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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.
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
The thing that I don't like about Sony's Memory Stick technology is that, well, no other PalmOS based PDAs use them. The others use a card system called SD/MMC (if memory serves), and those cards are cheaper, etc. There are also many types of non-memory expansions you can get for those PDAs, such as GPS modules, Bluetooth (if the PDA in question doesn't already have it). You can't use these if you have a memory stick PDA.
-Enfors-
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.
...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.
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.
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.
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.
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
Oh cram it. You people have been doing this for years. Everytime something finally satisfies all your bitching you ask for something else. 2-3 years ago you were saying you wanted all that except the 3MP optical zoom camera.
Goto any PDA site, and everytime a new PDA comes out someone says "Oh yeah, I'll buy this when...insert large list of features"
I'm not telling you to stop wanting these things, cause sure, that would be pretty cool, but you can't use "I'll wait fot the next generation" as your reasoning every single time. Obviously you don't need all/any of these things, single out the things you need everyday and go with it. Then go buy high quality stand-alone versions of the stuff you only need once in awhile.
For example, you can already buy cell phones that do mp3, voice recording, calender/scheduling, SD and run PPC. You're going to have to make some kind of sacrifice, thats life. To think that your standards won't be any higher than this in 2-3 years is absurd.