Slashdot Mirror
Lust After The Sony Clie NZ90
V0rtex writes "Once again, Sony is ahead of the game with their new Clie PEG-NZ90. View the specs here. Not to be released until the end of February, this one is packed with some long awaited features since the NX70V such as built in bluetooth and the 2 megapixel camera with flash. Is it really that great? Check out a couple reviews. It would be nice if they would include the faster (400 MHz) version of the XScale processor and step the internal memory up a bit, but this one carries an $800 price tag as it is." Even if it has issues, I think any step towards integrating the vast array of personal electronics (Cel Phone, MP3 Player, PDA, Digital Camera) is a good one. And this looks like the first PDA with a real camera.
... so 400Mhz is overkill. The OS is much more efficient on a Palm device because they're not copying files into usable memory to run them.
Now wash your hands.
I ordered the new 17" PowerBook G4 a couple days ago and plan to use it for everything -- music, phone calls, movies, drawing, coding, Web browsing, Instant Messaging, email, stock reports, etc.
*nix.org - For all fans of BSD, Linux, OS X, or Solaris...
Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate. Ex-O'Reilly/MIT employee, now a full-time Google employee.
Is a nice movie camera with a 20 GB HD instead of the 1.2 or whatever it was mentioned the other day.
It's Christmas everyday with BitTorrent.
The thing that holds me back from buying Sony products is their memory stick. If they would use Smart Digital or Compact Flash I'd get one is a heartbeat.
Check out Sony-Ericsson's new phones. I have the T-62u and it does a lot of these things out of the box, or with an attatchment. It has an attachable 32MB mp3 player, can take a camera, has a calendar, alarm, is synchable with Outlook and features GPRS "high speed" data transmission.
Its a greyscale display, but still has a nice look.. not like the T81i(I think thats the name) which is full color and features a screensaver. (Why in gods name do I need a screen saver on a phone?)
but I think Im going to swing less towards bigass PDA's all-in-ones and more toward smaller phone style ones.
I already have to carry my work-issued two way pager, my Multiplier geek tool kit, and my bungee badge on my belt.. adding a PDA just makes me look a bit too batman.. where adding a phone only causes me to lean to one side a little bit.
Maeryk
Feminine Protection? What is that? A chartreuse flame thrower?
Wow. Maybe I should have waited for this instead of getting the Clie PEG-NR70, which takes photos at 320x240 (0.08 megapixel) and lower resolutions.
The shareholder is always right.
Suddenly, the 400 x-scale zaurus is off the top of my wish list.
My digital camera already has a more powerful processor, more memory and a higher resolution LCD display than my Visor. I've often wondered why it doesn't have a larger display and some PDA functionality. It would be great with a telephone as well; that would cut two from the number of devices I carry.
My only problem with such a device from Sony would be the software quality. Several Sony telephones I've had have suffered from regular crashes. Cordless telephones just freeze, not accepting any input until you remove batteries and unplug to reset them. Mobile phones usually tell you which line they failed an assertion in. You have to remove the battery, because the power button doesn't work when the software goes bad. If it was running Palm or even better, Windows powered it would be great!
With this trend I foresee the following:
"Repeat after me: With this PDA I thee wed."
"With this PDA I thee wed."
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Something like this would be perfect for my idea. Too bad this doesn't have an OS that would be easier to port this to.
The thing is a brick. 10.3 oz? And $800? Come on. Why not get a laptop?
I really, really, REALLY hope Sony gets off this everything-but-the-kitchen-sink kick, and release a lightweight, full screen version of the Clie. Hell, I have been using the Palm OS for years, but my Ipaq 1910 is on it's way now, because it is approximately the same size/weight as a Palm V.
I'm continuously amazed by the stuff they can cram into these little devices these days. And the comment about a more powerful processor had me ROFL...this thing's faster than my PC for glory's sake!
I sometimes question the value of integrating everything. It's cool and all, but I sort of like the modularity of things as they stand. Like if I'm in a meeting I can have my PDA but leave the cell phone behind, and I can go jogging with my mp3 player and not have to bring the camera along too.
Still, I don't think we should be too hasty. If wielded with wisdom and with the desire to defend, the Sony Clie NZ90 could save us from the doom that grows nearer with each dawning day.
Boromir, son of Faramir, King of Gondor and Minas Tirith
I really want a PDA... my last job they issued us Handsprings (bottom of the line ones) and I loved mine... even knowing it was the worst one on the market.
Unfortunately, old ones never seem to come down in price and the new ones are somewhere above $500 (which in my budget is just an utterly incalculatable number). Maybe I'll find a Visor at a garage sale someime soon or something. I've seen them used as doorstops, so it's not that far of a stretch.
-=-=-=-=-=
I'd rather be flamed than ignored.
But I made a laundry list of features yesterday of what I want in a handheld/phone:
Integerated Cell Phone
MP3 Playback
Voice Recorder
GPS
Memory slot (SD, Flash etc...)
Calender/Scheduling etc...
Full operating system (either Linux or PocketPC)
Clamshell design (hate having to use a stupid case)
At least 3 Megapixel Camera with optical zoom
I think we will have this in about 2-3 years and it will cost $500.
