The Compaq Airlife 100 is one of the first so-called smartbooks to make it to market. The 10 inch mini-laptop combines some of the best elements of a netbook with those of a smartphone. Unfortunately, Chippy at Carrypad has determined that the Airlife 100 doesn’t quite live up to its potential.
In a detailed review, he concludes that the 12-hour battery life and always-connected nature of the smartbook are excellent features. But he says the web browser isn’t up to snuff and the lack of access to the Android Market makes installing third party apps a hassle. He’s also less than impressed with the device’s multimedia capabilities.
The Android Market isn’t the only thing that’s missing. The Airlife 100 also ships without the basic Google apps that you get on most smartphones including Gmail, contact sync, maps, and Goggles.
Chippy likes the design of the Airlife 100, which weighs just 2.2 pounds and has a large and quiet keyboard. He’s disappointed that the screen doesn’t open to a wider angle though.
You can find more photos and details at Carrypad.
I have emailed Chippy to findout if the device works without a sim. Do you guys know?
I was just looking at Android’s multimedia capabilities yesterday and see if any good apps are coming. . . couldn’t find any. This is an area lacking especially for how well Android is doing. Also, why some of these large devices are slapping Chrome on for the browser is beyond me.
Any chance that you can clarify what you mean by “promise” when you say the Airlife 100 doesn’t live up to it? Do you mean “promise” as its potential, or “promise” as the manufacture’s claims? For the record, I agree with your summary of Chippy’s review and am merely confused by how you’re couching it.
Potential. If I’d meant the manufacturer’s claims, I probably would have
used HP’s name in that sentence. But I can see how that’s confusing. I’ll
update the post.