3Com Audrey Web Appliance

Price : Too low to display

The 3Com Ergo Audrey is part of the new breed of Internet appliances designed to get you connected with e-mail and exploring the Web with as few extraneous hardware features and as little hassle as possible. The Audrey certainly fulfills that end of the bargain, and it adds organization tools that can help a family keep track of busy schedules. But it's important to remember that it is a simplified appliance--it's limited in the scope of tasks it can perform and thus can be frustrating to savvy Web users.

To the credit of 3Com, the Audrey looks unlike any other Internet appliance on the market. It reminded us of magazine articles from the 1950s that imagined what it would be like to live in the 21st century. Its simple, cool curves fan out like a T-bird, and it has a chrome top (with two speakers) and oversize buttons that help you navigate between calendar, Web browser, e-mail, and Audrey channels. It also has a nicely compact body, ready to fit right into the kitchen of tomorrow, today.

The Audrey comes with just a small keyboard (which connects via an infrared port), a power cord, and a clear plastic stylus that sticks out of the top of the device and is used to tap commands and browser buttons on the touch screen. The docked stylus also doubles as an e-mail alert, flashing green whenever the Audrey connects and collects e-mail. You also get a serial port and two USB ports for connecting Palm or Handspring docking cradles (you can synchronize only with Palm OS handhelds). The Audrey is also broadband ready if you use an optional USB-to-Ethernet adapter.

Setting up the Audrey was really quite simple. We entered the user information to our existing dial-up account and connected immediately. Happily, the Audrey is one of the few Web appliances that enable you to choose your own Internet service provider (ISP). If you don't have one, the Audrey defaults to suggesting AT&T WorldNet for $15 per month--but doesn't force you into the choice.

The Audrey's e-mail center isn't very robust, offering only New, Old, and Sent sections. You can't receive attachments, and there is no option of storage folders. But this is part of the Audrey's elegant, minimalist philosophy, targeted to users with a full-powered computer to use as their main online communications center (where e-mail can be stored and sorted and attachments viewed). That said, there are some fun features to the e-mail application, allowing you to doodle a message (sent as a GIF image) or a recorded message of up to 3 minutes (sent as a WAV file).

We also found the device's screen frustrating; its small size caused many Web pages to scroll horizontally, and the contrast was too dark unless we sat in a precise position. Even more unnerving was the small keyboard, which inexplicably features punctuation keys half the size of the letter keys. These tiny keys caused us to continuously make typos in our Web addresses--strange, for a device supposedly designed for Internet use, where Web addresses feature many "/" and "." strokes.

The browser isn't stacked with plug-ins, but it does feature Macromedia Flash and RealPlayer for streaming audio, allowing you to use the Audrey as an Internet radio. Unfortunately, you can't surf the Web or use other applications and listen to audio at the same time. We also found that once the Audrey's cache memory was filled (after Web browsing and listening to BBC Radio 1), the audio got choppy and we had to restart the unit.

In addition to Web content, the Audrey also features a set of channels that download content at specified times of the day and night (so you don't have to connect each time you want to read news from ABC). To access a channel, we turned the TV-style knob on the front and selected ESPN, which delivered about three of that day's top headlines. Unfortunately, only a few channels are available at this time--others include CBS MarketWatch and Mr. Showbiz.

The other main component of the Audrey is its organizer features, borrowed from the Palm OS. We synchronized our calendar information and e-mail and phone contact information from our Handspring Visor, but that's all that's stored--no addresses, no notes (unless attached to calendar items), and no to-do list (a big disappointment for an appliance meant for the kitchen). However, it does allow you to have two tracks of calendar items--one for the parents and one for the kids.

Of all the Internet appliances available, the Audrey is truly the most appliancelike--and that's a compliment. It's a very functional product for your busy family kitchen. Just don't expect the whiz-bang technology you take for granted on your Pentium-class PC. Still, we hope that future versions of the Audrey do become more robust, with added online and organization features. --Agen G.N. Schmitz

