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New Sony Clie PEG-UX50

webguru4god writes "Sony Japan has just released a killer new Clie, complete with integrated Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and a camera, in a small laptop-like enclosure. It runs Palm OS 5.2, has a 65,000 screen, and a built in keyboard! " I've always been a bit skeptical of handhelds that have flip out keyboards like this, but have repeatedly been impressed with the quality of various models of Clie. This might be worth a look.

267 comments

  1. Not only that... by Tiresias_Mons · · Score: 1, Funny

    ...but it will shave your cat, clean your oven, and vacuum the carpet! Tally ho!

    First post!

    --
    "But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong" - Dennis Miller
    1. Re:Not only that... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      yeah, but does it teleport?

    2. Re:Not only that... by palmpunk · · Score: 1

      sure man, you can have it. it's old tech.

    3. Re:Not only that... by Old+Uncle+Bill · · Score: 1

      eh, it still looks like the Barbie Laptop(tm).

      --
      Yes, I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial.
  2. Yay! by Eric(b0mb)Dennis · · Score: 4, Funny

    All I need is this and a pack of sidewalk chalk and it's time for some fun I hope I don't get stopped for vandalizing :( ALL WIFI POINTS ph34r my chalk!

    --
    Excuse me, I don't mean to impose, but I am the ocean
    1. Re:Yay! by Jonsey · · Score: 1

      Warwalking?

      I suppose stranger *has* been done.

      --
      I assert that my comment is only my opinion, not that of any employer, past, present or future.
    2. Re:Yay! by stratjakt · · Score: 5, Funny

      War-getting-a-ride-from-mom-ing

      But then everyone gets a ride from his mom.

      --
      I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
    3. Re:Yay! by TedTschopp · · Score: 1

      Does anyone have any software to do this? I've got an NX70 with the WiFi card and am looking forward to warwalking with it or even with this new one.

      --
      Fantasy remains a human right; we make in our measure and in our derivative mode... -- JRR Tolkien
    4. Re:Yay! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hey! They finally understood, a version for Slashdot only!

    5. Re:Yay! by Alan+Partridge · · Score: 1

      whose mom?

      she never gave ME a ride...

      --
      That was classic intercourse!
  3. Ouch! by mattrix2k · · Score: 4, Funny

    The handheld body is made of magnesium.
    Better hope it doesn't rain!

    1. Re:Ouch! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Obviously, this being the first PDA with a depth rating of 30m they really should have put more thought into the material of the shell.

    2. Re:Ouch! by guacamolefoo · · Score: 5, Funny

      The handheld body is made of magnesium.
      Better hope it doesn't rain!


      It serves as firestarting tool as well!

      GF.

    3. Re:Ouch! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why would that be a problem? Are you thinking of Sodium, which has an... explosive reaction, to water?

    4. Re:Ouch! by YrWrstNtmr · · Score: 1

      Magnesium reacts violently when it gets wet? WHEW!!! Thanks for telling us. I guess we'd better not drive cars with mag wheels anymore.

    5. Re:Ouch! by Edward+Teach · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Magnesium is great for fires.
      SODIUM is what you do not want to get wet!

      --

      Setting his threshold to 5, Sparky eliminated most of the trolls on /.

    6. Re:Ouch! by neuroneck · · Score: 1

      However pure sodium is not generally present in the natural environment. The only method I know of synthesizing it is by electrolysis with molten sodium chloride. However, I am sure there are other ways.

    7. Re:Ouch! by sh00z · · Score: 3, Interesting

      As others have already pointed out, you probably meant sodium. Magnesium will put on a pretty fantastic show, if you can get it to burn, but as this NeXT-torching geek discovered, that's not quite so simple.

    8. Re:Ouch! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are a fucking genius. Are you trying to tell me that unstable materials are "not generally present in the natural environment?"

      Oh yes, why oh why cant' you find chunks of elemental sodium lying around for the purpose of picking them up and throwing them into your local catfish pond? Maybe it has something to do with it being unstable....

    9. Re:Ouch! by SeanAhern · · Score: 1

      Mod -1: Factually Incorrect

    10. Re:Ouch! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > NeXT-torching geek discovered,

      FX: Scream similar to Raoul Duke watching his cocaine blowing away in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

    11. Re:Ouch! by Alan+Partridge · · Score: 1

      or use laptops with magnesium cases like about - ooh half of them do.

      --
      That was classic intercourse!
  4. No Graffiti by berkeleyjunk · · Score: 5, Insightful

    At last somebody understood people wanted to type on their PDAs instead of learning how to use Graffiti or a soft keyboard. I have a Sony PictureBook and I love it. This is going to rock.

    1. Re:No Graffiti by TedTschopp · · Score: 4, Informative

      There is a keyboard and Graffiti and a new input system which does trainable handwriting recognition.

      --
      Fantasy remains a human right; we make in our measure and in our derivative mode... -- JRR Tolkien
    2. Re:No Graffiti by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think that the Zaurus C760 still beats this new Clie, although the Zaurus doesn't have built in camera or WiFi it is really a mini laptop rather than a PDA and it probably costs the same or less than the Clie.

    3. Re:No Graffiti by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Decuma is the alternative input system and it is not trainable as far as I can tell. It just recognizes more normal handwriting strokes.

      You can alter its recognition patterns for any or all of the alphabet and even make custom shortcuts - say a star which would insert your .sig

      I am using it on a CLIE now.

      http://www.decuma.com

    4. Re:No Graffiti by dmccarty · · Score: 1

      If you look at the Sony product page, it says that it uses Graffiti 2 (Palm's rebranded version of Jot).

