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Review of New Sony Clie PEG-NR70
Bryce writes "Here is a detailed review
of the new Sony Clie PEG-NR70." Kurt the Pope
picked one of these up in Japan and I have to say that it is an amazing PDA.
Brilliant screen, and that cool flip open design with a mini keyboard. When
I can get one that speaks English, it could be my next PDA (my iPaq died!)
First I is?!
"Don't drop the soap."
Lucky Number 2, 4, 6, 7, 18, 22
"I've never had anyone give so much attention to my tits before" she said, slightly out of breath. She closed her eyes with her head back and massaged one of her breasts, the other hand still stroked the back of my hair. "Steve, would always kind of ignore them and get my panties off right away, I think he thought my tits were too small."
Steve was her ex-boyfriend, an all around asshole. I never knew why she kept him around.
"Well Steve-o never was too bright in my opinion", I said, "although I can hardly blame him for wanting to get into your sweet panties." I said, thinking I may as well go for broke.
Julie smiled coyly at that. Her face slackened after a moment and she regarded me with narrowed eyes, both of us reflecting on this new development between us. I hoped that she wouldn't end the game now. She looked down to the crotch of her bikini, which had worked up into her slit and I followed her gaze.
"And just how would you know my panties are sweet?" she asked as she took one hand from around my neck and slipped it under the top hem of her bikini bottom. I could see the material being pushed out of her slit as she made room for her finger. The hand she brought out was wet, especially her middle finger. The smell of her sex was pungent as she waved it under my nose briefly. She pulled it away from my face and regarded her slimy hand for a moment before she closed her mouth over the girl-juice covered fingers, licking them clean in long smooth motions while looking at me. I almost came right there. Then again, as close as I was, a strong breeze may have done it too.
"Hmm, it doesn't taste sweet," she said smacking her lips, " a little musky maybe." With that she dipped her hand back into her crotch but this time brought it to my lips and I dutifully sucked her fingers clean, savoring the sex-sweat-cum taste of her.
"But I'm being selfish," my sister said smiling, "here you are sucking just about every part of my me and you've just been suffering there all along." She said as her hand went to my bulging crotch. "Did I do that to you big brother? If I caused it I should at least help you take care of it hmmm?" She pushed on my chest and I felt her thighs tense as she stood up. I scooted back from the desk and half stood so she could pull my sweat pants down and off, then settled back into the chair.
"Oooh, I'm flattered" she cooed, looking at my stiff member. I was so hard that it was jerking in time with my heartbeat. She knelt down and brought her mouth almost to the head of my dick then made her mouth form a little "O" and blew on it gently while giving me a look that said 'paybacks are hell'.
'Ok you got me sis, now suck it already,' I thought, wisely suppressing my smartass remark this time.
Julie didn't tease me long though and ran her tongue up my length and began licking the head. The wet sensation of her tongue was intense and I tried not to blow all over her face right there. She then closed her mouth over the head and I saw the hollow of her cheeks cave in from the suction. She brought her lips off with a surprisingly loud 'pop' and smiled up at me while still working my cock with her hand.
"Jules," I almost gasped, I'm really close..." I warned as she started to lick me up the shaft again and again like a popsicle.
"I know" she said, then took about two-thirds of my seven-inch length in her mouth and gave me several long bobbing strokes before pulling off just far enough so she could speak. Her lips were still touching the head of my prick and I could feel the small vibrations and warm breath from her speech as she continued, "I actually thought you'd have come by now. What's the matter big brother?" she asked, and looked up at me with big eyes as her bottom lip drifted away from the head of my prick, leaving a slimy strand of pre-cum and saliva connecting us. "Don't you like me?"
That was about all I could take. My hips began to jerk as my dick shot the first spurt onto her lip and she quickly closed her mouth over the head to catch the rest. I thrust my hips into her face as my cum shot into her mouth. Julie's small throat worked fast as she swallowed my semen, only missing that first shot on her face. Then, keeping her mouth on me she pushed her face farther on to my slowly softening length until her nose was buried in my pubic hair and drew back, cleaning me in the process. She did this several more times then moved down to my almost hairless balls to lick and suck making them wet quickly. Julie gave my dick one last pull with her lips, then drew off of it with a final popping sound and licked her lips. She looked up at me with a wet smile, one glob of cum still clinging to her upper lip.
"Now that is sweet!" she said using her small finger like a squeegee to scrape up the glob of cum from her lip and suck it into her mouth.
"Jules..." I began but the phone rang suddenly. Julie and I looked over to the cordless on my dresser but it stopped after one ring and we heard Mom's muted voice as she answered on the downstairs extension.
"Shit!" I whispered. Both of us suddenly realizing that Mom was back from her day of shopping. We had forgotten the time in our lust. It was just luck that mom had not come upstairs yet. "We almost got caught!" she added unnecessarily as she moved off of me.
"Timothy!" my mom called up from downstairs, "telephone!" Julie still stood there in her girl-cum soaked bikini though and made no move towards the door.
"Well Timothy," she mocked as she pulled her bikini bottoms down and off, letting them dangle from her right hand. "Aren't you going to answer?"
I stared at my gorgeous, nude sister as I pulled up my sweats then spun around and grabbed the cordless phone, pushing the 'talk' button. "Got it mom!"
"Hello?" I said as I heard the click of mom hanging up the phone downstairs. I began calculate the time it would take for her to get to my room from downstairs, hoping she would stay down there long enough, wishing Julie would stop teasing and get the hell out before we were busted.
My buddy from school, Eric began talking to me about something that I couldn't quite pay attention to as my naked sister moved toward me.
Her light brown pubic hair was matted and soaked, as were her bikini bottoms that she still had in her hand. She then took the crotch of them and ground it into her slit, actually pushing it inside as far as she could. Julie brought the now even wetter material out and up to my mouth and pushed it in, and I tasted her musky scent stronger than ever.
"So what do you say man?" Eric finished.
I pulled the creamy material from my mouth but tried to answer too soon and only produced a mumble.
"Are you eating something?" Eric asked.
"Uh, listen Eric, can I call you back later?" I said, successfully clearing the crotch material from my mouth this time as my sister turned to go finally.
"Sure, Sure but just tell me if you're going to make it to the lake with us this weekend."
"I might have to uh, take care of some things around the house here actually." I said and clicked the phone off as I watched Julie's perfect naked ass bounce slightly when she turned the corner out of my room.
