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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 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.
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...
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.