In a hot, luxurious room last night, a gathering of media and business professionals were told the next generation of mobile Internet was here. It's called the Pocket Surfer 2 and it's made by a company called DataWind. Sceptical, we certainly were. DataWho? But we also spent the duration of the presentation with our eyebrows continually raising, mouths continually being drawn closer to the ground.
We used the Pocket Surfer 2 and it really is deeply impressive. Why? Because it offers completely free mobile Internet -- the full Internet -- at speeds faster than any BlackBerry, any Nokia, and even the allegedly omnipotent Apple iPhone, even though it uses GPRS, not 3G.
With a full-colour, 5-inch 640x240-pixel screen, it supports full HTML pages, JavaScript, frames (if you're 1999 enough to still use them), ActiveX control, Flash and Ajax. We saw it download a 2MB Adobe PDF file in less than seven seconds -- seriously, over GPRS. You can even download and open PowerPoint files, for crying out loud. As you can see, there's a full Qwerty keyboard, so Web mail and typing URLs is a cinch.
Before you go off your gadget-loving little nut -- or think it's too good to be true -- the Pocket Surfer has some drawbacks. We were sad to see YouTube videos don't play. This is probably to do with the limited processing power under the hood. You wouldn't be able to hear anything anyway, as there's no speakers or headphone socket -- which means no VoIP, of course.
It's going to launch at the start of August for £179.99 and that includes 20 hours a month for free, but hardcore users can pay £5.99 a month for completely unlimited usage. DataWind has some hefty bulk data deals with the network operators, and as an MVNO, it covers all the costs of your Internet browsing. There's no contract, no minimum usage period and no restriction on what you can browse. There are contextual ads on the built-in search, but you don't have to use it. Pretty sweet, huh? Click through for more info.
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Comments 9
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Anonymous 7 January, 2011 03:42
PLEASE FREE GPRS ON MY MOBILE
anonymous 17 August, 2011 13:48
Ok
anonymous 11 December, 2011 18:21
i would like to receive totally free internet
anonymous 14 April, 2012 02:29
HELP required on how and who do you contact to revive my Surfer 2.?
anonymous 24 April, 2012 08:24
i got a pocket surfer 2...i'm in PAKISTAN and my dad gifted that to me frm UK..i dont know how to use internet on it...it just shows the starting screen and then shows searching gprs..innfact almost 3 or 4 wifi r present near my home and it also shows all of them..but it donot open any page..kindly guide me how to use it??????????????
anonymous 5 June, 2012 14:32
my husband bought me a pocket surfer 2. he bought it frm the uk.i dont knw how to use internet on it.it jus shows the starting screen and then shows searching GPRS.pls can u guide me on how to use my pocket surfer?i'm realy looking forward to use it and how it work's.
anonymous 18 November, 2012 13:35
How do you get credit on the phone do you do it through your network provider or who.
anonymous 4 December, 2012 13:29
I have a pcoket surfer.It gives a message, switch off and insert sim card. Pleasr advise as to acquiring one. .thank you.
anonymous 4 December, 2012 13:31
I have a pcoket surfer.It gives a message, switch off and insert sim card. Pleasr advise as to acquiring one. .thank you.