Datawind PocketSurfer 2 web surfer - First Look review

Comments

• I think its a great product. what it does it does well. I saw a bunch of reviews on the Pocket Surfer at www.mydataworld.co.uk Posted by Herman7, Canada
• Bought one, not bad, not brilliant. It's slow, despite what reviews say, and with everything going web 2.0, more and more sites are incompatible. Get an iPhone 3G instead with it's upgradable firmware and upcoming flash support. You might have to pay per month for the contract, but £30 for unlimited surfing plus all the other functionality, versus £5 for unlimited surfing and, umm, nothing else... iPhone 3G also has proper A-GPS. This device only works out where you are through triangulation of towers.
  
  Does what it says on the tin, but there are prettier tins out there. Posted by Darren, UK
• I've had my PocketSurfer 2 for about 1 month and am delighted with it. I've upgraded to the unlimited option. Now I can surft the net and access my company's DNS server from anywhere, improving my productivity and customer response time. This has definitely improved my company's profitability, which wouldnt have been possible with an iPhone due to the high data charges. Posted by Steve, Australia
• brought 1 a good little gadget but the battery dosent stay charged as long as it says on the lable but still thats not to much problem,cheers,derek. Posted by derek, uk
• i purchased the first model 2 years ago it was a good idea at the time but was dissapointed by the slow interface and poor build ; but i have faith in the company who wants to lower costs for us all to acess the net ,
  i have now jumped in again and bought the pocket surfer 2 roam this month dec 2008 and can only say im pleased with the device the track pad is a big improvement which allows you to navagate the mouse pointer around also the device is much more robust compared to the original pocket surfer the only quirk about the device is when you switch on you have to set the graphics to suit you viewing requirements apart from the software glitches i think datawind are on the right track with this device i cant wait for the 3g and new display model i also here that there might be a slot to insert a micro/sd card to allow files to be saved or photos uploaded on e/mails. Posted by andrew, uk
• I have an 3G phone and also a 3G USB dongle and around town they work just fine, but I also have a caravan in the country and both items are totally useless because there is no 3G coverage and none planned for the future. GPRS working on the old phone technology is well established for many years and is very robust and both my Pocketsurfer and my new Pocketsurfer 2R work brilliantly almost everywhere I have tried them and are much more useful than any unreliable 3G device when in less populated areas of the country. I would not be without mine and would commend this device to everyone for this reason. I have a friend who has a canal narrowboat and he also uses a Pocketsurfer in many parts of the country where 3G just will not work. Posted by Rob, United Kingdom
• I have recently got the pocket surfer 2. Great product, for me its all I need when being away from my computer. I live in rural UK & there are hardly any wifi hotspots, so the pocket surfer is the ideal solution for me. Despite seeing many negative comments over the net, I think this is a good little gadget for business and personal use. Posted by Rory, UK
• ABSOLUTE WASTE OF MONEY!!!! I have been on this gadget for over twelve hours in two weeks trying to send an email. Service support? I have left several telephone messages as there is never anybody there to take my call and endless emails to the Company and am still awaiting a reply of some form. I have just just finished packing it up to return it. Posted by Disgruntled Customer, UK
• i think its a fabulous little gadget best thing i ever bought, cant wait to get my pocket surfer2r next month. l definately recommend buying one. Posted by julie simpson, england
• Hi, I too have just bought the new Pocket Surfer2R and like the 'disgruntled customer' above had sent numerous emails to support? I have as yet had NO replies to my problems. I find that the battery lasts 2 hours at the most and find that the 4 hours promised is a overstatement and very misleading. I am lucky though as I have my unit on 30 days return and it looks like I might be using to return. I thought my unit might be faulty but after reading other posts it seems normal. Posted by Chantelle, England
• Hi, I have the Pocketsurfer2R and like the others am very disappointed with the device, it has been a total waste of £200, its slow and is difficult to access my emails and then when I do, I have difficulty opening them. I find the whole device very frustrating I only wish I could send mine back as I have the 28 day returns policy, but unfortunatley would only get a credit note, ebay here I come Posted by Billie, United Kingdom
• JUST DONT BUY IT. I BOUGHT ONE YESTERDAY AND ITS A COMPLETE PIECE OF SHIT NOTHING ELSE. U WILL REPENT IF U WATE UR MONEY ON THIS USELESS DEVICE. DoNNNNNNNNNNNNT BUY POCKETSURFER Posted by SACHIN, INDIA
• Picture quality is very poor. Loading pictures very slow
  for text based application/browsing etc. This can add value
  Hari Nair Posted by hari, United Kingdom
• The device is serving us well in Nigeria. l can't do without it. This product is design for Africa where internet penetration is very low. Posted by Dave Achonu, Nigeria
• If anyone in the UK got offer a upgrade from Pocket Surfer 2 to Pocket Surfer 2 R for £99.Make sure the stock are in.The reason i say this i order a Pocket Surfer 2 R about week and a half they too money still waiting now out of stock and never told me till i phoned.Beware ok. Posted by Lionel, UK
• was seriously thinking of buying one of these.
  Had probs with idealworld.tvwhen ordering so putff.
  
