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3Com Audrey Web Appliance
Batteries Included: 1
Binding: Electronics
Brand: 3Com
Compatibility: PC USB
CPU Speed: 200 MHz
Display Size: 7.8 inches
EAN: 0662705364759
Item Dimensions: 11.8
Label: 3Com
Manufacturer: 3Com
Model: 3C8300AUWHT-01
Modem Description: Modem (analog)
MPN: 3C8300AUWHT-01
Platform: Palm OS
Publisher: 3Com
Studio: 3Com
Features:- 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
Accessories:
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Editorial Review:
Keeping yourself organized is hard enough. Add your loved ones to the mix and life gets complicated in a hurry. Meet Audrey. The first in the Ergo product line of simple Internet Appliances. Audrey can help organize your complex life. Audrey tracks, consolidates and synchronizes the details of your family's life. Plus, e-mail and access to your favorite websites, at the touch of a button.Audrey can be the family's nerve-center in no time, handling schedules, phone books, and notes. Up to two Palm compatible devices in your home can sync to Audrey to help centralize your family calendar. It features instant access to up to 12 preset websites and e-mail. A clear stylus lights up in its holder when messages are waiting. Plus it has color touch screen and wireless keyboard.
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
Make e-mailing and Web browsing easy and convenient for the whole family with the 3Com Ergo Audrey, an Internet appliance that works with your current ISP to deliver one-touch Internet access.
The Audrey's innovative twist dial allows you to flip from Web site to Web site for easy surfing, and the 12 preset sites (or channels) offer everything from weather to news to stocks. The Audrey can be programmed to grab e-mail and Web channel content at specified times.
Use the included wireless keyboard to write e-mail messages and the clear, acrylic stylus to navigate around the color touch screen (6.25 by 4.75 inches). An LED within the stylus cradle lights up the stylus when you have unread e-mail. With the snapshot function, you can capture images from the screen to attach to e-mail messages. You can also attach scribbled notes or drawings (saved as GIFs) and voice messages that can be recorded through the internal microphone (and played back via the Audrey's stereo speakers).
Keep your family in touch with the scheduling functions, which allow you to color-code a daily schedule for each family member. Use the serial port or two USB ports to synch with up to two handhelds so every family member can link up. The Audrey works with Palm OS devices including Palm handhelds, Handspring Visors, and the Sony Clié.
The Audrey features a built-in 56 Kbps modem with two standard RJ-11 telephone jacks, a serial port, 2 USB ports, and an audio output for external speakers. It is broadband capable if using the 3Com USB Ethernet adapter.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - 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 ... Read More
Rating:  - 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.
Rating: - Discontinued! Outlook uncertain
This is a great product, but it is no longer made or supported by 3Com.
Rating: - Audrey is a lost gem
The Ergo Audrey has a lot of potential,unfortunately, Palm decided to discontinue the entire Ergo line. So this is your chance to get one now before they're all gone! I bought one last night and I got online this morning (delays caused by my ISP) and the Audrey is great! It looks cute and is very easy to use. Don't count on a lot of tech support though because this is the last of Audrey.
Rating:  - It's been discontinued
I was looking forward to buying an Audrey, only to find that it's been discotinued by the manufacturer
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