I heard her start the shower across the hall as I buried my incriminating sweats and her bikini in my laundry hamper, making a mental note to do this particular load myself, and quickly put on some clean sweats. I sat back on my bed and wondered at Julie's behavior. I also remembered the excitement in her voice when she talked about getting caught by our mom in the act of sucking me off. The little imp was actually turned on at the prospect and I wondered if her exhibitionist nature knew any limits now.
First of all ac posts ever to be posted on this topic. I am so special I think I'll be l33t today.
Today's lunch will be stuffed cabbage and boiled potatos, I think.
Given how long most of these sites seem to hold up to a /.ing.. Here's the text.
AsiaGadgets
May 08, 2002
Review: Sony Clie PEG-NR70 Handheld
Sony Clie NR70 HandheldSony's latest Clie is a radical and welcome departure from the traditional design of the handheld PDA. Introducing innovations that have never been seen before on a Palm OS based device, the Clie PEG-NR70 and its digital camera bearing cousin NR70V have generated a flurry of excitement among PDA aficionados. This hands-on review takes a first look at what all the buzz is about.
Unique Form Factor
The most easily recognized innovation is the folding "clam shell" form factor. This design choice parallels the progression of mobile phone design in Japan, where ever-larger color LCD screens left little room for number keys that human fingers could comfortably press. In the pursuit of more surface real estate, Japanese mobile phone manufacturers decided to risk the stigma associated with flip phone designs -- a stigma largely caused by Motorola's unattractive and dated models -- by splitting the phone into two halves: an LCD screen on the upper half and a keypad on the lower half. These two halves are thin enough that folding the phone results in a thickness that is still thinner than most mobile phones sold in Europe and the U.S.
PDAs have always had large screens, so when Sony decided to add a keyboard, there was no choice but to follow a similar design philosophy. The NR70 has two very thin folding halves, with an LCD screen and keyboard on the upper and lower halves, respectively. The thickness of this Clie, when closed, feels about the same as a Palm III. But the real innovation is the ability to swivel the screen 180 degrees and fold it over the other half, morphing the device into the handheld form factor that most people are accustomed to using with a stylus. These two modes can be thought of as "keyboard input mode" and "stylus input mode."
Larger Screen Swivels 180 Degrees
The color LCD screen, like those found on previous iterations of the Clie, is a joy to look at. The high resolution screen is bright, text and graphics are sharp, and the 65,536 colors are as vibrant as one can expect from a handheld. But that's not why so many people are excited about the NR70.
Another major innovation Sony introduced for this model, the 320-by-480 pixel 16-bit color screen, is perhaps the most significant. For years, Palm devices have been plagued by an immutable silk-screened input area that occupies valuable screen real estate, while competing devices feature larger displays with less wasted space. Sony's new Clie is the first Palm-based handheld to nix the permanent silk-screened input area in favor of a software-based area displayed at the bottom of the new, larger LCD screen.
You might think that the apps on the NR70 would be lining up to take advantage of this newly liberated screen real estate. Unfortunately, you would be wrong. It appears that there is only a single application, the built-in image viewer, that can temporarily hide the input area and use the entire screen. Although it would be great to be able to use the entire vertical screen length to view calendars, memos, e-books, and other application data, this is not yet possible on this Clie, mostly likely due to limitations inherent in version 4.1 of the Palm OS. While there are no guarantees, hopefully a subsequent update to the underlying software will enable more applications to utilize the entire screen.
Integrated Keyboard
The QWERTY-style keyboard is a boon even to those who have become proficient at stylus entry via the Graffiti input system. Much like the RIM Blackberry communications device, the keyboard on the NR70 is most easily used with two thumbs. Using just these two digits, text input via the keyboard was surprisingly easy and quick. Despite years of experience with Graffiti input, I soon preferred text entry via the keyboard to pecking away at the screen with the stylus.
Sony Clie NR70 KeyboardThe keyboard has four modifier keys on the left side: Shift, Control, Function, and Alt. The Function key is used to enter numbers, which are located along the top row of the alphabet letter keys. Entering numbers this way was a bit cumbersome but not as difficult as one might expect. Symbols, on the other hand, are scattered among the remaining letter keys and can be difficult to locate quickly. Thankfully, common punctuation characters such as the comma and period have their own keys.
I did find one significant annoyance, however, when using the keyboard to enter contact data. Sony/Palm made it too difficult to use the keyboard to move from one field to another. The tab key would seem like the most intuitive method, but this simply inserts a tab character into the field. (Somebody please explain to me the purpose of entering tabs into contact fields. Good reasons for doing this are completely eluding me.) Not being the type to read instruction manuals, I unsuccessfully tried every possible combination of modifier keys along with the arrow keys, return key, and even the jog dial. I had to put down the Clie and vent my frustrations via an hour of indescriminate bedlam before I was able to clear my mind, pick the NR70 back up, and discover that control-tab and shift-control-tab are the magic ingredients. However, hitting control-tab with just the left thumb requires too much hand contorting, and using two thumbs is even harder due to the size and placement of these keys. Eventually I decided that the best solution was to simply use my left index fingernail to manually place the cursor in the next field. If the developers out there are listening, I strongly urge them to at least allow for a "Tab key moves between fields" preference somewhere in a subsequent update to the software.
Other buttons on the Clie include Sony's signature Jog Dial that is used to scroll up and down, as well as to select the current item by pushing in the Jog. Also on the left side of the bottom half of the device is the Back button, which is used when the user wishes to cancel a Jog Dial operation. Rounding out the buttons on the left side is the Hold button, which seems to have little use other than in conjunction with the Audio Player application.
Faster Processor
The Clie NR70 is the first Palm OS device to sport the new 66MHz Motorola Dragonball Super VZ. Twice as fast as other handhelds powered by the Palm OS, this processor made the NR70 feel much snappier than competing Palm and Handspring devices. While not as fast as processors found in other handheld platform designs, this CPU allows the NR70 to perform responsively while yielding longer battery life than handhelds with faster processors.
Software Graffiti
Software Graffiti Input AreaSeveral welcome enhancements have been introduced to the no-longer-static input area, although it is unclear whether these improvements were made by Sony, Palm, or collaboration between the two companies. The most notable enhancement is visual feedback when using the stylus to draw on the input area. A square dot appears when the stylus is first placed on one of the two input boxes, and a thin line follows the movement of the stylus until it is lifted from the screen. This helps visualize what is being entered in the input area and reduces errant stylus strokes.
Other handy aspects of the new input area include a clock in the lower right-hand corner, an LCD brightness control, battery power indicator, and an icon that appears when a Memory Stick has been inserted. There is also a button which brings up an on-screen keyboard inside the input area that is much more space efficient than having a separate window appear above the input area.