      --
      Have fun: Join D.N.A. (National Dyslexics Association)
    5. Re:No Graffiti by timeOday · · Score: 1
      This thing hardly qualifies as a traditional PDA - it's too big! About the size of a Palm V and a foldout keyboard you can actually touch-type on (and not just with 2 thumbs).

      If something's too big to fit conveniently in a pocket, it might as well be a laptop with a real OS.

      While I'm complaining, I don't like the specification of battery life as " 14 days with 30 minutes of typical use per day." Let's do a highstreet poll and see how many people figure out that really means 7 hours.

    6. Re:No Graffiti by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Sharp already did the keyboard thing. Been there. done that. See the Sharp Zaurus. New models coming soon!

    7. Re:No Graffiti by neurocutie · · Score: 1
      If this is to be a sub-sub laptop, I have to agree with the PPC crowd that Wince is better for this sort of thing than Palm OS.

      This things looks pretty much like the HP 360LX and 620LX of several years ago. Maybe a bit lighter and with builtin WiFi. Otherwise, same diff... Those units didn't do all that well because, or rather, they did about as well as any Wince device. Not as well as the venerable, DOS-based HP200LX, and completely over shadowed by the rise of Palm.

      The bigger these things get, and the shorter than battery life gets, the better one is with just something like the Libretto, a real sub-mini PC laptop.

    8. Re:No Graffiti by Fringe · · Score: 1

      Sony learned through failure. The Hand units came with keyboards, the Tungsten W/C have keyboards, and the Sony TG50 has a membrane-board as do the pivoting NX-series. The difference is that the previous Sony units had essentially unusable keyboards for most people.

      RIM Blackberry, Hand units, the Palms, the HP 95/100/200LX series, IBM PC110... all had buttons you could feel and depress. The TG50 has lumps that give little tactile feedback as to location or depression, and is smaller. Looks like Sony finally got the clue.

  5. 65,000 Screen? by lcsjk · · Score: 2, Interesting

    What is a 65,000 screen? How do you interpret that? Maybe I just don't get around as much as I used to.
    Anybody else in this boat?

    1. Re:65,000 Screen? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      65,000 colors.

    2. Re:65,000 Screen? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What happened to the other 536?

    3. Re:65,000 Screen? by sulli · · Score: 1

      For the user who can't get by with just 60,000 screens.

      --

      sulli
      RTFJ.
    4. Re:65,000 Screen? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe you're trying to be "cute" or "funny", but you're coming off as a "know-it-all jackass".

      You know exactly what "65,000 screen" means, but you just have to be stupid about it.

    5. Re:65,000 Screen? by Seydlitz · · Score: 1

      I think he's refering to the number of colours the screen can display- instead of true colour or high colour (which those of you with microsoft windows will be familiar with), he's refering to the number of different shades of colour; 2^16, or 16 bit colour. (FYI: it's actually 65,536 colour, as that's the excact number of bits.)

      Not bad at all for a held-hand device.

    6. Re:65,000 Screen? by donutz · · Score: 2, Funny

      it actually has 65,000 screens, each of which is visible in an alternate universe, a la quantum physics.

    7. Re:65,000 Screen? by stonecypher · · Score: 1

      (FYI: it's actually 65,536 colour, as that's the excact number of bits.)

      FWIW, the exact number of bits is actually 16. That said, "instead of true colour or high colour" is still iffy, as High Colo(u)r is 16 bit color. Natch.

      The thing that irks me is that previous Palm high color devices have had screens where the frontlight wasn't able to really pump out enough light; you couldn't tell the difference between lots of the darker blues, and even some of the darker greens and greys.

      Notably, I think it's amusing that PalmInfoCenter's own infopage has this wronger than the guy I'm replying to; they suggest the device supports 65k colors, when in fact it supports 64k. Also, the magnesium-in-rain jokes that have probably already been written belong here.

      (Also, doesn't PalmOS support alpha blending native? NeXT used to call 24bpp+8bapp 32bit color; is that still considered legit?)

      --
      StoneCypher is Full of BS
    8. Re:65,000 Screen? by stonecypher · · Score: 2, Funny

      it actually has 65,000 screens, each of which is visible in an alternate universe, a la quantum physics.

      Waitwait. Screen is quantuum branching?

      (breaks leg)

      screen -d -r OtherHistory

      waitwait. screen is quantuum branching?

      (breaks leg) ...

      --
      StoneCypher is Full of BS
    9. Re:65,000 Screen? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm pretty sure they mean 65,000 inch screen.

      Seriously though, does slashdot really need to dumb down stuff like this? What was wrong with saying 16bit color screen, or 65,536 color screen? Next week they'll try to convince us that a megabyte is 1 million bytes.

    10. Re:65,000 Screen? by DeadVulcan · · Score: 1

      it actually has 65,000 screens, each of which is visible in an alternate universe, a la quantum

      So, assuming that every possible configuration of the display is rendered in all universes, we can conclude that the screen is either a 4x4 pixel screen in black and white, or maybe 2x2 pixels at 16 colours.

      Man, that sucks.

      --
      Accountability on the heads of the powerful.
      Power in the hands of the accountable.
    11. Re:65,000 Screen? by Glyndwr · · Score: 1

      Is each screen a different colour?

      --
      You win again, gravity!
  6. Battery Life by pheared · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Sony rates the battery life at 14 days with 30 minutes of typical use per day.

    So, just say 7 hours. Unless of course sustained usage drains the battery faster.

    Either way that's pretty good since my iPaq can now barely run for 45 minutes without a charge. I have a backpaq arriving soon with extra battery capacity so that should help.

    1. Re:Battery Life by lcsjk · · Score: 1

      Sustained use does drain batteries faster.
      (Just a battery fact!)