  thinking of trying again but glad i saw these reviews.
  
  Will give it a miss Posted by Ray Rodden, UK
• Bought my surfer 2 several months ago off a TV shopping channel for £140. It has its uses but are very limited mainly because coverage is too poor. Screen is slow to respond so it keeps lodding itself off - most annoying. Finally went belly up and couldnt log onto anything so called the company who asked me to return it to a London address because the SIM card " Needs adjusting" that was two weeks ago but still have not received it back - and no replies to email !! Posted by Rob, UK
• hi guys, i have just bought the pocketsurfer2 and it is due to arrive tmoz 30thapril, but after reading these reviews i think i have made a mistake. i have got this over a 3month period with the first payment already taken out. WHAT SHOULD I DO? should i go ahead or just send it back unopened and cancel my debit? thanks. lee Posted by lee, england
• 
  pocket surfer 2 brilliant ive never had a computer due
  to cost of line rental.since buying this on free unlimited
  usage i've set up emails got on facebook & got loads off
  information of the net it do's what it says on the box.i
  would agree about the battery life it could do with improving
  but other than that money well spent.
  Posted by b greenwood, uk
• Awesome device... i just cannot live witout it. it accompanies me everywhere i go. At least I can be in touch with everybody, anytime and really anywhere.
  
  Posted by Pamy, India
• Had the new pocket surfer with unlimited use. It worked reasonably OK, but I could not log into my Bank account because the screen would not react quick enough, but OK for emails and surfing the net. Very handy to take on holiday etc.
  
  Major problem though after 6 weeks use it completely packed in and they say it cannot be repaired so have had to send it back. Really disappointed. Cannot understand why they say it cannot be repaired/or replaced, I thought they would just put the vodaphone sim card into another pocket surfer. Anyway, will not buy another one. Posted by annieh, England
• I am so excited to see new gadget upcoming in the market as I have already stored lots of gadgets! - christmas gifts
  Posted by andrew smith, united kingdom
• I had the Packetsurfer2 and then got a 2R as they were offering a low cost re-placement. Both are rubbish. The 2R has this sense-pad to move the cursor but frequently hangs. They also changed the mobile service provider but I now get very little coverage at home. I dont use it much and its probably not for serious browsing. Its OK if you have web pages that do not require much page scrolling. I would not key in my pwd on any sites as I dont trust if its securely kept. BUT the worst thing is they have a center in India for support and boy are they rubbish. When I called to get support on why I could not connect to the internet - it had Timeout messages - this stupid woman said that "Sir the reason why you cannot connect is that you have to charge the battery for 6 hrs on first use" - can you believe that - how crazy is that - I had to put the phone down as she did not get it. Do not buy it - if something goes wrong - the idiots will not be able to support you. By the way - I doubt if this is a UK company as most of the staff appear to be abroad. Posted by Nash, UK