Synchronization
Initial attempts to HotSync the NR70 via the USB cradle with an Apple iBook running OS X 10.1.3 and Palm's recently released Palm Desktop 4.0 software produced a "serial port is currently in use" error, despite reports of successful HotSyncs between this configuration and previous Clie models. This error was particularly interesting since serial ports have not been featured on Macs for many years. Hopefully either Palm, Sony, or third parties such as MarkSpace will provide a solution to this problem.
Luckily, a spare Vaio running Win2k/J was handy to test the synchronization capabilities of the new Clie. The included installer CD for Win32 platforms provided an easy-to-follow bevy of installation options. I opted for a basic install, loading on only the HotSync, Palm Desktop, and SoundStage LE software. As expected, initiating the HotSync was as easy as pushing the button on the USB cradle, and the synchronization was fast and accurate.
The SoundStage LE software is included so that users may organize their music collections and transfer tracks to a Memory Stick inserted in the Clie. I found the interface rather cluttered, and the software indicated that there were no compatible devices attached. Rather than spending hours troubleshooting the problem, I simply used the HotSync Manager to transfer MP3 files to the Clie's Memory Stick, much in the same way one would install a Palm application. This worked smoothly, although the transfer took far more time than a 12 Mbps USB connection should take.
Clie Applications
The standard contact, calendar, to-do, and memo applications appear to function much as other Palm-based handhelds and thus don't merit much attention. The built-in MP3 player and graphic applications, on the other hand, are worth mentioning briefly.
AudioPlayer
The MP3 files that had been uploaded via the HotSync manager appeared immediately after launching the included AudioPlayer application. The interface is clean and well-designed, although the somewhat blocky and jagged interface widgets stand in stark contrast to the sharp input area below. Clearly, the AudioPlayer app hasn't yet been fully updated to take advantage of the high-resolution screen. There are three visualization modes, which of course serve little purpose other than to elicit "Wow, cool!" reactions from onlookers. The sound quality through the included earbud headphones was clear with good dynamic range, and the wired remote control between the Clie and the earphones provided convenient operation of the AudioPlayer while the NR70 is folded and placed in a pocket, purse, or backpack. Closing the lid automatically shuts off the LCD screen in order to conserve battery power and also prevents unwanted accidental key presses from interrupting the music. Turning on the "Hold" button will achieve the same effect even when the Clie is open and unfolded.
Sony Clie AudioPlayer
The inability to listen to music while reading email or composing memos was the only bone I had to pick with AudioPlayer. Perhaps there is a solution that enables this type of multitasking, but I couldn't seem to figure out how. While again this is most likely a problem inherent in the underlying Palm OS, it would be nice if this limitation were lifted in a future software update.
The biggest surprise came when I accidentally removed the remote control and earphones while a track was still playing. While Blink182 tracks may not be the best way to judge audio speaker quality, I was nonetheless impressed with the sound coming out of the tiny opening in the back of the 3/8"-thick bottom half of the NR70. Given how thin the enclosure is, getting audio quality akin to decent AM radio is nothing to shake a stick at. So provided you don't need very high audio volume, load up your NR70 with tunes and leave your boom box behind the next time you head out to the beach or a BBQ.
CLIE Paint, PG Pocket, PhotoStand, and gMovie
The Clie Paint application, while no Photoshop, is a handy tool for creating simple sketches and doodles as well as for editing/annotating photos that have been HotSync'ed into the NR70. The PG Pocket and PhotoStand applications appear to be mainly for use with the digital camera built into the NR70's cousin, the NR70V, so these applications were looked at only perfunctorily. (The NR70V was not yet available for review at the time this article was prepared.) Both applications seem well developed and useful for organizing and displaying digital photos. Sony's gMovie is, predictably, a movie viewing application for video files transferred to the Clie's Memory Stick. This application couldn't be tested in time for this review, so perhaps one of our readers will provide feedback on this application by using the Comments link at the bottom of this article.
Final Thoughts
Sony's latest entry into the handheld market offers radical innovations and raises the bar for both Palm and Handspring. The NR70's folding design, integrated keyboard, and Software Graffiti input area combine to form the most significant advancement in handheld engineering since Apple gave birth to the PDA market many years ago. Add wireless connectivity via the Memory Stick expansion slot, and you may soon find your notebook, MP3 player, and digital camera collecting dust in the corner.
Posted by Sparky at May 08, 2002 12:29 AM
Their server appears to be taking a quite a pounding by the slashdot effect. Text is below...
Edgar
______________________
May 08, 2002
Review: Sony Clie PEG-NR70 Handheld
Sony's latest Clie is a radical and welcome departure from the traditional design of the handheld PDA. Introducing innovations that have never been seen before on a Palm OS based device, the Clie PEG-NR70 and its digital camera bearing cousin NR70V have generated a flurry of excitement among PDA aficionados. This hands-on review takes a first look at what all the buzz is about.
Unique Form Factor
The most easily recognized innovation is the folding "clam shell" form factor. This design choice parallels the progression of mobile phone design in Japan, where ever-larger color LCD screens left little room for number keys that human fingers could comfortably press. In the pursuit of more surface real estate, Japanese mobile phone manufacturers decided to risk the stigma associated with flip phone designs -- a stigma largely caused by Motorola's unattractive and dated models -- by splitting the phone into two halves: an LCD screen on the upper half and a keypad on the lower half. These two halves are thin enough that folding the phone results in a thickness that is still thinner than most mobile phones sold in Europe and the U.S.
PDAs have always had large screens, so when Sony decided to add a keyboard, there was no choice but to follow a similar design philosophy. The NR70 has two very thin folding halves, with an LCD screen and keyboard on the upper and lower halves, respectively. The thickness of this Clie, when closed, feels about the same as a Palm III. But the real innovation is the ability to swivel the screen 180 degrees and fold it over the other half, morphing the device into the handheld form factor that most people are accustomed to using with a stylus. These two modes can be thought of as "keyboard input mode" and "stylus input mode."
Larger Screen Swivels 180 Degrees
The color LCD screen, like those found on previous iterations of the Clie, is a joy to look at. The high resolution screen is bright, text and graphics are sharp, and the 65,536 colors are as vibrant as one can expect from a handheld. But that's not why so many people are excited about the NR70.
Another major innovation Sony introduced for this model, the 320-by-480 pixel 16-bit color screen, is perhaps the most significant. For years, Palm devices have been plagued by an immutable silk-screened input area that occupies valuable screen real estate, while competing devices feature larger displays with less wasted space. Sony's new Clie is the first Palm-based handheld to nix the permanent silk-screened input area in favor of a software-based area displayed at the bottom of the new, larger LCD screen.