    2. Re:Battery Life by zmooc · · Score: 4, Informative

      On my clie NX70V the battery-life varies a lot on the applications used; the cam uses quite a lot, memorystick access as well. Wifi really drains it. So no matter how long they tell you the battery life is, it's utter bullshit anyway since it depends heavily on the application used. Taking pictures and immediately e-mailing them over wifi can drain the battery within half an hour while using it exclusively as an electronic agenda will get you somewhere around the mentioned 7 hours.

      --
      0x or or snor perron?!
    3. Re:Battery Life by Mr_Silver · · Score: 1
      So, just say 7 hours. Unless of course sustained usage drains the battery faster.

      Either way that's pretty good since my iPaq can now barely run for 45 minutes without a charge

      You're compairing the battery life of a brand new device with a PDA you've had for how long? Over 6 months? Hell, you're compairing the marketing spin from Sony about it's battery life against something a little more real world.

      Tad unfair maybe?

      --
      Avantslash - View Slashdot cleanly on your mobile phone.
    4. Re:Battery Life by pheared · · Score: 1

      -1, Combative.

      No one is disputing that batteries are a consumable.

      However, what I said is still true, though unfair, sure.

      Calm yourself, maybe?

    5. Re:Battery Life by stonecypher · · Score: 1

      Sustained use does drain batteries faster.
      (Just a battery fact!)


      I think he meant "unless the longer the period of sustained use the greater the difference from idle." IE, that one two hour use block would be worse than four half hour blocks.

      --
      StoneCypher is Full of BS
    6. Re:Battery Life by BenjyD · · Score: 2, Informative

      The battery life is affected by how long the device is on (just keeping the screen on uses some power) and also by what you do with it. If it's not actually doing anything (i.e. it's just sitting in the event loop waiting), the whole processor bit almost switches off, so power consumption drops.

      The other power consuming action is maintaining the contents of memory, which happens all the time whether the unit is on or off, although it doesn't consume that much power.

    7. Re:Battery Life by ihnm · · Score: 1

      I'm no electrician, but my ipaq drains so bad just sitting around. So much so, that if i charge it fully, turn it off, and don't charge it for a day; when i come back to it the next day it's dead... having never been used.

    8. Re:Battery Life by Moofie · · Score: 1

      Yeah, because, um, battery technology has changed a lot in, uh, six months. Not.

      The battery life on your iPaq sucked when you bought it. It sucked long before you bought it, it will suck long after you bought it, and you still bought it.

      Wow. You mean that battery life on wince devices sucks? No way.

      --
      Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
    9. Re:Battery Life by Mr_Silver · · Score: 1
      -1, Combative.

      Hardly.

      However, what I said is still true, though unfair, sure.

      Marketing spin will always win out on real world facts. Look at Sony's battery claims for other Clié's and then how long they really last.

      Calm yourself, maybe?

      Hardly.

      --
      Avantslash - View Slashdot cleanly on your mobile phone.
    10. Re:Battery Life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My Sharp Zaurus 5500 gets about 4hrs if I'm just writing a document. If I use an infra red keyboard I only get 2hrs. I have a small battery charger that runs of alkaline AA but it still sucks the battery dry.

  7. You're all pigs! by tevenson · · Score: 3, Funny

    It looks like a laptop for midgets. I guess that's not bad. Even Willow needs to check his email.

    1. Re:You're all pigs! by MikeXpop · · Score: 3, Informative

      Since the linked site is slashdotted, here's a site with pictures I found from 2 seconds of googling.

      Pictures

      --
      Etiquette is etiquette. He kills his mother but he can't wear grey trousers.
    2. Re:You're all pigs! by LordNimon · · Score: 1

      However, this Willow can sit on my lap.

      --
      And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start
      To mold a new reality... closer to the heart
    3. Re:You're all pigs! by Alan+Partridge · · Score: 1

      You have very strange taste in women. I find that girl hugely annoying AND deeply unattractive - and I'm not as picky as most.

      --
      That was classic intercourse!
  8. Another Article Link by jared_hanson · · Score: 4, Informative

    Another article with more detailed information can be found at infoSync World.

    --
    -- Fighting mediocrity one bad post at a time.
  9. What I want to know is by Timesprout · · Score: 4, Funny

    More details and an official US announcement are expected tomorrow (7/18) when Sony's handheld President, Masanobu Yoshida,

    Why did they make him president if he needs someone to hold his hand ??

    --
    Do not try to read the dupe, thats impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth
    What truth?
    There is no dupe
  10. Sony wants ubiquitous wifi by dspyder · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Talking to a wireless engineer at Sony, they are really interested in finding a way of having ubiquitous 802.11 access everywhere. With devices like this, who can blame them.

    Trouble is, he also said Sony wants a piece of the service market offering that access. Seems to me I would stick with being a hardware provider and let the ISPs sort out the delivery. Of course, with Sony being in the content business as well........

    --D

    1. Re:Sony wants ubiquitous wifi by yelohbird · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Sony already owns a big chunk of the Asian ISP market, with ventures for broadband services in Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and other markets. With their financial leverage, I would not be surprised if they are able to deploy ubiquitous 802.11 (b/g) access in those same markets, where the dense metropolitan population and high demand for tech fads would make it feasible to carry out this project.

      And then, maybe 20 years down the road, ubiquitous wi-fi will finally be "feasible" and make its debut the United States...

      --
      h-t-t-p-colon-slash-slash-slash-dot-dot-org
    2. Re:Sony wants ubiquitous wifi by hobbesmaster · · Score: 1
      Talking to a wireless engineer at Sony, they are really interested in finding a way of having ubiquitous 802.11 access everywhere. With devices like this, who can blame them.