This review is from : 3Com Audrey Web Appliance
Good Start . We have had our Audrey for about two weeks now. Our overall impression is a good one. The unit is sturdy and goes well with the decor in our kitchen where it is kept. The name is a bit odd, but you forget about it after a while. We believe that while it is not perfect, it is a good start for this type of product. Installation is very easy and fast. Audrey was connected and running in a matter of minutes. User's guide is large and easy to follow. It is very non-technical. User's who have any technical questions beyond how to plug it in and set up a custome ISP will have to look elsewhere. Browsing- We did not purchase the Audrey for the purpose of browsing the internet. We thought this was a job better left to the computer in the upstairs office. Our reason for Audrey was to have quick access to email, a common shceduler, and a common address book. As it turns out we use it to surf a lot more than we ever thought. It really pales in comparison to using a PC for browsing, but the ease and speed of getting on the net, and the location in a central family place has caused a lot more use in this fashion than we ever expected.Email- This is where Audrey really pays off. Email that is simple,quick, and accessible. We have begun to really use email a lot more because of this. Audrey lets you know if you have email waiting by flashing. It has become second nature to look for the flashing light on Audrey just as we would our telephone answering machine. Email program is very simple and stripped down compared to outlook, but it serves its purpose and gets the job done efficiently.Address and Datebook- Once again, simple and effective. Pick an email address from the address book, tap it, and up pops the email program addressed and ready to go. We find it very useful to have all this information located in one central area for the whole family to use. Audrey will sync to two different palms, but we haven't had a chance to try this feature yet. Nothing is perfect. We have had a few problems with our unit. Twice it has locked up after an automatic download and left the modem connected until we arrived home in the evening. We only have one phone line in our home, so this could present quite a problem if someone is trying to call and leave a message. There are also channels that are updated online and then you are able to view these without connecting back to the internet. It is only fully successful here about half of the time. We are able to get the weather channel on all occasions, but things like ABC News, ESPN, and CBS Marketwatch are very unreliable.Overall we are very pleased with our purchase. It serves our needs well when we want it to, and fits nicely in the background of the kithen when not in use. We purchased Audrey over the other choices of web appliance because it was smaller and you are able to choose your own access/email provider. No regrets at all. The only caveat that we would add is that we didn't buy this appliance as our only source to surf the net. If that had been the case our choice may have been different.

3Com Audrey Web Appliance Reviews
Soneone Finally Got It Right . I've been interested in Web "Appliances" since people first started talking about them a couple of years ago. But everything I've seen -- until Audrey -- has been a stripped down PC that does nothing more than surf the web (and tie you to MSN for $21 a month. AARGH) This Audrey is easy to use, fun and much more than just a browser. My wife and I can both sync our Palms into it, so we can view our schedules side by side. The internet channels give us instant access to weather, sports, etc. so we don't have to boot up the PC to get simple info. And having email always available is so convenient, that we all use it more. Thanks, 3Com!

3Com Audrey Web Appliance Opinions
Shot in the right direction but 3com missed the target. . My family purchased an Audrey for the holidays. We plugged it in and got it set up. Set up, by the way, couldn't have been easier. We just hooked up th broadband adapter and turned it on. Set up took roughly 15 minutes. After that, we set up all the porgrams. Thge internet works great with one problem; NO JAVA SUPPORT! The other problem we had was that our Palm V's wouldn't sync. We had to reboot to get it to work. It's a good product for what it does. Now some of the less "techy" people can acsess the net with ease. However, 3com shouldn't have rushed it, cuz she has her quirks.

Lots of potential for a little price . For some unknown reason, 3COM discontinued this web appliance only 5 months after it was released... so forget about getting support from 3COM... they no longer support this device and have even pulled support information from their website. The good news is that there is an entire on-line community devoted to customizing, tweaking and personalizing this web appliance.I originally got this for my mother as an easy intro to the Internet. There is a wireless keyboard which works well, but it's a bit too small for adult human hands to type quickly with accuracy.The stylus (when not in use) sticks in the top of the Audrey like a single antenna and it blinks green when a new e-mail has arrived.You can surf the web and even view Flash movies as long as they are reverse complaint to 3.0 Flash viewers. To protect itself from malicious programs, the Audrey does not read Java, but it will read JavaScript. The underlying OS (operating system) is QNX which is like a mini flavor if Unix. Because it isn't some proprietary OS just for this one appliance, there are many support forums for QNX which allow you to further update this appliance.My less than perfect rating comes from the fact that Audrey prefers to be on a LAN connection, whether it's DSL, Cable Modem or a company LAN... as long as the connection is on at all times. If you disconnect from your ISP and turn Audrey off, she'll turn herself back on in an hour or so (whenever she feels like waking up) and start calling your ISP.There have been a number of times I've been talking to my mother on the phone when Audrey suddenly decided to wake up and send modem screeches on the phone while we were talking.I currently have the Audrey in my home as I try to customize it by hacking into the shell and keep Audrey from behaving this way. In order to customize Audrey, you need to have a router (like the Linksys 4 port available here on Amazon.com) so you can spoof an IP address to make Audrey think she's connecting to 3COM when in fact she's connecting to another address to update her OS so that the shell can be accessed.Without the hacking, Audrey can still serve as a great appliance. The touch screen isn't really meant for human fingers, but the stylus with it's soft rubber tip. You can connect to most "normal" ISPs with the exception of AOL, which uses a proprietary browser and can't be loaded into the Audrey. Currently, my Audrey is connected through Earthlink. If you're already a wiz at the Internet, this appliance will probably drive you nuts, but if you have a parent or another friend who is totally clueless and scared of computers, this is a fantastic intro to e-mail and the web.The Audrey boasts 2 speakers and a microphone built-in as well as a note pad and calendar.For the money, this is a very sophisticated device... and the fact that you can synch up your palm pilot to it is remarkable.The Audrey has an internal modem and has a jack for your phone line as well as for an Ethernet connection and a single USB port so you can connect a printer.The Audrey is light weight and takes up a very small footprint on a desk.