You might think that the apps on the NR70 would be lining up to take advantage of this newly liberated screen real estate. Unfortunately, you would be wrong. It appears that there is only a single application, the built-in image viewer, that can temporarily hide the input area and use the entire screen. Although it would be great to be able to use the entire vertical screen length to view calendars, memos, e-books, and other application data, this is not yet possible on this Clie, mostly likely due to limitations inherent in version 4.1 of the Palm OS. While there are no guarantees, hopefully a subsequent update to the underlying software will enable more applications to utilize the entire screen.
Integrated Keyboard
The QWERTY-style keyboard is a boon even to those who have become proficient at stylus entry via the Graffiti input system. Much like the RIM Blackberry communications device, the keyboard on the NR70 is most easily used with two thumbs. Using just these two digits, text input via the keyboard was surprisingly easy and quick. Despite years of experience with Graffiti input, I soon preferred text entry via the keyboard to pecking away at the screen with the stylus.
The keyboard has four modifier keys on the left side: Shift, Control, Function, and Alt. The Function key is used to enter numbers, which are located along the top row of the alphabet letter keys. Entering numbers this way was a bit cumbersome but not as difficult as one might expect. Symbols, on the other hand, are scattered among the remaining letter keys and can be difficult to locate quickly. Thankfully, common punctuation characters such as the comma and period have their own keys.
I did find one significant annoyance, however, when using the keyboard to enter contact data. Sony/Palm made it too difficult to use the keyboard to move from one field to another. The tab key would seem like the most intuitive method, but this simply inserts a tab character into the field. (Somebody please explain to me the purpose of entering tabs into contact fields. Good reasons for doing this are completely eluding me.) Not being the type to read instruction manuals, I unsuccessfully tried every possible combination of modifier keys along with the arrow keys, return key, and even the jog dial. I had to put down the Clie and vent my frustrations via an hour of indescriminate bedlam before I was able to clear my mind, pick the NR70 back up, and discover that control-tab and shift-control-tab are the magic ingredients. However, hitting control-tab with just the left thumb requires too much hand contorting, and using two thumbs is even harder due to the size and placement of these keys. Eventually I decided that the best solution was to simply use my left index fingernail to manually place the cursor in the next field. If the developers out there are listening, I strongly urge them to at least allow for a "Tab key moves between fields" preference somewhere in a subsequent update to the software.
Other buttons on the Clie include Sony's signature Jog Dial that is used to scroll up and down, as well as to select the current item by pushing in the Jog. Also on the left side of the bottom half of the device is the Back button, which is used when the user wishes to cancel a Jog Dial operation. Rounding out the buttons on the left side is the Hold button, which seems to have little use other than in conjunction with the Audio Player application.
Faster Processor
The Clie NR70 is the first Palm OS device to sport the new 66MHz Motorola Dragonball Super VZ. Twice as fast as other handhelds powered by the Palm OS, this processor made the NR70 feel much snappier than competing Palm and Handspring devices. While not as fast as processors found in other handheld platform designs, this CPU allows the NR70 to perform responsively while yielding longer battery life than handhelds with faster processors.
Software Graffiti
Several welcome enhancements have been introduced to the no-longer-static input area, although it is unclear whether these improvements were made by Sony, Palm, or collaboration between the two companies. The most notable enhancement is visual feedback when using the stylus to draw on the input area. A square dot appears when the stylus is first placed on one of the two input boxes, and a thin line follows the movement of the stylus until it is lifted from the screen. This helps visualize what is being entered in the input area and reduces errant stylus strokes.
Other handy aspects of the new input area include a clock in the lower right-hand corner, an LCD brightness control, battery power indicator, and an icon that appears when a Memory Stick has been inserted. There is also a button which brings up an on-screen keyboard inside the input area that is much more space efficient than having a separate window appear above the input area.
Synchronization
Initial attempts to HotSync the NR70 via the USB cradle with an Apple iBook running OS X 10.1.3 and Palm's recently released Palm Desktop 4.0 software produced a "serial port is currently in use" error, despite reports of successful HotSyncs between this configuration and previous Clie models. This error was particularly interesting since serial ports have not been featured on Macs for many years. Hopefully either Palm, Sony, or third parties such as MarkSpace will provide a solution to this problem.
Luckily, a spare Vaio running Win2k/J was handy to test the synchronization capabilities of the new Clie. The included installer CD for Win32 platforms provided an easy-to-follow bevy of installation options. I opted for a basic install, loading on only the HotSync, Palm Desktop, and SoundStage LE software. As expected, initiating the HotSync was as easy as pushing the button on the USB cradle, and the synchronization was fast and accurate.
The SoundStage LE software is included so that users may organize their music collections and transfer tracks to a Memory Stick inserted in the Clie. I found the interface rather cluttered, and the software indicated that there were no compatible devices attached. Rather than spending hours troubleshooting the problem, I simply used the HotSync Manager to transfer MP3 files to the Clie's Memory Stick, much in the same way one would install a Palm application. This worked smoothly, although the transfer took far more time than a 12 Mbps USB connection should take.
Clie Applications
The standard contact, calendar, to-do, and memo applications appear to function much as other Palm-based handhelds and thus don't merit much attention. The built-in MP3 player and graphic applications, on the other hand, are worth mentioning briefly.
AudioPlayer
The MP3 files that had been uploaded via the HotSync manager appeared immediately after launching the included AudioPlayer application. The interface is clean and well-designed, although the somewhat blocky and jagged interface widgets stand in stark contrast to the sharp input area below. Clearly, the AudioPlayer app hasn't yet been fully updated to take advantage of the high-resolution screen. There are three visualization modes, which of course serve little purpose other than to elicit "Wow, cool!" reactions from onlookers. The sound quality through the included earbud headphones was clear with good dynamic range, and the wired remote control between the Clie and the earphones provided convenient operation of the AudioPlayer while the NR70 is folded and placed in a pocket, purse, or backpack. Closing the lid automatically shuts off the LCD screen in order to conserve battery power and also prevents unwanted accidental key presses from interrupting the music. Turning on the "Hold" button will achieve the same effect even when the Clie is open and unfolded.
The inability to listen to music while reading email or composing memos was the only bone I had to pick with AudioPlayer. Perhaps there is a solution that enables this type of multitasking, but I couldn't seem to figure out how. While again this is most likely a problem inherent in the underlying Palm OS, it would be nice if this limitation were lifted in a future software update.