Any other features I've forgot?
Knowing me, I probably would have been bored/vaguely amused if I was left to my own devices. Then where would we be? And since I try to limit lust to interactions with my wife, I totally would have missed the mark on this one.
Thank Cmdr. Taco kids.Thank you Taco
Poor you. For some people $800 is more like two weeks of their salary. I agree its expensive, but no need to brag about your wealth.
Look, I'm a Clie owner myself...have the older T615C...Bought it for the crystal clear Hi-Res display that left the m515 in the dust (at the time). But there's something that's really eluded me about Sony's approach to PDAs....
Why would someone want a digital camera integrated in their PDA? Is there some aspect of Personal Digitial Assistance that involves photography?
Personal entertainment...games, digital music, wireless news service...things a person might use daily or to fight tedium, I can understand. But, a camera?
Some similar multimedia features Sony has touted for a while now have also perplexed me. Like having a picture viewer and movie player in your PDA. In what situation do I, when mobile, need to suddenly watch a 10 sec movie clip? Are people really carrying pictures of their grandkids on these things?!
Then I figured it out. Masturbation. The only viable use I can fathom for having the ability to conveniently and surrepitiously carry around tiny movie clips and random digital phots is to satisfy a lonely geek's need to have easy-access porn-at-hand...for when...ah...nature..calls.
I mean, is this the understood, implicit subtext in packaging all this worthless multimedia capability in a handheld/palmtop? (Wow. Even the form factor is masturbatory.)...or is there some other utility I'm missing?
I can only assume the digital camera is for the porn do-it-yourselfer.
Feelin' Trollish,
Me
Even if it has issues, I think any step towards integrating the vast array of personal electronics (Cel Phone, MP3 Player, PDA, Digital Camera) is a good one. And this looks like the first PDA with a real camera.
I agree, but only to a point.
Integrating an MP3 player with my Palm sounds like a cool idea, at least it did when most MP3 players were stuck at 64 or 128 MB of storage. Now that we've got many 20+ gigabyte players out there, a "real" MP3 player will never fit in a PDA (at least not until we can get HD-like capacities in flash or extremely low power drives).
Getting a cell phone integrated is good, for cool factor, but I wouldn't want one. For one, I'd be tied to whatever local providers had service for my particular model. Unless you could trade in a CDMA version for a GSM version the next time I get annoyed with my wireless carrier, then this simply won't fly for many people. Plus, I can certainly see a need to talk on the phone while looking something up -- which you can't do with an integrated unit unless you put it in speakerphone mode (or carry a plug-in earpiece/microphone).
And, finally, maybe this new Clie has a "real" digital camera, but please define "real." Compared to 640x480 2nd generation cameras, maybe it's cool, but compared to modern 4 megapixel cameras? How big is the lens opening (which helps to drive its sensitivity to low-light situations)? How quickly will you drain the batteries when using the flash?
I think it's important to remember what made PDAs, especially Palm-powered ones, so popular in the first place. They filled a need, not for a "laptop in your shirt pocket," but for a quick way to take notes, keep contact lists together, etc. I'd say that as far as PDAs take that same approach to integrated features like MP3s or photos, that's a Good Thing. The PDA approach to these should be to allow users to listen to "an album or two" and to take "an occasional photo of the whiteboard that you just filled with a world-changing idea."
But if they're trying to make a PDA into a "PowerMac in your shirt pocket," then it'll fail. And it should -- there will always be far better cameras / mp3 players / phones available than what's integrated into a PDA.
.. Sony Ericsson P800: Cell Phone - check. MP3 Player - check. PDA - check Digital Camera - check. I seriously want one of those :)
but for $800 i'd rather get a dell axim x5
its definitly not on topic, but while I can tell you that maybe you didnt need the 250 glasses at LensCrafters, the drugstore glasses are by no stretch of the imagination good for your eyes, because of the generic PD (pupil distance). Most people get unwanted prism from looking through the wrong part of the lens, and that can cause eyestrain.
:)
Anyway, LC has an interesting policy of taking discounts after the fact for up to 30 days... so if you have eye insurance that will reimburse you for expenese, buy the glasses retail from the store, submit the receipt showing you paid full price, and then go back with a AAA (yes, the auto club) card and get 30% off, or bring any other vision care card that they do or do not accept and you'll get at least 20% off...
and before you say I'm full of doggy poo, I worked there for 2 years and am an ABO certified optician...
and also very very bored at the moment...
This is my sig. Its pathetic.
when they make one just like this but with at least 32mb-64mb ram, and built-in wifi, then ill hop all over it. until then, i wait for their next one in march to pop up.
...but this one carries an $800 price tag as it is." Even if it has issues...
For $800 I sure as hell don't want it to have 'issues'. Linux has 'issues', I'm willing to deal with them because it's free. If it cost $800 I'd laugh and ask for a refund.
if $800 is two weeks salary, you need to stop wasting time reading /. and get your ass to work. $800 is a daily salary amount, not a week.
Maybe they should include a magenet on the back so it can be attached to the inside of a bathroom stall for hands-free use.
