.4″ x 0.9″ is light at 140 grams and connects to a video projector via S-Video or VGA. The idea is that the Presenter connects to your BlackBerry handheld wirelessly over Bluetooth and you control presentations using the handset.
And there-in lies the rub for me. The device will ship later this year for an MSRP of $199. Near as I can tell, it appears to be a single-purpose solution — control and display Microsoft PowerPoint presentations from a BlackBerry to a projector. I’ll have to ask if there are any other supported formats for output, because if there aren’t, this is a pretty hefty price for one bit of functionality. It’s definitely good and usable functionality, but I’d find it hard to justify when a Celio REDFLY could do a similar thing over wires for $50 more. And the REDFLY would offer the ability to work with the BlackBerry on a larger screen and keyboard all day as well.
Again, I could be wrong on this functionality limitation, so I’ll ask for sure. And for people who need this specific use, this could be a great solution.
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