The biggest surprise came when I accidentally removed the remote control and earphones while a track was still playing. While Blink182 tracks may not be the best way to judge audio speaker quality, I was nonetheless impressed with the sound coming out of the tiny opening in the back of the 3/8"-thick bottom half of the NR70. Given how thin the enclosure is, getting audio quality akin to decent AM radio is nothing to shake a stick at. So provided you don't need very high audio volume, load up your NR70 with tunes and leave your boom box behind the next time you head out to the beach or a BBQ.
CLIE Paint, PG Pocket, PhotoStand, and gMovie
The Clie Paint application, while no Photoshop, is a handy tool for creating simple sketches and doodles as well as for editing/annotating photos that have been HotSync'ed into the NR70. The PG Pocket and PhotoStand applications appear to be mainly for use with the digital camera built into the NR70's cousin, the NR70V, so these applications were looked at only perfunctorily. (The NR70V was not yet available for review at the time this article was prepared.) Both applications seem well developed and useful for organizing and displaying digital photos. Sony's gMovie is, predictably, a movie viewing application for video files transferred to the Clie's Memory Stick. This application couldn't be tested in time for this review, so perhaps one of our readers will provide feedback on this application by using the Comments link at the bottom of this article.
Final Thoughts
Sony's latest entry into the handheld market offers radical innovations and raises the bar for both Palm and Handspring. The NR70's folding design, integrated keyboard, and Software Graffiti input area combine to form the most significant advancement in handheld engineering since Apple gave birth to the PDA market many years ago. Add wireless connectivity via the Memory Stick expansion slot, and you may soon find your notebook, MP3 player, and digital camera collecting dust in the corner.
Posted by Sparky at May 08, 2002 12:29 AM
Was I the only one who broke into a scream of terror when I looked at this month's copy of Personal Computer World? There, staring out from a free CD-Rom on the cover was the program from hell, and all you needed to do to let it take over your PC was double click a couple of times and kiss goodbye to your sanity.
The nasty piece of digital scurf in question is known as Linux and there are plenty of sad types who will tell you it is the future of personal computing. Do not fall for this bizarre line in geek thinking.
Even Personal Computer World, after making it so easy to enter the twilight zone without a return ticket, saw fit to enter a few caveats in the fine print. Linux, it said, came with a serious health warning. Don't even think about it, the magazine said, unless you are technically proficient and have backed up all your PC files beforehand.
Yes, but we know what the average PC user is like. He never reads the words, he just slings in the CD-Rom, clicks on the install icon, and hopes for the best. And if you are now looking at a blank screen with a few impenetrable commands where you once had a working PC, then all I can say is: "You have only yourself to blame."
Linux, for the uninitiated, is a version of that old computer donkey known as Unix. If you need to run big computer Unix tasks then it is, I am told, not a bad solution at all. Equally, if you believe there is no point in doing easily something you can achieve the long way round, it is doubtless the way to go.
Imagine a tougher version of MS-Dos - where the commands are even harder to memorise and less forgiving of errors - and you are starting to get there. And if you want to cheat a little, you can put on a pseudo-graphical front end and - bingo - you might just manage to turn a modern Windows NT-capable PC into a passable imitation of Windows 3.1 circa 1992.
However, to read some publications, you might think that Microsoft's Bill Gates is quivering in his boots at the idea that Linux will do what IBM and Apple never managed to achieve - kick Windows off the everyday desktop. Really? Well, no. Linux is flavour of the month with the geek community for two reasons - it's free, and it's not from Microsoft.
For a certain breed of bug-eyed computer user, that really is all you need. Trivial details such as usability, the lack of decent everyday software, and the plain fact that, when things go wrong, you are on your own are not setbacks to Linux addicts. These are the very reasons why they like the wretched thing - because it sets them apart from the mainstream of tedious, ordinary users who just use PCs to get on with the job.
Personal computers seem to have attracted some strange and obsessive people along the way to becoming common or garden information tools. If Linux hadn't been invented by a Finnish student a few years back, something equally strange and esoteric would have appeared to take its place.
Computer geeks despise simple, common standards. Gates is the object of their hate simply because he won the operating-system war. If Apple or IBM had come out on top, the people now buzzing so excitedly around Linux would have treated them to the hate mail they reserve for Gates today.
Fads like Linux are diversionary characters in a digital freak show on the sidelines of modern information technology. Finding them on the cover disks of mainstream magazines says more about the novelty value of computer journalism than the real issues facing those trying to make tomorrow's PCs a sight better than the ones we use today.
The idea that great developments in personal computing will be invented in some dismal student bedroom in Helsinki might make nice bedtime reading for people who dream in hexa-decimal. But if all you want is a computer that you can aspire to understand, chuck that blasted CD-Rom in the bin right now.
Excuse me? I would not call products like the StarTAC or V60 unattractive. Nor would I call them "dated". It seems to me that Motorola Cell phones are made for people who want to use their cell phones for exactly that purpose---to talk to people. I'll tell you this...my StarTAC 7868 is a hell of a lot more comfortable than any Nokia brick I've ever seen.
-Julius X
remove "-whatkindofspamdoyoutakemefor-" from email to send
Ok, this gadget looks beautiful, I want one, I want one, but no wait... Where the f is the wireless? I've never quite got the usefulness of palms that don't connect to the rest of the world. With that keyboard and screen I can do a lot of work, too bad I have to get to an office to actually get it anywhere. There isn't even any bluetooth for it yet. Only option is to carry around a phone and connection cable (or maybe you need two...) So close but so far from the ideal liberating gadget... Going to stick with my old Kyocera 6035 till the Sprint Treo comes out with the 3G launch...
Abstract Dynamics
Your iPAQ died? I'm so sorry to hear of your recent loss. I dropped my ipaq screen-down and now have a very pretty classic shattered glass pattern on my screen.
But the real question is: Can the Clie be reflashed with a real operating system?
-russ
Don't piss off The Angry Economist
Shameless plug... If you plan to buy it (or any other Sony products), you could got to my awesome site to buy stuff and click on the Sony banner they buy it ;-)
Looking for any old 8-bit Heathkit/Zenith software/hardware - http://heathkit.garlanger.com
The question is, how many /.ers are reading that review and thinking "66Mhz, wow i was using one of those just [time] ago"
For me it's been about two weeks, at dad's office, but i have a pair of defunct 66's around here somewhere
If you can't see the value in jet powered ants you should turn in your nerd card. - Dunbal (464142)
It's amazing to me that with all the design and features that went into this product, Sony left out wireless. Considering the advanced telco services in Japan, Sony's reputation for using the latest technology for their products, and the price of this puppy ($600), I expected that wireless would be a given. Check ZDnet for another review.
response to -"(my iPaq died!) "
my ipaq recently died also, it won't recharge any more and i have no idea what the problem is...i am looking in to sending it back to compaw as it is barely five months old....anybody else have any experience with the same problem and can offer any advice?