Extrapolating, you earn about $100k a year.. and you spend 5 bucks on glasses? Dang :p
:p
Actually I buy my glasses when I visit my parents in Indonesia. They turn heads and costed only $50
Michel
Fedora Project Contribut
No my friend, THIS is a "real camera". Nothing that fits in your pocket is a "real camera".
Maybe if you would buy real glasses, your things wouldn't get lost, stepped upon, dropped or stolen.
... you Lust After The Sony Clie NZ90 and you have 'been' with more PDAs then girlfriends
Yay.
I'll be more enthusiastic when Palm gets its act together and uses all that newly found horsepower to make Grafitti far more accurate and less of a pain in the butt to use.
Ergonomica Auctorita Illico!
Why does a PDA need a remote control? I've heard of using a PDA as a remote control, but not remotely controlling your PDA.
I suspect it is for the camera, but it still struck me as strange when I saw that the package contents include a remote control.
A good palm based PDA for $349.
A great, and small, camera for $399.99.
Then I can take real pictures... and have a pda that I don't have to constantly fear breaking the hinge, dropping to fast, etc.
IMHO, it's better to get simple devices that do 1 or 2 things well, rather than a mega device that does 5 things crappy and one thing well.
That's pretty harsh. Maybe in your area that's the norm, but in my area the average tech salary is only $40k a year, or about $20 an hour. And I really doubt you make $800 a day ($292,000 a year). If you do, more power to you. Some people are just glad to have jobs though with this shitty economy of ours.
I'm a little disappointed with this release... Many of us are breathlessly awaiting an Ericson / sony style crossover, in the hopes of picking up a very stylish, very functional treo mp3 equivalent.
NZ-90 Demo
And for comparison, the NR-70
Fortunately, as with any new Sony release, this should push the price of the rest of their line down a bit... You can charge a premium for the latest and greatest, but you have to back off when you release something later and greater. Let's hope they back away from that black magnesium.
This Sig is a mnemonic device designed to allow you to recognize this author in the future.
Woo hoo!
How can they afford it?
I noticed another great deal the other day too.... new Ferarris are coming with FLOOR MATS!
To ensure perfect aim, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target
A lot of people mention the integrated cell phone; I just went through the specs, I don't see one?
Don't forget that the thing has an ARM processor but most of the user code is written as 68K and emulated on the device. There is a way to write some code as ARM, but it's pretty painful (no global variables, C++ features or debugger). This got to be more overhead than copying some files into memory.
Dude, that Palm's going to be faster than the desktop I'm writing this at.
My "PDA" only cost me 89 cents.
The best PDAs are called "Memo Pads." Anything else is a waste of money IMO.
I'm personally annoyed by this integration of digital devices. I want discrete components.
I don't want a cell phone at all.
I do want a digital camera, but I want interchangeable lenses, etc. I bet this PDA doesn't have that.
I want an MP3 player. I don't want a cell phone with it. When I'm listening to music, I don't want the bloody phone to ring.
I want a digital camera. I don't want to take my PDA on vacation. What good is a PDA in the middle of nowhere when you're camping?
I do NOT want a built-in camera on every single digital thingie I own.
I'd rather have all these things separate, and better, rather than integrated into one-size-fits-all piece of shit that is more "cool" than it is "useful."
"Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives" should be a convenience store, not a government agency.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
BETAMAX
They love to try and corner the market and will hang on tooth and nail to their proprietary idiocy.
From what I've heard Intel is just starting to release XScale chips that don't have the serious cache bugs (the C0 stepping, I think). These bugs basically make the chip run at half speed. This explains why the 400HMz IPAQs aren't any faster than the earlier models.
it actually *DOES* have a compact flash slot- they just don't provide drivers for using storage devices on it (because they obviously want to sell memory sticks). the slot is the so called wireless communications slot. sony engineers have acknowleged all that's needed to use the "wireless communication" slot for other CF devices is someone enterprising enough to write the freakin' driver...
I just have a habit of not buying things from companies that turn evil.
I'm a Mac person, and remember the Sony CDs that break Ibooks. So I decided "Sony's out".
Within the next 6 months, I noticed reports of Sony quality being down, so I don't regret my decision either.
In line with that, I also dropped HP from my list of "good companies" when Lucent's marketing manager was hired as their new president, and all the old management fled. Lucent, if you remember, came up with those wonderful closed architecture WinModems that -- as it later turned out-- died within a year due to quality problems. Now, as it turns out, I find that HP has been short-filling their inkjet cartridges.
Same kind of decision about Sears. When their middle managers had to sue their upper managers for firing them when they refused to continue to attend Scientologist courses that said "cheat the customer..." I decided it was time to give my business to other companies. In the following years, I did not regret it.
It's just too bad that with all the fluid hiring and firing, and stock changing hands, it's a bit hard to keep up with what companies. But when they go bad, it's usually permanent. So once you find an apple going bad, it does make sense to throw it out.
Correct Horse Battery Staple: 72 bits of entropy. Enter "Correct H" into google. When it generates the phrase, that's
The relative efficiency of the OS isn't the issue; the complexity of the desired applications certainly is.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
...We'll integrate this turnip twaddler absoutely free! Cripes, could they fit anything else into this elongated package? A stungun maybe?