      Hmmm... downloading Sony music off a Sony WiFi point onto a Sony computer then burning Sony brand CD-Rs for all your friends with a Sony CD-RW driver sounds like fun.
    3. Re:Sony wants ubiquitous wifi by yelohbird · · Score: 1

      oops, i forgot to add the "on-topic" part...

      yea, can't wait for those commercials to roll out with a guy in a black suit walking a couple of steps, then typing "can you read me now" into his Clie...

      better yet, into his Sony PSP =D

      --
      h-t-t-p-colon-slash-slash-slash-dot-dot-org
    4. Re:Sony wants ubiquitous wifi by Eccles · · Score: 1

      Talking to a wireless engineer at Sony, they are really interested in finding a way of having ubiquitous 802.11 access everywhere.

      With the built-in microphone, it could even work as a VoIP phone, making for a replacement cellphone in a pinch.

      --
      Ooh, a sarcasm detector. Oh, that's a real useful invention.
    5. Re:Sony wants ubiquitous wifi by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ubiquitous access everywhere? Do you understand the concept of redundancy? Repeat to self five times a day: I will not use words unless I know what they mean, so as not to make a fool of myself in public.

  11. Yes but by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    does it run Linux?

    1. Re:Yes but by Tuqui · · Score: 1

      Not now but in the future it should. Sony is stressing Palm to the limit, could they continue use it for a long time?

  12. screen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    has a 65,000 screen

    65,000. Hrm...

    65,000 color screen
    65,000 pixel screen
    65,000 dollar screen (ack!)

    I don' need no of you're steenkin' english classsess!

  13. You misunderstood. by Prince_Ali · · Score: 4, Funny

    He doesn't need to have his handheld. He is the handheld President because he is small enough to hold in your hands. It is really great for when a full-sized Sony president just won't fit in your luggage.

    1. Re:You misunderstood. by Arcaeris · · Score: 2, Funny

      Yeah, but some people complain about the lack of power, features, and "input/output devices" that come with the smaller version.

  14. You saw by Ann+Coulter · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    it on Digit Life first.

  15. Direct image link without horrid slow useless ASP by sulli · · Score: 1
    --

    sulli
    RTFJ.
  16. Handheld president?! by uradu · · Score: 1

    Perhaps this is just meant to be a laptop for very, very small people such as himself.

  17. Mirror by H0NGK0NGPH00EY · · Score: 2, Informative

    Check the story here: http://myhome.spu.edu/time/mirror/Clie-UX-50.htm
    The enlarged pics are here and here.

    --
    Do not read this sig.
  18. capacity... by selderrr · · Score: 1, Interesting

    ...It has 32mb of RAM, with 16mb available for use...

    umpf... my iPod has 30GB. How come they can't build PDAs with a decent storage inside ?

    1. Re:capacity... by fluxrad · · Score: 3, Funny

      Your iPod has 30GB of RAM???

      Holy shit!

      --
      "It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once." -David Hume
    2. Re:capacity... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If your iPod can handle 32GB of RAM, and the new G5's can only handle 8GB of RAM, I can only conclude you're from the future...

      So, how's Doc. Brown?

    3. Re:capacity... by MisterMook · · Score: 0

      Something has to manage the deflection panels on the tinfoil hat.

    4. Re:capacity... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Simple.

      iPods do one thing: decode music. You can have very specialized hardware for that and save a lot of battery. Having to power the HD in addition to screen, WiFi, etc basically leaves you with enough battery life to do.. well.. almost nothing. Look at the Microdrive, those are mini harddrives and they KILL your battery life.

      PocketPCs and Palms use flash memory, which have little to no access time, unlike typical hard drives.

    5. Re:capacity... by iantri · · Score: 1

      Things are on a different scale with PalmOS devices. A large PalmOS program will take up 500kb, an average program probably 100-200kb. So really, this is quite a bit of room. Though the small memory amount are because of limitations in PalmOS, it isn't really a big deal since things aren't as bloaty as in WinCE (err.. Pocket PC 2000-and-whatever)

    6. Re:capacity... by Alan+Partridge · · Score: 1

      I was under the impression that iPods had 32MB of cache RAM as well. Please don't confuse HD and RAM - Palms don't have HDs (yet) though this one will take a 1GB Memory Stick if you want it to.

      --
      That was classic intercourse!
    7. Re:capacity... by longbottle · · Score: 1

      1GB memrystick? Where? I've seen 256MB ones, but no larger. My laptop, Camera, and PDA need more storage.

      Got a link to place that sells them, or did you just pull that capacity out of your ass?

      --
      I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute of it!
    8. Re:capacity... by Alan+Partridge · · Score: 1

      Memory Stick Pro - the UX50 is pictured with one on the Japanese website.

      Stick that up your arse.

      --
      That was classic intercourse!
  19. Looks cool by Paulrothrock · · Score: 1

    I want one. I like the flippy screen particularly.

    --
    I'm in the hole of the broadband donut.
  20. I'll wait by tarquin_fim_bim · · Score: 2, Funny

    The next one will surely have GPS, duct tape dispensor, phasor, bowie knife, ball of string, elastic band compartment and five loaves & two fishes.

    1. Re:I'll wait by RevMike · · Score: 1

      Don't forget your towel.

  21. ugh by SuperBanana · · Score: 1

    Am I the only one who still, after years of seeing laptops(and now phones) and PDAs with digital cameras find them cheesy?

    I hate the phone cameras- it's an instant turn-off to me, a guarantee I'll pick another model; I'd rather they spent $ on useful features that directly apply to the device's purpose and functionality. PDAs are for storing information- not taking crappy, small pictures that are bested by a 5-year-old "regular" digital camera.

