Sony Launches 2 New "Video" Clie Models

boss_ton writes "Sony is launching its newest Clie handhelds(NX80V, NX73V ), a combination personal video player and personal digital assistant, to the United States.Its already a huge hit in Japan. Amazon is reporting the launch date as July 11th. The NX80V is priced at $600. Here's the scoop on CNet. The official product page is here."

Comments

Re:a flop?

[lcorc79]

A lot of us were surprised it didn't have built-in Bluetooth. Note however that the version of the NX73 Sony France released (and presumably the rest of the European versions) DOES have built-in bluetooth. France is NOT however releasing an NX80 at all, with or without BT.

Some reasoning here: in Japan, there are a ton of fast wireless data services, and they have CF cards for access (similar to a GSM/GPRS PCMCIA card for your laptop). The Japanese haven't really adopted Bluetooth; connecting your PDA/laptop to your cell phone for wireless net access just isn't necessary with all the wireless services they have there. Everyone gets the appropriate CF card and hops online that way.

Now in Europe, Bluetooth is all the rage - and pairing the PDA with the cell phone is almost a must. That's why Sony released the Bluetooth device in Europe but not Japan.

But we're all surprised (and I'm personally disappointed) there isn't a Bluetooth model in the US - adoption here hasn't been nearly as fast as in Europe, but it's becoming more popular.

There is of course a Bluetooth Memory Stick you can purchase to add support, but that's not as elegant as built-in. The high-end NZ90 model does however have built-in Bluetooth in all markets.