You need a FREE iPod Nano
Compared to the other memory cards, the Sony sticks are nearly 3 times FASTER than the competitions. You wonder why Sony has been so adament about sticking with them? That's why. Use ANY digital device with them (Cameras etc) and everything you do is instant. Compared to other devices, they are worlds better, and you wonder why no one else isn't switching to Sonys standard. It really sucks because the Memory Sticks kick so much freaking butt.
You know, here's what I really want in a palmtop.
Yeah, the pointer stick is nice. But you know what would be nicer? The following wishlist [not all of this is new]:
* two back panels that slide out to the sides. What are they? multi-sensing Hall effect touchpads. Instant combo keyboard and mouse, as was previously featured on slashdot.
* nice little applesoft-style programming language. Doesn't have to be fancy, but is a heck of a lot better than a calculator. It can thus be a programmable calculator, with graphics if you wish. I'm an engineer -- come on -- who really wants to find a computer with compiler to write a program?
* User-adjustable clock speed.
* Radio web comm for warchalking is nice -- but you should have an automatic link to an online harddrive [included in purchase price].
* Same radio should be usable for calculator-calculator transmissions at close range. Want to destribute your new program? No problem. Your friend hits "upload", you hit "download", and there you go. MacIRExchange is the idea.
* Speaking of recharging, I'd like rechargeable batteries, and an option where I can just plug the thing into a wall socket at work. With today's power mosfets, such things should not be impossible
* And -- if it's got to be a telephone -- don't put that thing up near my ear. It hurts my ear, and I hear that it gives inner-ear cancer as well. Use a directional microphone, and speakers.
Correct Horse Battery Staple: 72 bits of entropy. Enter "Correct H" into google. When it generates the phrase, that's
With a 2 megapixel camera and a 0.15 megapixel display, does anyone else think that PDA makers are concentrating on the wrong features?
MOD THE CHILD UP!
Personally, I find integrated stuff like a camera cool and all, but my Handspring (which I use every day, for the past two years) lives and dies by the battery life.
t thingy with a battery lifespan of three days, and you won't see a cent from this technophile.
That means: small CPU, monochrome screen. I don't need a superfast CPU for PalmOS, and I certainly don't need color.
Give me: a nice PalmOS PDA with the Handspring improvements to the OS, reasonably slim, metal case (titanium would be cool), B/W screen and batteries (yes, batteries! When I travel, I don't want to carry the charger around with me).
And, of course, a CF slot so I can plug in an IBM microdrive.
You do that, I'm willing to pay a heck of a lot of money.
You give me an all-singing-all-dancing-supercolor-blindingly-fas
Ciao,
Klaus
Free PC version of ChipWits at http://www.breueronline.de/klaus/chipwits/
As someone who uses a Palm Vx to schedule with colleagues and has done a lot of reading on it (Moby Dick, Pepy's diaries and, shhh, a writer whose trilogy is currently being released in theaters) I'd like to get the larger, crisper screen, but won't pay the price in dollars or weight for these behemoth PDAs. Aren't we due an e-ink version soon?
From the spec sheet...
> Audio/Voice
>Audio Frequency Response: 20hz
>Recording: ATRAC3/MP3(playback), ADPCM(voice >recording)
>Sampling: 44.1 kHz(ATRAC3, MP3)
>Output: Headphone jack / stereo mini jack
Great if you want thumping bass, without any other annoying frequencies, like 0-19 Hz or 21-20000 Hz!
HIV Crosses Species Barrier... into Muppets
I preffer you use a built in PAA (Personal Analogue Assistent, or 'brain' for short). Sure, it crashes a lot, and frequently loses data, but it doesn't weigh any more than I carry around anyway, and I never forget to take it with me.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
I agree... but I do want a bunch of devices that can talk to each other. I want a digital camera that can send images to my PDA, which can dial my Bluetooth headset phone and access my GPS, and store everything on laptop or other storage device in my bag, which can pump 30+ hours of MP3 back to my headset, and so forth. Modular convergence seems like the obvious way to go. Sticking everyone in one device is bad design.
The problem isn't that the PDA has too much crap in it that you don't want, because everybody wants different things. The problem is that you really can't pick what you want.
Sure, Sony offers several options for the Clie. You can usually get one without the digital cam, or with better attachments or whatever.
But having worked for years in both the manufacturing and the computing world, Sony REALLY should be able to customize each Clie to your specifications, automate the entire process, and (most importantly) serialize and store details for each order.
I personally want a color PDA with a nice digital camera, good scientific calculator,
(COME ON HP, YOU SHUT DOWN YOUR CALCULATOR DIVISION, SO PUT ONE IN THE IPAQ FERCHRISSAKES!)
cell phone, universal remote (with powerful IR), GPS, MP3 player, some sort of removable media (c-flash/mem stick/etc) and a few other gadgets. I don't want Excel, Word, Visual Studio, Paint, huge keyboard, etc.
I usually hear people complain that they don't want to put all of their eggs in one basket, because then if that device fails they are screwed. Well... I'm sick of carrying around 5 baskets. I've got anywhere from 2 to 7 devices that I have to lug around every day. Give me an all in one universal "widget" that I can customize to what I do and don't want, and I'll buy specialized items for the high quality stuff.