There's a bluetooth memory stick that works perfectly with connecting to a bluetooth phone. So there is your wireless.
-Anonymous Howard
If you're interested in a far more detailed review from a site that is focussed on nothing besides Palm hardware (so they should know what they are talking about) go to here.
As an additional bonus they already have a fairly burgeoning discussion from a buncha PDA geeks, who likewise really know what they're talking about for the most part (though the site has a real problem with trolls).
Incidentally, if you would like one that is in English Mr. Taco, you could buy them practically anywhere these days as I understand. This is a logical, if hideously overpriced place to start. At the rate that yen is converting to dollars these days, it's actually cheaper to buy a Japanese model and import it to the US than buy it through the curiously overpriced US outlets. I saw a N70V for 4-something US dollars at my local electronics etailer here in Japan, without doing any shopping around at all.
Handera beat them to it about a year ago.
Regardless, I think this will be my next PDA, as soon as Best Buy has another one of their 20% off sales.
Things are more like they are now than they ever were before.
I have the predecessor to this model, so I have a few comments.
The movie player works fine, although the only movie I loaded into it was a totally baffling promotion for the AIBO. A friend of mine said "What's that?" when I played it for her. She thought that if it was advertising, it needed some SERIOUS re-working.
Of course the movie player isn't terribly useful due to the low memory capacity of the device (16mb if my memory serves). I think the minute or so long AIBO movie was about a megabyte. I'd count the movie player as a curiosity and nothing more.
The high-resolution display is simply fantastic. I gather from the review that this is essentially the same display, but with added resolution on the bottom, where the permanently set up input area is on mine.
All it takes to sell the CLIE over its Palm competition is one look at that display. The CLIE also has a "real metal" feel which looks conspicuously high-quality compared to the plasticky Palm and Handspring models.
I have no doubt at all that the keyboard would really help make this unit easier to use. I am okay at Graffiti, but still find the motions required to write akward. This might be because I've used a keyboard for my entire life, though; regular handwriting is just as annoying for me.
All in all, this is a real wake-up call for Palm, which has undeniably been caught napping. I look forward to giving this device a try at my local Fry's soon.
D
I played with one in an Atlanta CompUSA just this past Saturday. It's very, very nice, but I will be waiting for the new XScale PPCs before I upgrade from my Vx...
Palm os 5 supports the ARM processor. When are the ARM based, Palm powered pda's coming out? I've been waiting around for a while now for news about this, but can't seem to find much. I love the usability of the Palm design, but medical software just crawls on the Dragonball processors. Also, a standard compactflash slot would be nice...But Sony would never do that.
Don't those things run WinCE?
It surprises me a little that all these companies are coming out with these designs so late in the term of the support of the current processor. Given the move to ARM architecture you would think they would want to wait a little bit.
However feature-wise it is starting to integrate in the right direction. The onscreen text-area makes so much sense it surprises me that more people haven't done it (yes Handera, but they aren't as mainstream as Palm, Sony, and Handspring). The larger amounts of RAM for both the flash and for apps and storage make these much more attractive then the other makers.
If only Sony's support for these wasn't so shoddy they are pretty clearly offering one of the technologically best Palm platforms right now. If I hadn't just bought a different one I would be buying one of these.
Slashdot never ceases to amaze me
- On one side there's all the rage about DCMA and media business hurting the consumer.
- On the other side there's the "oh look at this nice toy from Sony [also a media business], it's sooooo cool - i must have one of these" sort of articles.
With all the current battle between content-producers and consumers, and since Sony is also a content-producer, i've completly stoped buying Sony products.
Also Sony products usually include lotsa "features" whose only purpose is to "protect (Sony's) intelectual property" in the process hurting the consumers or at the very least causing needless problems (macrovision anyone).
As for the PocketPC / iPaq stuff... I used one for about a week. It certainly had some nice features, but all in all, none of it was really that cool unless you had 802.11b. At which point, you could just as easily get a laptop for the price.
My prediction: Palm + Cell / Java will be one platform.
PocketPC will go away and super small, full feature laptop pc's will be the new thing.
"I've never quite got the usefulness of palms that don't connect to the rest of the world."
I've never quite gotten paying $30 a month to get email in your palm. I suppose for the idle rich or something. If the cost was $1 a month, then I'd consider it. But perhaps you'd be better off taking that money you spend on wireless access and investing it.
Some images (and fun Japanese text!) can be seen here:
/ 02 -0311B/
http://www.sony.jp/CorporateCruise/Press/200203
Not karma whoring.. If I was, I'd take the effort to make that a link.
Neat looking toy!
Imagine a beowulf cluster of these!
The have a display model you can pick up and play with at the Sony Style store in Manhattan. I was passing by on Saturday, and polayed with it. Although it is slightly longer than your traditional handheld, it is *very* slick and beautiful. It feels sturdy, and the swivel action doesnt feel grainy. It was retailing at $499.99, which is bit pricey, but has great features.
One of the cooler features is the improved "Graffiti" area, where writing with the stylus leaves a trail! Now you can get feedback on the stroke you wrote exactly!
I think it's well worth it.
Some may differ on my view, but of the two Motorola cell phones I've had, they're tough little phones, well engineered and manufactured. I'd like the idea of getting a PDA which would hold up well for a few years, after all shelling out $300+ for a PDA the least they could do is make it tough. My Sony laptop has taught me a valuable lesson if style over reliability, it's the last Sony laptop I'll ever buy. Two years old and the keyboard, mouse pad and battery are shot, and I think the modem is going next. Nice compact little unit, but not rugged.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
From the initial description it sounds like it's a Zaurus ripoff. If you want another PDA, I can recommend the Zaurus, don't know why you haven't thought about buying one of those to replace your IPaq.
in japanese.
I get emails (since I bought a Sony laptop a couple years ago) from Sony now and then. Sony Style is a nice site to see what they have, but, oof, not the best prices.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
After looking at the article, it doesn't look like this model is much different.
:(
I've been researching the handheld market very heavily in the past few weeks and there are not many good choices. All of the decent choices are NOT Palm OS or Linux.