An internet purchase for the whole family. . I opened the box a scant few hours ago and I'm already in love. Sure, the keyboard takes some getting used to (it's kinda small) but the stylus and touch screen more than make up for it. It comes in five yummy colors (I opted for the creamy green). As for storing you data and syncing with your Palm ... top notch. And since Audrey updates herself daily I can only hope for more cool add ons.

Can't be any better! . My friend and I just got two Audreys and we placed it on the breakfast table as well as in our living room... It is awesome and we love the style also, it compliments our house very well and is very convient for us in the mornings when we are having coffee and tea and provides easy access to the net during commericals and boring news hours. It was also a snap to get everything setup... not like that iPaq crap... Get it! its definitely worthwhile...

Cons Review

Serious issues . Audrey and 3com have serious problems. Let me establish my background - I'm an avid fan of the Palm series and now have a Palm VII having given my Palm 3x to my wife. The intuitiveness of the Palm and the research that went into it did not translate to Audrey. This thing was obviously designed without researching housewives and families with children and what they really need. Also, some of the ads and the original web site are/were misleading. What I think Audrey is good for - a synching station for a 2 palm couple. If your goal is to have a single place to view two calendars side by side - this will work. But if that is your goal - why pay [this much money]? The positive reviews on this page sound like synching couples or 3com employees not families with kids. Now for the problems - calendar is full of quirks-you cannot create individual color coded schedules as originally shown in misleading ads-Audrey has its own schedule and then up to two palms have their schedules which are color coded. We have a family with 3 kids and were excited that each could have their own schedule. No dice. Synching with audrey requires that you mark each event you want to synch over one by one. And an event owned by the Audrey calendar can't synch to a palm pilot. Email is almost unusable - most attachments are two large for it. Stations is an abortion and appears to be a serious bug of the system. My station knob didn't work, 3com support said "bend it down-now it's fixed!" It wasn't - stations blow by like lightning and then the system locks with a browser memory error. Then you have to unplug it and half the time it doesn't boot up right. Oh, and when it does-you get to go through setup again. The browser seems OK though the screen is small but 3com touts the goofy feature of copying something from the browser to email to send to somebody else. That's a non feature - get the customer's needs down. To sum it up - the first hour my wife spent with this caused her to say "Uggh" with all the limitations(there are many) and kludginess and bugs. And finally - support is horrid. We had to send ours back and it's been over a month with no word. When you call, they have no clue.To sum it up, the concept and promise were exciting and I see where it can go but it's like expecting Albert Einstien and getting Trog.

Mainly OK but terrible customer service . The Audrey mainly worked, but Java and Realplayer pages don't work. Realaudio is OK, so it makes a great web radio. Email is OK but some attachments don't get through. Audrey is a great prototype, but it's not ready for prime time.After many calls to 3com support I still couldn't get a Palm V to sync with it and so they decided that the serial port was faulty and asked me to return it for a replacement. That was four weeks ago! Calling their customer service is an adventure - it's patchy at best. I'd wait for them to get their act together. Leon

This item was discontinued in May 2001. . This is not a good buy! Here is a clip from the 3Com web site. Although most of the Audrey (TM) features will continue to work Email, Calendar, Address Book, Web Browsing), as of April 18, 2001, the Internet Channels (i.e., AccuWeather, CBSMarketwatch, etc.) as well as the ability to auto-update system software and applications will no longer function or be supported.

NOT user friendly . We bought this for our Mom with high expectaions based on reviews. Unfortunately, there are SO MANY quirks and limitations that it is actually HARDER to use than a real computer. Email would not forward, could only address to one person at a time, printing just does a 'screen dump' so to print an email, you get about five lines at a time, then you advance to the next page and get the next five lines. Very slow, tedious and useless. HTML email just shows up blank , no error message, so you don't even know that there is a problem, very confusing (3com confirmed that it WON'T receive html - I never noticed if email is html or not, now you have to tell people, bogus). Sorry 3COM, you missed the boat big time. We are going to buy Mom an iMac.

Product Image

Feature 3Com Audrey Web Appliance

• Stand-alone Web browser works with your Internet service provider; get instant access to up to 12 preset Web channels and e-mail
• Features a color touch screen and wireless keyboard
• Organizer functions include datebook, memo pad, and address book
• Synchronize date with 2 Palm OS-compatible devices
• Includes internal 56 Kbps modem; broadband ready with optional 3Com USB Ethernet adapter

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Product Details

EAN : 0662705364759
UPC : 662705364759
MPN : 3C8300AUWHT-01
Brand : HP
Weight : 7 pounds
Height : 7 inches
Length : 16 inches
Width : 16 inches
Binding : Office Product
ItemPartNumber : 3C8300AUWHT01
Manufacturer : 3Com
Model : 3C8300AUWHT-01
Platform : Palm OS
Publisher : 3Com
Studio : 3Com

Where To Buy

You can buy 3Com Audrey Web Appliance on Amazon . Click here to Read More