To reject integration of multiple devices altogether goes directly against most technological developments over the last 20 years. The key really is to realize that when it comes to a PDA, everyone wants different things, and companies need to respect that. I want a universal device to do everything a "handheld" device should do. Someone else wants a portable recording studio. Yet another person wants a tiny portable PC with a good keyboard.
Build a PDA that can be built dynamically and easily with several different options and you win the fight.
http://www.nokia.com/nokia/0,,145,00.html or the brick like older cousin, I may pick one up second hand just for fun...
I do like the integrated pda as phone idea, and if I cant have linux, a bigger than phone screen, keyboard and decent memory for old/new sms text might be just what I want, never used my old palm though, a piece of paper, a pen(cil) and an GSM sms enabled phone is enough for between work and home computer off line hops.
Be Free: Free Software Tuition
Can anyone point me to sample 1600x1200 images taken by the NZ90, please?
Now, that's a much better solution.
Yeah, bluetooth on my digital cam would be cool... save me having to pop out the MM card and drop it into the PC.
I can definitely see uses for wireless interoperability, and BT surpasses IR for most applications.
"Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives" should be a convenience store, not a government agency.
a "storage brick": 10's of gigs, CF and/or hard disk, small as possible, long battery life, minimal user interface, integrates with my LAN;
a variety of PDAs that store their info on the brick, so I can choose one with the price/features I want;
a cellphone (actually just a headset) that can access the PDA's phone directory database on the brick, and maybe record conversations/voicemail messages to the brick;
a variety of cameras that can store/retrieve images on the storage brick, so I can choose one with the price/features I want (or not);
an MP3 player, which can play music from the brick;
in a perfect world, they would all plug into a single recharger (i.e. plug in the brick, plug the devices into the brick);
reasonable security for all of the above.
I might accept integration of any two of the items on my list, if the features were right, but I might not, too.
From this list is seems apparent that bluetooth doesn't have the bandwidth; even 802.11 might be too slow. Until this bandwidth improves, I'm not going to get excited.
It's supposed to be completely automatic, but actually you have to press this button.
I was wondering who the target market is for these nifty devices, so I actually asked the salesperson (fancy that - not complete conjecture!). The answer was completely enlightening and very obvious once stated.
Aside from a few gadget freaks, these are picked up all the time by media types and real estate people. For realtors the uses are obvious - the picks and little movies that they make of real estate and place on the web are of the perfect size and quality that these little Sony's take.
For the media types, it's either journalists that like the extra voice and video features of a PDA (remember, this is just a business expense for them), or movie location folks where just a little video snapshot capability in the pocket is gold.
I can see those two groups by themselves being large enough to warrant Sony's continuous delivery of these devices.
I have been lusting after the NZ90, too.
However, it occurs to me that there may be a two device alternative to the NZ90 that might be better.
The two devices are the Sony DSC-P9 camera and the Sony CLie NX70V.
The camera gives you a 4.0 magapixel camera that also takes small video clips. The 4.0 megapixels of course gives you much better prints. I have to believe that you'll be a lot happier with the quality of the images from the camera than the Clie.
You could exchange the memory sticks between the camera and the Clie. This allows you to display the images on the Clie's 320x430 16 bit screen. You could also do a slide show or wired the photos. (Yes I'd like a faster processor!!!)
With the exception of the camera, I believe the NX70 has the same specs as the NZ90.
The combination of these two devices gives you more mobile capabilities and performance. Together the two devices aren't much bigger than the NZ90
I mean if your ready to pay $800 for a PDA you could go $1000 for two toys.
you know what "PDA" really stands for.
sulli
RTFJ.
Even with the lust, there are specific compatibility problems. I am still unable to get an AIBO to mate with a Clie NZ90 using its big memory stick.
The price of freedom is eternal litigation.
I sappose if you were in a city with good wireless internet you could do VoIP.
MG
Randomly distributing Karma whenever possible.
So why, when Sony and its competitors, already sell laptops, shouldn't Sony sell to this niche?
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
If they would use Smart Digital or Compact Flash I'd get one is a heartbeat.
Well, no. See, there is a thing called business, and they do it to make money. If you have a Sony camera, they want you to buy a Sony PDA (or the other way around). They don't want you going out and buying a Tungstun, or PokiePC, they want you to buy Sony. Once they get you for the first product, you will see that it is best to reuse a small part of that in your next purchase. It's kind of like a drug dealer, the first taste is easy, and then your in.
GSM?
you may find the Higgs in this signature.
I have always liked the elegant simplicity and clean lines of my palm 515 especially in its hard case... it may not be the most feature rich or powerful device but it gets the important stuff done and IMHO is still the best looking package out there.
Have you thought for yourself today?
I have the Palm OS4 NR70V, and I LOVE it. I use the camera all the time, even though it's only web-cam quality, because it is so much fun. It's amazing what you take a picture of when you can do it at any time, for free. Like the psychotic SUV I took a picture of while I was driving.