I REALLY wanted a Zaurus 5500 because it has way more potential than any other unit I've seen. Unfortunately there is a significant lack of software that provides desktop functionality. Mail support is kinda weak and there of course is no terminal server client for us that have to manage both Windows and Linux servers. File compatibility is also weak on ALL handhelds that I have seen. This is one of the most important issues, especially in an office environment where you want to get work done and not have to convert to a non-standard (in most offices anyhow) format such as rtf instead of doc. None of them support embedding of images and objects yet but with the next round of PocketPC software, we will have support for this as well.
Until new hardware is released, PocketPC 2002 has the most useful features and the most commercial developer support. I don't have time to code apps myself as I already work 70+ hour weeks and can't spare anymore personal time.
There are only 2 handhelds that had features vs. cost that are acceptable.
Compaq 3870 (the one with INTEGRATED bluetooth)
Casio Casseopia E-200
Sharp Zaurus 5500
The Compaq is best because you don't have to use a slot to access the Internet from your unit. This alone is worth the purchase. No other unit has the same features, screen quality, and support (such as closing apps without having to "end task") in one unit.
The Casio is best for cost vs features if you don't want bluetooth. As I don't want to permanently use a slot for wireless connection (that could be used for memory etc), this won't work for me.
The Sharp feels the best, has a great display, a very helpful keyboard, and some very good apps. If they had included support to write and read ms office/pocket office documents, I would buy this one even without bluetooth. No bluetooth, no native file support, no Zaurus for me.
No matter which you choose, wireless is the ONLY way to use these things effectively (unless you are boring and don't use the Internet and network extensively like everyone I know does). To use wireless effectively, you MUST use a service such as LoudPC. Without it, you are severly limited.
Palm OS is crippled in comparison and the hardware can't handle the fun stuff that the 64mb PocketPC's can. Maybe a Clie for the kids would be fine, but it is not a professional worktool.
my 2p
-bj
Linux may also be a good competitor in this area, but the flagship product of Linux, Sharp Zaurus, seems to be not so successful, if successful at all.
To that end, I am trying to get a good wallpaper with Gandalf as portrayed by Sir Ian McKellen in the recent film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's classic, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of The Ring. His face would be just the thing to tie my Gnome and blackbox themes together, and, more on-topic, wouldn't look too bad in QT Embedded either! ;)
Preferably one where he is looking really stoned, pipe optional. Thx.
Karma: Good (despite my invention of the Karma: sig)
Here's a link to the very comprehensive PalmInfocenter review: http://www.palminfocenter.com/view_Story.asp?ID=34 11
Is Grafitti-writing such an issue for many people? I do just fine with Grafitti alone so I don't care about a keyboard. Apparently, they doubled the size/thickness just to add it. Seems like a bad decision.
If you reply, do so only to what I explicitly wrote. If I didn't write it, don't assume or infer it.
I wonder if Sony did anything to 'fix' their problem of dust getting under the backlight screen... Dust under screen over light = looks like dead pixels... My Sony Clie N760C is just getting owned by dust. And you only get one cleaning under warranty. =\
it could be my next PDA (my iPaq died!)
HAHA You bought a MS powered product! Put your money where your mouth is Taco and get a Sharp!
Don't mod me, bro'!!!!
Here are some issues against buying this:
PalmOS5 The new OS is coming out soon (Q4). It only supports ARM cpus. This machine has a dragonball (m68k derivative) cpu. Will you give $600 for this and not be able to upgrade it to palmOS 5? You will not be able to run ARM apps either...
Resolution support: Few apps support sony's 320x320 resolution (the one that older clies have). Very few support this one's. Sony seems to be flooding the market with new APIs when PalmOS 5 is going to tackle the screen size issue...
Low battery life. The battery life on this is extremely low (4 hours AFAIK? check palminfocenter.com)
Memory Stick. It's big (physical size), expensive, proprietary, and does not hold too much data. It locks you into an all exclusive and very expensive sony world. And don't forget the MagicGate sticks folks!
Sony's ATRAC3 (the lovely DRM-enabled music format)
Few peripherals. Palms, Visors, and even pocketpc enjoy a much greater variety of peripherals... A stowaway for your sony? A GPS module for your sony? Don't think so...
sorry for ranting
If you can get your medical apps in Linux or Java, you could get a Sharp Zaurus SL-5500. I ordered one over a month ago and I LOVE IT! You can read about some of the things I've done with it in my journal.
"Da ist ein Technölüst in mein Unterpanten!"
We are like a tidal wave, asiagadgets.com is like a small house, on stilts. It's built to take a little water, but we've not only covered it, head to toe, it's at risk of being swept away.
Synergy is your friend
Come one!
It is Sony, they can paint the brick with silver color, put sony label on it, and zillions of Sony fan will die just for the right to buy it first.
true.
Although "pocket pc" sounds lame.
Truth is I was waiting for months for this. I put in my preorder as soon as they were available. But two days ago, I cancelled it and got a Sharp Zaurius after I played with one. These are much more attractive in hand than the pictures on the website suggest, and they have a 206MHz processor. They are *very* responsive.
It's true that for some people a traditional low powered PDA might be better. But if you're a power user, geek, etc. Do yourself a favor and check out the Zaurius or iPaq FIRST!!!
I am glad I did.
Based on upvotes, Ageism is the only "-ism" Slashdotters care about and think isn't SJW
Hmm, wasn't this released in march ;) here
2 Things:
I D=719
D =721
First, here's a link containing my first thoughts on the new Clie:
http://www.bargainpda.com/default.asp?news
Second, here's a link to the story telling you how to get the said Clie for $85 off:
http://www.bargainpda.com/default.asp?newsI
Brian
bargainPDA.com
And if you had paid for one of those extended warranties all you /.ers so abhor, you'd be able to stroll back into that store and get a brand new one. Ahaha, you suck.
Hmm, wasn't this released in march ;) http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/03/28/003122 4&mode=thread
The Bluetooth memory stick will be in the US soon, it's currently for sale in Asia.
Brian
www.bargainpda.com
Dell has a huge sale that the new Clie qualifies for. Hit this link for the details and coupon codes...and a review of the thing.
1
http://www.bargainpda.com/default.asp?newsID=72
B
...I don't see any Linux ports to dragonball, so no.
~~~~~ BigLig2? You mean there's another one of me?
Is the processor a DragonBallZ or is it a Pokemon. I get all that Japanese crap mixed up.
Can you download a virus to it? If it doesn't duplicate everything in Outlook and totally screw my calendar, I'm not interested.