    1. Re:ugh by MisterMook · · Score: 1

      Personally, the sooner they take all of the kooky little widgets and bundle them up in one single kooky widget the better. I want a handheld computer that takes pictures and video, acts as a pager and cell phone, talks effortlessly to my computer back at home to retrieve data that's stored there, has a keyboard or recognizes my voice enough that I don't have to learn shorthand, has an FM radio in it, charges happily in my car and fits at least as well as a cell phone in my pocket.

      Almost any device that moves the technology and marketing towards that end is good thing I think. It's all moving towards a seamless mature technology where the luxury items will be things like this that are made of titanium, waterproof to hell and back, and have a 'back massage' setting.

  22. Gotta Love Those Article-tisements! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sony couldn't BUY better advertising!

  23. embarrassing question by AssFace · · Score: 5, Interesting

    One of the owners of the company I currently work with has taken me aside many times and has me on a quest for what I think is the unattainable... mainly because the idea is retarded.

    But I have to ask, since this seems about like the perfect place to do so. Or instead of asking - maybe I should just describe what he wants and enthusiasts can chime in.

    He wants a handheld device. He loves Sony products, and hates Handspring products. He has no real reasons or logical justification for this as far as I can tell - but he isn't going to change.
    He wants something that will keep track of all of his appointments. He wants something that can play mp3s.
    Ideally it would also have a camera and a phone in it, but that isn't necessary.

    But what he *really* wants... and this is the part that I find amusing - he wants this thing to have a phone jack in it.
    For two reasons - the first reason is so that he can put a phone line into it and record conversations. For some reason he thinks that there is a large demand for this, just because he wants it.
    He also wants this thing to be able to check e-mail - but he doesn't want to pay cell phone charges for checking e-mail, and bluetooth and wi-fi are out because he wants to travel the globe with this thing and plug into the phone lines at hotels and then dial up and check his e-mail. Via the modem jack of course.

    I thought I had him sold on the cool Neuros, but then this phone jack idea occurred to him and he is now focused on that.

    The worst part is that he finds the fact that it doesn't exist and that nobody else would want this a personal failing on my part.
    As if I'm just not trying hard enough.

    I feel like telling him that if he clicks his heels together, rubs a lamp, and also *really* believes in it, then it will happen.

    Anyway, anyone know of such a beast to exist? (he has a laptop, but apparently that is "too bulky" - so that solution is out - and I know that Handspring has plug-ins for all of that stuff, but he hates Handsprings and refuses to ever own one)

    --

    There are some odd things afoot now, in the Villa Straylight.
    1. Re:embarrassing question by British · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Find a PDA that has a standard "mic" plug on it, and go buy a telephone convo recorder at Rat Shack. That might work.

      Or if you want to be more enterprising, open up the recorder, and put shorter cords in it so it won't tangle up with his other things..

      Then find a way to mass-produce them and sell them at a high price so other people like your friend will buy them.

    2. Re:embarrassing question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think that you can just by a regular dial-in modem for any old palm pilot. Check the palm web site.

    3. Re:embarrassing question by $lacker1 · · Score: 1

      are you, by chance, the IT guy for a jewelry wholesaller in michigan? this guys sounds like my old boss--paranoia and tunnel-vision combined with an utter lack of knowledge....
      a few years back he wanted his entire accounting/inventory database on a palm III

      --

      //comments are for suckers
      //coders read code
    4. Re:embarrassing question by AssFace · · Score: 1

      He even has a frickin converter - but he is convinced for some reason that it only works on his current phone and with his current analog tape recorder...

      seriously, this guy is too funny... only he doesn't try to be.

      I tried to tell him to do that, and he was sort of sold on it, but he doesn't trust conversion - he is convinced that he wants that phone jack in there.

      I'm tempted to take the phone off of my desk and unplug the cord from it and then tell him that he can walk around and use that for everything.
      I'm fairly certain that he just wants a cool gadget to show his friends at meetings.

      --

      There are some odd things afoot now, in the Villa Straylight.
    5. Re:embarrassing question by AssFace · · Score: 1

      Excellent - I will look into this.

      He recently told me "Handspring is getting bought out by Palm - their stuff sucks" - so I hope that he isn't now against Palm as well.
      (Handspring was started by two guys that used to work for Palm, and he actually knows that - so I could see him being anti-Palm as well)

      --

      There are some odd things afoot now, in the Villa Straylight.
    6. Re:embarrassing question by AssFace · · Score: 1

      LOL - no, I'm at a hedge fund management company in Bermuda.

      This guy is paranoid and knows just enough to make really uninformed decisions.

      I can't fault him for linking small and shiny gadgets though - I too am drawn to new toys. But I investigate it all myself isntead of finding an office bitch to do it. (me being the office bitch in this case - IT Manager or Office Bitch... they should put both on my business card... if I had one)

      --

      There are some odd things afoot now, in the Villa Straylight.
    7. Re:embarrassing question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sony Ericsson P800

    8. Re:embarrassing question by colenski · · Score: 1

      This guy sounds like my current boss, who wants me to find almost exactly the same thing. I show him a Tungsten, he says, "Too big, and how do I talk into it? " - show him the microphone he says "That's stupid". I show him a Thera, he says "Too small, and how do I type? Besides, who uses audiovox, I would be embarassed to show this at meetings" - nitwit will *not* be satisfied until there is a chip that can be embedded in his head. Just like the first poster, my boss thinks that I'm asleep at the switch / incompetent until I can find a product that can me his arbitrary, and ever-changing "specifications"

    9. Re:embarrassing question by Wattsman · · Score: 1

      The problem is that he is looking at either PDAs _or_ laptops. What he is really looking for is a subnotebook. Dynamism (moderately pricey import place) has some nice ones.