(To the people who ask what it is useful for in a PDA, you can have thumbnails of people in your address book, so there, pbbbbt)
Anyway, I chose my Clie over the Palm OS5 NX70V mainly because of the limited memory. Only 11 Megs are usable in the NX70V, and OS5 apps are much larger than OS4 apps, so effectivly there is even less room. And considering it's camera takes larger pictures, 11MB really is squat.
Now they have a 2MP camera on an 11MB (MAX) PDA? You might have room for one picture once you put your games on it.
I suppose you can always buy an inflated-priced memory stick after spending $800 on the PDA...
- much better contrast so we can read in various lighting conditions
- much better durability so we can take the unit everywhere
- screen dimensions ~= unit dimensions
- thinner, thinner, thinner! It needs to fit in a pocket, or better yet, a wallet
To be honest, I'd prefer an old Palm device imbued with these feature over one with more MIPS, colors, memory, gadgets, etc.Your monitor is staring at you.
Do you consider Steve Jobbs a "good person".
:-)
Seems kinda evil to me.
How about you give me your Macintosh
Also, could you point to any information about the Sears statement.
The more I learn about science, the more my faith in God increases.
... that nowhere in the specs says that it has cell phone capabilities?
"Audio Frequency Response: 20hz"
WOW! I bet this thing would make an awesome subwoofer!
----
All of whose base are belong to the what-now?
Mmm hmmm... Are you a scientologist, then?
It's very interesting how articles about that bully organization have a tendency to disappear. Google is now down to four of them.
Anyhow, I found one with a bit of a difficult search. If you're really interested, look in old newspapers arouind 1993-1994 [Daily Press of Newport News was one of them], and look for Sears or Allstate cross referenced with lawsuit.
As far as I know, Steve Jobs is not a bad person. The key is *as far as I know*. But to say I won't buy a product from a company does not mean that I'll throw out old equipment I have, anyhow.
It does mean that I'm going to do my best to move away from their products. I forgot to add to that list MS Word. We're now Quark people.
Correct Horse Battery Staple: 72 bits of entropy. Enter "Correct H" into google. When it generates the phrase, that's
Or...I already own a non-sony digital camera, and most of my friends have a Palm with a SD slot. So I'll always be hooked to something with an SD slot.
For some of us, idea gathering is both vocation and avocation. I'm one of those. The (crappy) integrated camera and voice recorder in the NX70V has already made a significant positive impact on my ability to capture ideas when I have them, not just when I "get back to the tools".
:)
It's nice to be inspired by a piece of art, or an image in a book, or a detail on a building, and capture it right there, along with notes about what I saw in it, what it suggests to me, what I might do with it.
It's also handy for shopping
But when I got the NX70V (Thanksgiving, dammit!), I said "this is great, and it will be even greater when it has a better camera and a cellphone.
So now there's the NZ90, and it's already on my list. When it ships, I'm selling the NX70V and upgrading, because that knocks another item off the list. For most purposes, I'm guessing the NZ90's camera is going to match my PowerShot S100 (which I bought precisely because it was "small enough to always carry", but then didn't end up always carrying it because of everything -else- that's "small enough to always carry").
So I'm one of those people "who needs this". Sure, I -can- live without it, but why, when I -can- live with it?
Is that it's the first retail device to ship with the Picsel IFV viewer. This thing actually makes the web browsable on teeny screens, and I don't mean by just reflowing it into a 20 character column. Tap-and-drag to pan, tap-hold-drag to zoom freely. Use it once and you'll wonder how you ever got by without it.
Remember that name, you'll be hearing it a lot soon.
From the product description of the $20,595 (+$650 shipping) giant hemispherical 180 Computer Monitor:
Remote control uses 2 AA batteries (included).
Wow, thanks for the value-add!
Uh, so go buy them, dumbass.
Newsflash: no one gives a flying fuck what YOU want. Some people want all those devices on hand all day, and don't want to walk around carrying a god damned Batman utility belt.
You should take a look at that - nearly the only negative thing about is of course that it uses memorystick :(
It was mentioned here a few days ago I think, but you can see a good (p)review here: http://mobile.burn.com/review.jsp?Id=141
How about an instant orgasm every time I turn it on!
Until then, I won't buy one!
Fishing Kity Blanket .22 cal single fire gun barrel
Knife
Shaving Blade
Saw
Corkscrew
Scissors
Reflective Mirror
Nail Clippers
Bottle/Can Opener
Toothbrush
Tweezers
Toothpick
Emergenc
Emergency Flares
Nose Hair Trimmer
Golf Divet Tool
LED Flashlight
Butane Torch
Flask for water/alcohol
And of course several GB's of ram for divx porn.
Until then...
Come on, where the hell is the phone????
Mabidex
I have a NX70 with the VGA res camera and the pictures it takes are crap. Even allowing for the 640x480 size. The noise and color fidelity suck. I had an old Sony Mavica (floppy disk storage) which had better image quality and the same res. For very quick and dirty photos, the built in camera on the Clie is ok, but it not a "REAL" camera like my Olympus E-10. I suspect the small lense and too much JPEG compression are to blame, so how will this improve with a 2 megapixel model? The only good thing about the Clie camera is that you can take photos in places were a real camera is not pratical or not allowed in the door. Since my Clie is always with me, I can always take a quick crappy photo. Big deal.