If you aren't part of the solution, there is good money to be made prolonging the problem
Sony's new Clie is the first Palm-based handheld to nix the permanent silk-screened input area in favor of a software-based area displayed at the bottom of the new, larger LCD screen.
false, http://www.handera.com/ has had that feature for quite a few months now
Untrue: Handera's model 330 did this first.
The onscreen text-area makes so much sense it surprises me that more people haven't done it (yes Handera, but they aren't as mainstream as Palm, Sony, and Handspring).
I guess Samsung doesn't count either then.
Everything Palm does is better done by other companies, but, damn it, why does no-one else do wireless internet? It's the only thing that keeps me on it.
My suitemate has one that he just got yesterday, with camera.
I got to play with it for a few minutes.
The keyboard is surprisingly well designed, it's easy to hit one key even for people with big fingers like I have.
The camera takes solid quality pictures. Don't replace your coolpix with it, but it's perfectly suitable for snapshots.
My friend got it to replace his Ipaq, and he's loving it. Much thinner, nifty design, and he's obsessed with the way the screen flips itself over when you go from clamshell to tablet.
A very nice sleek little unit.
"You worthless post!"
-Shakespeare, 2 Gentlemen of Verona, 1. 1. 147
Of course, at Best Buy, they'll tell you the sale was a mistake after you buy it, and charge you the full price...
I carry my still-working PalmIII constantly mostly for the calendar, contact and to do list. Sometimes I find myself in need of a cell phone, but not often enough that I want to carry *another* device around. When my PalmIII finally dies on me I just hope there are even more options for a multi-purpose device and that the price has come down.
I'd like to see something along these lines...
Heck, shape it like a Star Trek TOS communicator and have it make the same sound when you flip it open and I'll buy it today!-- guess that proves the "geek" part of "techno-geek"
Sony makes the best Palm-based PDA's. The only downside to the NR-series, in my opinion, is the size (which isn't as big as Pocket PC's or even some PalmOS units, but is bigger than, say, Sony's T-series).
Hey, big is the new small. Cammy Diaz has one that's twice as big as the Treo.
Other than the high-resolution screen, there isn't really much impressive about the new Clie. MP3? PocketPC has had that for 2 years. Fast processor? PocketPCs all have fast processors (206mhz StrongARM; some products have 400mhz XScale). Mini keyboard? Jornada + Stowaway costs the same as the Clie. Expandable memory? The Jornada has CF, as do most other PocketPCs.
Oh, and yes, PocketPCs can even run Linux, XWindows, KDE, and even Konqueror. Check out handhelds.org; you don't even have to re-flash your device to do it anymore (you can have a dual-boot PocketPC).
I saw the 70 when I was in Japan, but knew the
70V was coming out a few days later - I'll be
getting one in a few months.
convienant, easy to use, snap off display! Young kids everywhere will love that feature.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Wait, you are making a theme/themes for Gnome and Blackbox, you post to slashdot, and try not to be modded offtopic when you are, you keep talkinga bout being stoned, yet you can't find an wallpaper image by yourself?
Why don't you get stoned and go looking else where like google? Better yet, why not ask the stoner sites dumbass!
I stand on paper tape
it tells me where I'm going
and where to throw my cape
I AM ATM.
This is offtopic, but...
I can't believe how old Slashdot's icon for PalmOS features is! For a story about a kick-ass advanced PDA, having an icon showing 4-year old technology is just embarassing.
(Okay, I don't know that it's 4 years old, but you know what I mean.)
I know Sony will read this because this is the perfect site to get a free market research!
Anyway, besides newarly all the issues posted here. I would also like to see a mic, so I can store or even use this little machine to store video images!!
For those, like me, used to the old ways of the Palm (my first was a Palm 5000 bought in a Pawn shop, second was a IIIx) the new Sony's are a giant step ahead. I've recently bought a Clie T615 and am amazed by it's features. While considering my next Palm device purchase, I'd read that the NR70 had been released in Japan, and an impending release was likely in the States, but the cost factor left me cold, so I satisified that immediate-gratification urge and went with the 615 rather than wait for the significantly more expensive NR70. And I'm glad I did....
? Ab2Lang=C&Ab2Enc=iso-8859-1 ). The total file size is approx 8 MBytes. I have a Sunkey membership ( http://www.sun.com/service/servicelist/us/sunkey_s olutions.html ) and am in the process of honing my Unix/Solaris/Linux skills, so having the entire set of most-often-used man pages in the palm of my hand is tremendously helpful.
Typical of a Sony product (I own many, including one of those 400 cd players with the nifty remote) the device is chock full of interesting, useful features. Foremost among them: the memory stick. In many ways, the stick capabilty negates concerns about built-in memory capacity: applications, files, and entire backup images can be effortlessly stored on memory sticks. For instance:
Using Isilo ( http://www.isilo.com/ ) I've captured and stored to my 64 MByte mem stick the entire Solaris 8 man pages for User Commands, System Administrator Commands, and File Formats ( http://docs.sun.com:80/ab2/coll.40.6/@Ab2CollView
Another example of the advantages of the mem stick: resident in rom on the Clie is a backup/restore application that allows backups of the entire contents of memory to the mem stick. As I said, it's resident in ROM so, even after a hard reset, the app is reinstalled. You can hard-reset and immediately restore the device to some prior-saved condition. Recently, this was especially helpfull to me: I'd installed, and misconfigured a security app called PDA defense. It locked me out of some important palm features. Furthermore, I was unable to erase the app from memory (it was 'locked'). I was away from home for an extended length of time (3 weeks in the Dallas Sun Training facility) and didn't have acces to my home PC/cradle/Internet Connection to reconfigure the device (my laptop was running Solaris 8 x86 at the time and wasn't much help with the Clie). However, I was able to make a backup copy of memory to the mem stick, and was then able to remove the offensive app from the backup copy (the backup image can be browsed, and files can be deleted, with a handy little Sony app that's also burned into ROM). I then restored the image to the Clie, and solved the whole problem.
The NR70 has all of that and more, but the cost is a real kick in the teeth for me, especially considering the limitations of the camera. Basically, I'm going to have to buy a Sony camera anyway, to take decent pictures so, at lease for me, I can't justify the expense of the NR70. B ut I'm completely sold on the entire memory stick concept.
Since there has been this type of silkscreen on the Handera for a while now I'm a little worried that both formats aren't compatible.
Which would mean that you'd have to have different versions of one application for different PDA's.
This was something that Microsoft had the issue with in regards to CPU's and eventually standardised on one type. Are we going to see this fragmentation of OS 4.x right up until 5.0 comes out to which everyone will come together again?
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