      The model I think you'll be able to interest him in is the Sony U101.
      http://www.dynamism.com/u101/index.shtml
      W eighs in at just under 2 pounds and is 7(w) x 5.5(l) x1.3(h) inches. It'll fit into a large pocket. You should be able to find a modem card for the Type II PCMCIA slot.

      The bad thing is that it is not touchscreen and not instant-on like a PDA. But that's the closest I've seen to what he wants in a single package (with no add-ons to carry around).

    10. Re:embarrassing question by Planesdragon · · Score: 1

      He wants a handheld device. He loves Sony products, and hates Handspring products. He has no real reasons or logical justification for this as far as I can tell - but he isn't going to change.

      I don't like my Sony handheld--but that's neither here nor there.

      Several PDA makers aside from Handspring make add-on modems. They conncet from the port on the bottom, not the non-standard expansion jack.

      I have seen, in stores, a modem for Clies. While I don't know how well it'll work for sound recording, it should allow him to use a dial-up ISP with it.

      If you can't find a modem that works, try looking for a custom hardware shop or a mod shop, and get a price-quote for a personally built PDA.

      Oh, and if he's more anti-handspring than pro-Sony, try looking at other PDA manufacturers. All other things being equal, I recommend Palm.

    11. Re:embarrassing question by AssFace · · Score: 1

      well that does look a lot like what he wants.

      it doesn't have a phone jack from what I can see... and I don't really see why it would, which is part of the issue when looking for such a thing.

      he is way into Sony, so he might have already seen that, but I will mention it to him.

      do you know if that is available for GSM like what they have in the states and London (he spends most of his time there when travelling, or just here in Bermuda)

      --

      There are some odd things afoot now, in the Villa Straylight.
    12. Re:embarrassing question by AssFace · · Score: 1

      Interesting. I could see him saying that is too large, but I will definitely mention that too him.

      Just sending him that site alone might let him surf around and distract him for a bit.

      Like giving a child a spoon and some pots to bang on.

      --

      There are some odd things afoot now, in the Villa Straylight.
    13. Re:embarrassing question by AssFace · · Score: 1

      Oooo, he would love getting something custom made.
      Except that he is cheap. He isn't going to want to pay more than $400 - I know this already from dealing with him when this all started and he "just" wanted a suped-up mp3 player.

      The problem with the attachment type scenerio is that he doesn't want to carry a lot of crap around. He just wants a single small little shiny phone that does everything.

      I should just give him a ball of tin foil and say that it is a micracle phone and that it might be too hard to work. He won't want to seem stupid and might stay quiet for awhile.

      --

      There are some odd things afoot now, in the Villa Straylight.
    14. Re:embarrassing question by lardbottom · · Score: 1
      Yes! Such a thing does exist!

      It will take 3 years to implement.. I MEAN DELIVER.. deliver, and it will cost $3M for the first unit, payable now (unless there is a patent already filed on such a device).

      Basically he wants a Psion strapped to an Archos Recorder, but 1/10th the size. Perhaps a sony phone with a USB jack? Narf!

      --
      Give me a fish, I shall eat well for a day. Teach me to fish, and I will eat well until some idiot patents it.
    15. Re:embarrassing question by Reeses · · Score: 1

      The treo 600 may be a good start.

      http://treocentral.com/content/Stories/229-1.htm

      --
      Reeses
    16. Re:embarrassing question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      mmmm...Bermuda....don't suppose y'all are hiring at all, are you?

    17. Re:embarrassing question by AssFace · · Score: 1

      If only he didn't hate Handspring.

      --

      There are some odd things afoot now, in the Villa Straylight.
    18. Re:embarrassing question by AssFace · · Score: 1

      Not that I know of.
      The issue here (Bermuda) is the current government makes it very hard for people to come in and work here.
      I am here because my fiancee is Bermudian, otherwise, I don't think I could be here.

      --

      There are some odd things afoot now, in the Villa Straylight.
    19. Re:embarrassing question by kinnell · · Score: 4, Funny

      You have clearly been given a special assignment to spend your whole day surfing the internet, checking out all the latest cool gadgets for your boss. Keep him interested as long as you can.

      --
      If I seem short sighted, it is because I stand on the shoulders of midgets
    20. Re:embarrassing question by smeenz · · Score: 1
      their stuff "sucks"

      If that's the best, most well thought out description your boss can come up with, I suggest you find another job!

    21. Re:embarrassing question by TedTschopp · · Score: 1

      Well, wait a couple months until Palm gets done with swallowing Handspring... and Tada! a Palm Treo 600! Of course there are a couple other manufacturers who make devices which compete with the Treo product line. Ted

      --
      Fantasy remains a human right; we make in our measure and in our derivative mode... -- JRR Tolkien
    22. Re:embarrassing question by AssFace · · Score: 1

      wow! you are way better at the silver lining thing than I am. :)

      I suppose that really would be the case if he didn't also want me doing other stuff as well, and calling a bunch of people regarding vaious random things.

      fortunately he has been out of the office much of this week, hence the amount of time I spend on slashdot has gone up a bit.

      --

      There are some odd things afoot now, in the Villa Straylight.
    23. Re:embarrassing question by AssFace · · Score: 1

      I'm working on it :)

      This current job is a place holder until one of two other options comes to fruition.

      *fingers crossed*

      --

      There are some odd things afoot now, in the Villa Straylight.
    24. Re:embarrassing question by Berylium · · Score: 1

      I think the P800 is only available in Tri-band GSM. So yea, it will work well in everywhere but the US. (and OK in the US, for that matter)

    25. Re:embarrassing question by mobileskimo · · Score: 1

      er... Last time I checked a modem jack is a phone jack. A modem uses a phone line. I would imagine it's only a matter of finding software that will record what the modem hears.