I'm scared of world leaders who think locally and act globally.
I'd rather have all these things separate, and better, rather than integrated into one-size-fits-all piece of shit that is more "cool" than it is "useful."
Then go out and buy everything seperately. They are all available for you. Why are you even here? Unless you are into S&M and keep viewing things that you hate.
I am not in the market to buy an 11 megapixle camera but I am for a 2 megapixle one. $275-400 USD range.
I am not in the market to buy a 20GB MP3 player, something cheaper in the $200 USD range.
I am not in the market to buy a $1000-4000 USD laptop just to use it as a contact manager.
I am in the market to buy a nice PDA.
The value added features this thing provides would save me a lot of money.
"I dont want the bloody phone to ring"
Then turn the fucking ringer off dipshit.
"What good is a PDA in the middle of nowhere when you're camping?"
To take pictures of your vacation dipshit. Maybe even some journal/log entries of your trip and surroudings. Inspiration for a story or even a song. How about maps of your surroundings with points of interest.
I dont want to carry around a laptop, a camera, a mp3 player, a GPS unit and a cell phone when all of what I need fits into the palm of my hand or my pocket.
From this list is seems apparent that bluetooth doesn't have the bandwidth; even 802.11 might be too slow.
Too slow how? Each of these devices would have to have at least a little internal memory... Maybe if you were shooting live video directly to the brick, but I would think for nearly any practical use you wouldn't need that much continuous bandwith.
The Sony memory sticks are becoming more prolific with Sony products, so just about anything you get nowadays has some form of MS port, even the VEGA tvs.
m _id=139480
Also Sony has liscensed out over 100 MFs to create memory stick media, as well as products to support them. HP for example has printers which support MS media, and I expect more soon.
As for more on new MS and size...
http://news.sel.sony.com/pressrelease/3200
http://news.sel.sony.com/digitalimages/album?albu
I use MS to replace my clunky old Zips and floppies, as well as the usual use of digital media and CLIE backups. They work for damn near anything you need. Was even nice back at an old LUG meeting to see them get the PCMCIA Memory Stick reader working without skipping a beat.
Proverbs 16:18 "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall"
Yay, a new troll on the block!! (Or maybe you are an old friend with a new UID?) And a pretty good showing for your first few days. Nice going with the karma pump'n'dump. Best of luck with your new persona.
^]ZZ
I completely agree with the poster who stated he wouldn't buy a Sony CE device that only offers MemoryStick storage. Same here. I love Sony gear, but support for SD and/or CF is a requirement. I purchased a Canon digital camera and MiniDV camcorder over comparable Sony units for this reason (also, the Canons share batteries and AC adapters, so my kit has fewer items).
What the hell is Sony thinking by requiring potential customers to PAY for access to the online Clie Advanced Guide? $40 for six months? Are they on crack?!? Check here for details, and you'll shake your head, too.
I like my Treo, but I wish:
- It had expansion slots (SD or CF).
- The OS was upgradeable. I'm stuck with Palm 3.5.
- The battery was external.
- The screen had higher resolution.
- Mobile service was modular. Sprint PCS is my only option now that I have the 300.
Give Sony props for stuffing a lot of bells and whistles into a (relatively) small space. But criticize them for "Windows-like" bloat, high prices, and dogged determination to pimp their proprietary storage format over the pragmatic requirements of their customers.
Sony loves to make eye candy. I have the N760C and it's not a bad device. Then again, you should pray that nothing goes wrong with it. The memory stick holder often breaks in these things, requiring you to send the unit back to Sony (without a temporary replacement like Palm offers) for several weeks. They also don't officially support syncing with Outlook/Exchange (don't even start with the religious wars here) so you may be SOL if you run into synchronization problems (as I frequently do).
"You done taken a wrong turn."
-Bill McKinney, in Deliverance
Check out this link and click the icon in the lower right (stupid javascript, should be banned)
Ciryon
Nobody is saying you have to share memorysticks between the two devices. However, it is an advantage if you are capable of doing it.
For example, if you were taking a lot of photos with your DSC-P9 and you wanted to view them on something with a bigger screen, you could swap the memorystick into the Clie and have a look at the photos or even edit them on a 320 x 480 screen. You could then e-mail the photos off via wifi or bluetooth. It would an ultra-mobile,photo-editing delivery platform.
Secondly, for people who can't afford to put a lot of money into memorysticks, being able to share one between multiple devices is a plus.
Also, since Sony has announced gigabyte memorystick, one may be all one ever needs.
-
When will hardware companies learn that OS X and Linux are real world OSes that people who buy their products use?
Check out the "System Requirements":
System Requirements:
* Windows® 98 Second Edition, Me, 2000 Professional, XP Home, XP Professional
* Pentium® II 400 MHz with or faster (Pentium III 500 MHz recommended)
* 96MB RAM minimum (256 MB or more recommended for Windows XP)
How is a Linux or OS X user supposed to interpret this info? "Dont' buy this product, it won't work" or "Don't buy this product, you are not an important demographic to Sony"?
