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New Clie Handhelds from Sony
A Commentor writes: "Sony has release two new handhelds including a super slim high-res color model, which has 16M and "AV Remote Control feature". It is also covered at news.com."
Looks like Sony will continue to hold the coolest Palm clone crown.
There's already shareware out there that allows you to use a Palm's IR port as a remote control. I only get a range of about 10 feet with my Visor Deluxe though. Hopefully these new ones will work from across the room.
Promote proofreading. Don't mod up sloppy posts.
I have a Clie N710C, and I use it both with a Mac (MarkSpace sells the software for doing this) and Linux (kernels since around version 2.4.13 have worked OK with it, maybe even earlier). Sony does not officially support anything other than Windows, but that doesn't mean it does not work :-)
The MarkSpace product allows mounting the memory stick under MacOS, and on Linux, it can be mounted as a usb-storage device, it is formatted as a VFAT file system.
I have a Clie 760, the Japanese version of the 750. It works great. The high res makes all the difference in the world. There's a reason after the Clie 700 was released in Japan it stayed on the #1 best selling Palm OS spot ever since (maybe not anymore now though). After you use hi-res you just can't go back anymore. The standard 160x160 screens just look like pure crap. Especially here, with the Japanese fonts with the extremely intricate details, on the 160x160 displays I would call that borderline useable, just barely legible. 320x320 produces a beautiful smooth chinese character. Add in using an ebook reader like Wordsmith that can do ClearType (the LCD font smoothing technology) and they really look completely smooth to me, no jaggies at all. So if the reason that you stopped using Palms was because of the bad screen resolutions, I urge you to drop by your local electronics retailer and take a look at the new Clies on display and see what you think.
PS the Clie 415 is an exception to this. It is B&W and has a hi-res 320x320 screen, but is completely illegible due to bad contrast. Don't use that as an example.
Ouch, +4 informative for this?
"Only compatible with Sony headphones, Sony memory stick, Sony software etc etc."
Funny, my Clie 760 right now has a pair of generic no name headphones attached (didn't like the clip ons that came with it), has a Sandisk memory stick inserted, and is running a myriad of programs designed by 3rd parties. Oh, and don't forget my 3rd party stylus......
Erm... no. The best thing about it is how durable it is. If you drop it and step on it, you are not going to break it, try that with some other flash.
Just a Tuna in the Sea of Life
I too have a Handera; all the points above are very true.
What is particularily interesting about the Handera is the fact that it has the CompactFlash and SD ports, thereby making it available for use with all the pheripherals that are currently available or that will come out soon. It's terribly useful for when you have a memory card for data and a pheripheral (you can use them both at the same time).
Also, the Handera has kept with the Palm III form factor so a lot of add-ons (especially older ones, like old hard cases) fit perfectly.
These two main features of the Handera make it perfect for a work environment; companies can buy add-ons for this device without having to buy more specialized devices (i.e. some of the Palm OS powered devices from Symbol). It ends up being cheap and very powerful.
An example: my father owns a septic & toilet rental business. With a Handera I've connected to his database of customers & work orders (keeping all his clients on the memory card), I can add a GPS unit to keep track of the location of his toilets (especially useful when they are way out in the woods), a bar-code scanner can be used to keep track of inventory and quickly identify toilets when he's servicing them. He can also use one of the many Palm III keyboards to enter data on the road.
I've heard that one of the more popular uses of Handera devices are in warehouses with 802.11 networks & barcode scanners to manage inventory.
Sony PDAs are great but they are consumer oriented. BTW, the Handera has a 240x320 resolution (very crisp).
Couple of things...
First, you're right about the springboard slot, in a way. There are lots of modules available for it, then again they're a little pricey. On the other hand, Sony has a camera is supposedly will have a GPS module soon, for the memory stick slot.
Okay, so what really makes this thing tempting? 320x320 color screen. Compare that to 160x160 for the Visor Prism or the color Palms. Throw in Documents-to-Go, which is included with the Sony. It'll cost you $70 at PalmGear. Throw in an enhanced IR port, which I take it would compare to the Handspring OmniRemote module ($60 from Handspring). So right there is $130 in add-ons that are included with the Clie, already making it a better deal than the Prism.
Also, looks like the best price for a SpringBoard 16MB memory card is about $80. For that you can get a 64MB memory stick.
One last thing: Click on the product tour for the Clie. First pic is a side shot of the Clie. Yep, it's thin.
Now, I'm not necessarily sold on this Clie. I'm currently the proud owner of a Visor Deluxe, which I've had for a couple of years now. But it cost me $300 originally, so $400 for 4x the resolution, plus color, plus style, plus whatever else seems to me to be right on the money.
Now, I have a birthday coming up... I wonder if I can convince my wife how much I NEED a new PDA...
As I recall in millimeters, the Clie wins in thickness over the M505 by a slim margin, maybe by a millimeter or three. Pretty insignificant, and basically invisible to the naked eye. But I guess they are being truthful even through their marketing speak........
Apparently it is corrected as there is now support for clies in the latest linux kernel.
Just a Tuna in the Sea of Life
We have a winner. Either that, or Slashdot need a new moderation option: Misinformed.
Right off the bat, Sluggie is quoting specs from the wrong model. He's looking at the N760, not the T615.
The T615 doesn't have a headphone jack at all. It uses an external MP3 decoder that connects to the hotsync port. The external decoder, and N700's built-in audio, use standard headphones.
bpowell423's points are correct. Sony's prices for cradles, AC adapters, etc. are comparable to others. And PalmOS is PalmOS.
Sluggie's right about expansion, though. For simple memory expansion, I don't think there's a practical difference between Memory Stick and MMC/SD. Step outside the handheld space, and support for either format is equally thin. But I really wish Sony would add Compact Flash support. There's a sled for the T-series in Japan, but it's not available in the States. (If you follow the link, it's the PEGA-CF60. Babelfish helps, but with Japanese, it's as, um, entertaining as it is useful.)
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I recently purchased a Palm m505. While I really like Sony's features and such I really don't like Sony's actions as part of the big 5 entertainment group. They are a strong advocate of the DMCA and seem to be on the forefront of actions to restrict a consumers ability to use their personal property. As such I have made a decision to avoid their products.
I've got a sony clie and I use Linux 100%. JPilot works perfectly with Palms (including Sony). The USB interface doesn't work, but there are two other options:
/dev/hdc. It's just a VFAT filesystem that can be mounted like anything else. No drivers or installs, I just slid it in and it was recognized as a removable hard drive.
1. I use the IR port to my laptop for syncing. A little slower, but it works on the road and I don't have to take the cradle.
2. I also ordered a serial port cable for it from a third-party company in Hong Kong. I don't remember the company name, but I found it on an old post of slashdot 6 months ago or so.
The memory stick, while I wish they had used more standard cards, is not that bad. I have the sony PCMCIA card reader for memory sticks, and Linux (Mandrake) recognizes it perfectly as
You can listen to MP3s and use the other apps at the same time! Go into the audio player and set options/preferences to background play.
USB (though it's still using a serial protocol across that USB interface) works perfectly well under Linux with pilot-link and Coldsync. Join us on Efnet on #pilot-link for help if you need it. I'm releasing a new version of pilot-link which does protocol auto-detection, so Handspring (old "USB" protocol) and Sony devices (new "USB"/net protocol) is detected and used properly. People have had no issues. Works with JPilot (with a slight update) and Evolution (AC_PILOT_LINK) and other apps.