      The only problem I might imagine is if the modem on whatever gadget you are looking at doesn't listen to voice frequencies. But I'm not too bright on the frequency stuff, so I may be completely off.

      --
      "Last one in is a rotten goblin!" - Kepp
    26. Re:embarrassing question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The guy is a moron.
      Superglue a Nokia to a Sony NZ90 and tell him it's what he wanted. Hell, throw in a spare phone jack double adapter so he has something to plug into it.

      Most OS5 devices have a built in Voice Recorder. Tell him to hold it up to the phone :)

    27. Re:embarrassing question by Cramit · · Score: 1

      Look at the Fujitsu P1000 (webshop.fugitsupc.com). It is a mini laptop (8.9 inch screen) with key-board and touch-screen. It also incudes an 56k modem. Hope this helps on your quest.

    28. Re:embarrassing question by burns210 · · Score: 1
      "But what he *really* wants... and this is the part that I find amusing - he wants this thing to have a phone jack in it. For two reasons - the first reason is so that he can put a phone line into it and record conversations. For some reason he thinks that there is a large demand for this, just because he wants it."

      they have compact flash modems... that might help you out? :/

    29. Re:embarrassing question by KeelSpawn · · Score: 1

      Handspring is the ony way to go. I've been a Handspring lover since its company started out. Their springboard design allows various kinds of modems to conenct, wired to a phone jack. There are several speeds to choose from. Not only can you surf the net and check email, you can also sync and backup your data back to your local computer (home computer). Are you sure he doesn't want Handspring at all? It can bring him a long way and he might like it eventually. I already have an mp3 player module for my Handspring Visor Prism, a GPS module, a camera module, a digital recorder module, and many others. Why doesn't he like handspring? Is there a main reason? I would really like to know. You can contact me at:

      anthony@NOSPAMpalmzone.net
      (remove "NOSPAM" for my real address)

      --
      http://www.palmzone.net
    30. Re:embarrassing question by Glyndwr · · Score: 1

      The Sharp Zaurus has a mic port and runs Linux, so I'm sure phone recorder software could be whipped up in under ten minutes. The interface jack the phone side might be a bit funky though. Furthermore, it has a CompactFlash port that can take a CF modem, which gives you your dialup. Ta-da!

      --
      You win again, gravity!
    31. Re:embarrassing question by Jotham · · Score: 1
      I'd personally steer him towards a Sharp Zarius, or even one of the latest Japanese models shipped across

      They support Compact Flash Type1 Cards which means you can swap in a Modem, GPS,Barcode scanner or anything else available.

      Cos you just know your Boss is going to NEED a Barcode scanner, well, just as soon as he thinks of it...


      PS. I just used google to find the example CF Cards so I recommend looking about for the best buy.

    32. Re:embarrassing question by AssFace · · Score: 1

      I have no clue why he doesn't like Handspring.

      I got a Handspring Visor Deluxe when they first came out and it has suited me just fine (the IR port on it never worked properly, but that didn't really bother me all that much - I certainly haven't told him this though, that would just feed his threory).

      He feels that they are crap products. He has two friends that have gone through a series of their PDAs and had problems with them, and his brother has a Treo that crashes when he uses a large ACT database on it.
      So this, and I think combined with the idea that he sees them as a startup that doesn't know what they are doing, makes him refuse to deal with one.
      It isn't clear to me if he has ever owned one or not.

      I agree, and I have told him this as well, Handspring would have all of the things he wants/needs available to him and make it easy.

      I think part of it too is that he wants something that is impossible just so that he can say to his friends that he wants something that isn't out there but "has his people looking into it".

      I can't wait to go into business on my own. You can always just fire clients.

      --

      There are some odd things afoot now, in the Villa Straylight.
    33. Re:embarrassing question by AssFace · · Score: 1

      Oooo, I'd like it if he would get one of those. I also might be able to sell him on that since he wants a keyboard.

      That is a good idea, I will run that by him.

      I can see it now, he is going to have some reason why he doesn't trust Linux... hell, I won't even mention the Linux side of things.

      I'll just point out how shiny it is and that it has sliding parts and many buttons. That should thrill him.

      --

      There are some odd things afoot now, in the Villa Straylight.
    34. Re:embarrassing question by KeelSpawn · · Score: 1

      I see what you mean. Well, this reminds me of one incident where my friend commented on my newly puchased HP laptop. He said: "Man, HP computers are not good, they crash a lot and they get slower after time." That's Bullshit. As you know, it's the problem with Windows and cheap hardware. Same applies to your friend's issue. Handspring runs on Palm OS just like almost any other PDA out there does. It has the same processor as quite a few Palm/Sony handhelds. Maybe his friends just got unlucky and installed a bad software, or a poorly written hack, which might have caused the error crash when he started the big application you mentioned.

      But nonetheless, he has his own reasons for hating Handspring. But then maybe Sony will come up with a newer PDA that full-fills his dreams, which will also cost him around a price of a laptop.

      All the best,
      Anthony

      --
      http://www.palmzone.net
  24. This Could Be My Ideal PDA by pickity · · Score: 1

    I've been waiting for Sony to answer the call and offer a cross between the NV/NX series and the TG series, giving us a large screen, camera, and Bluetooth support.

    I'm just curious how much it weighs and how it compares in size to my current NX70V. The Bluetooth/wireless options and the laptop-like design please me considerably though.