There is a better way
I only came here to do two things; kick some ass, and drink some beer...looks like we're almost out of beer.
Steve Jobs is a bit on the flakey side but not "bad". He's egotistical, yes, but does that make him a bad person?
// user/programmer until Scully killed the line off. I never really liked the Mac line until Jobs brought it back from near death with OS X (I'm writing this on a PB 500). Evil != bad, sure Jobs may be a Satan worshipper but that doesn't mean he's "bad", hell he's a vegetarian for crying out loud. :)
I guess, since you stated you currently use Macs, you gave Apple a second chance. The "Scully" years certainly turned many away from Apple, myself included. I was an avid Apple
Hatred of Sony is justifiable, the only redeeming quality of Sony is a mutual hatred of Microsoft and, personally, that's not enough for me to want to buy their products. I'm not willing to take the chance that Memory Sticks won't follow Sony's past history (BETAMAX, to name one). There are plenty of alternatives available...
I think the main problem with integration is size. I want my integrated device to
1 Fit comfortably in a front pocket of my pants
2 Have a screen that is big enough to write on and that is comfortable to look at
I think I will have to stay without my desired device for some time, but perhaps not forever. Sooner or later we will have foldable screens or some other workaround.
Tor
The newest version of the PalmOS, version 5, allows PalmOS devices to have more than 16MB of RAM. But so far only the Garmin iQue 3600 has added more RAM. As drool-worthy as all of the NZ90's stats are, the measely 16MB (only 11MB of which are available to the user) feel like a deal breaker. Granted the Memory Stick slot makes the extra RAM less necessary but still....
Does this
In line with that, I also dropped HP from my list of "good companies" when Lucent's marketing manager was hired as their new president, and all the old management fled. Lucent, if you remember, came up with those wonderful closed architecture WinModems that -- as it later turned out-- died within a year due to quality problems. Now, as it turns out, I find that HP has been short-filling their inkjet cartridges.
Funny that you didn't also drop Apple when they switched from SCSI to IDE, or when the quality of their cases dropped markedly in the Performa PPC machines, or...
Guess your principles aren't as firmly stuck on as you thought.
Don't you think your new acquantinces may find that a bit weird?
A camera in a PDA is a solution looking for a problem....
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Allstate Applied Scientology Methods to Train its Management
Disclaimer: It's All Been Said Before.
Just a thought -- evil actors do fight each other; and evil is always bad. But I'm therefore not surprised that Sony and M$ are fighting each other, any more than I'm surprised that Al Qaida and the US Government are fighting each other.
I leave it to you to deduce what I think of the US government.
Good people stick to goodness, and (when possible) get out of the way, dodging most of the bullets in the process.
Correct Horse Battery Staple: 72 bits of entropy. Enter "Correct H" into google. When it generates the phrase, that's
Logged in this time.
Totally fair comment on the cost issue. I also agree that when the 1GB comes out the space issue will (should) be a bit irrelevant.
I agree that if you just want to check that the photo is in focus/make some minor tweaks before sending it off, the Clie is most definitely up to the job.
I can't really see a way around this viewing problem, though, as to view an image at a decent size (at least 7 x 5 inch), you need a screen of that size, which precludes a PDA before you start. If you make the screen big enough, it's now a tablet instead of a PDA.
It's a pity as someone earlier in this said that camera specs have far outpaced screen specs, but even if they could make a Clie-sized PDA with an XGA screen, my eyes wouldn't be able to make the detail out anyway! Here's to hologram units!
>>I can't really see a way around this viewing problem, though, as to view an image at a decent size (at least 7 x 5 inch), you need a screen of that size, which precludes a PDA before you start. If you make the screen big enough, it's now a tablet instead of a PDA
Imagine if you are traveling in a remote part of China or Africa. Many people may not have ever seen a picture of themselves. A quick and easy way of sharing the photos you just took of some people with them would be a nice thing to do. It would be a quick and easy moment of bonding between you and them.
-
That's almost exactly the opposite of most of the quoted results of VFSMark that I've seen, directly or indirectly. For example:
Since I have a HE330 in front of me, VFSMark on my Simpletech 128mb card reads:
File Create: 124%
File Delete: 118%
File Write: 320%
File Read: 117%
File Seek: 129%
DB Export: 86%
DB Import: 145%
Record Access: 145%
Resource Access: 65%
VFSMark: 138
By comparison, The last time I incovenienced a Sony user to run VFSMark and beam me the results, his Sony (32mb Memory Stick on a T415) clocked in at:
File create: 33%
File delete: 20%
File write: 10%
File read: 77%
DB Export: 32%
DB import: 46%
Record access: 62%
Resource access:56%
VFSmark: 43%
(If you're not familiar with VFSMark, it benchmarks VFS implementations, based on the speed of a M500/SD being 100%)
I realize that this isen't indicative of the General Goodness of MemoryStick - Just it's implementation on these handhelds. But that jibes with what I've seen elsewhere, both in terms of technical specs and actual performance.
Not calling you a fibber or anything, but I find the idea that a serial-access memory system (MS) would be three times faster than an 8-bit parallel-access system(CF) kind of hard to believe. Forgive my doubting-thomasness, but can you back that up?