    --
    ----------
    word to your moms... I came to drop bombs...
  25. how to buy.. by $lacker1 · · Score: 1

    looks like it's time to head back to best buy with my extended warranty and my peg-760 that "all of the sudden started losing it's memory about once a week...." ;)

    --

    //comments are for suckers
    //coders read code
  26. Re:Too bad it's a Palm by Desco · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Unfortunately, Sharp doesn't appear to be in any hurry to release an english version of the Zaurus c760 (Same form factor as this Clie), which would be more expensive and wouldn't inlcude the bluetooth, wireless, and camera that make this device so spiffy.

    And you'll NEVER see a PocketPC in this form factor. Microsoft very narrowly dictates the hardware that a PocketPC device can have. The closest you'll ever come is a iPaq with a detachable thumboard.

    -Desco-

  27. Nifty but what's the price? by anagama · · Score: 5, Insightful


    If this thing tops $500, won't people start just looking at a laptop?

    It's neat and all in a gadgety way, but PDAs need to be small and light so they fit in your pocket. The problem of course, is that when they are tiny, data input is a bear - and it always will be till voice recognition/mind plugs replace grafiti and thumboards.

    --
    What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
    1. Re:Nifty but what's the price? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's neat and all in a gadgety way, but PDAs need to be small and light so they fit in your pocket

      It weighs six ounces. My laptop weighs 104 ounces. I think I could find room for the clie.

    2. Re:Nifty but what's the price? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Plus at that price it give you a great oppurtunity to lose $500+ just by having it slip out of your pocket.

      At that price I hope people chain it to their waist and don't stick it in their back pants pocket...*CRUNCH!*

    3. Re:Nifty but what's the price? by sehryan · · Score: 1

      you haven't seen the picture of someone actually holding this device. this thing, folded up, is smaller than the person's hand that is holding it. and as you can show the screen while it is closed by turning it around and closing it, it can be as small, or maybe smaller, than a normal pda.

      --
      The world moves for love. It kneels before it in awe.
    4. Re:Nifty but what's the price? by firewood · · Score: 1
      If this thing tops $500, won't people start just looking at a laptop?

      Laptops which weigh less than 3 lbs usually cost way more than $500.

      And this Clie is actually a little smaller, in terms of cubic inches, than a Palm III !

    5. Re:Nifty but what's the price? by kinnell · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I can type on my psion revo almost as fast as I can on a fullsize keyboard, and it fits in my pocket just fine. I know some people find it difficult, but give me a PDA with a keyboard any day.

      --
      If I seem short sighted, it is because I stand on the shoulders of midgets
  28. but wait, check this out: by ed.han · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "welcome slashdot visitor! you have been redirected to a ligher version of our article in order to conserve bandwidth and keep the site running smoothly for everybody. this is the whole text of the article, if you would like to read the story along with our reader comments, please click here."

    slashdot provides anti-spam armoring, and the sony site apparently offers anti-/. effect armoring?

    ah, if only i could find a way to bring that full circle, my karma would be mighty indeed...

    ed

    1. Re:but wait, check this out: by Rutger+Swarts · · Score: 1

      http://www.palminfocenter.com/view_story.asp?ID=56 66

    2. Re:but wait, check this out: by xswl0931 · · Score: 2, Informative

      Sony isn't doing the anti-/. effect, Palminfocenter is smart enough given previous links from slashdot to protect itself.

  29. Zaurus by pergamon · · Score: 3, Funny

    Ooh. I feel my previously-unwavering desire for a Zaurus 760 beginning to wane...

    1. Re:Zaurus by fishynet · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Why? The Zaurus c760 is better in most ways... (Zaurus vs. Clie) Better screen (640x408 vs. 480x320) Better processor (Xscale vs. ARM) Better keyboard Better OS ;) (Linux vs. Palm) Better (more) memory (128+64 vs. 32(16 usable) Better (more) expandibility (CF+SD vs. nothing) The only places where the Clie is better is: Built in Wifi/BT (This could be negiative when you can't upgrade later on.) Built in Camera

      --

      Cats: All your base are belong to us.
      Captain: Take off every sig !!
    2. Re:Zaurus by firewood · · Score: 1
      Why? The Zaurus c760 is better in most ways... (Zaurus vs. Clie) ...

      The Zaurus is worse in terms of size, weight, and battery life.

      And if your main use isn't too carry it in your pocket without a power cord, then a small laptop might be better than either.

    3. Re:Zaurus by Enzondio · · Score: 1

      You say that Linux is a "better" OS than PalmOS but one factor (among many) to consider is the huge number of applications out there for the Palm. Yes I know there are a million and a half Linux utilities out there, but are they targetted for PDA use?

      I would say that they're just different, PalmOS is gonna be "better" for a lot of people. Linux, of course, has its advantages and will be better in other situations.

      On your other points. Wi/Fi and Camera are big features in my mind. As are battery life, size, and wieght. I'd much rather have a slightly smaller screen (480x320 is still better than most PDAs) if it meant smaller size and less weight.

      The big question that remains unanswered will be price.

    4. Re:Zaurus by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >Better more expandability (CF+SD) vs. nothing
      The article says it has MemoryStick support. That's a lot better than nothing.

    5. Re:Zaurus by pergamon · · Score: 1

      Notice I said "starting to wane". I'd still prefer the Zaurus, though it is quite a pain in the ass to get right now unless you want to pay Dynamism's prices.

      I bought the SL-5500 (within the past couple months, actually) basically so I could have a PDA and have Linux running in my pants. Well, the builtin PDA apps (even the brand new ones) do various explicit things to the appendages of barnyard animals. It doesn't quite fit in my pants, either.

      The Zaurus (I'm speaking of the SL-5500, but the environment is roughly the same between all the models AFAIK) has other issues too. Too many things can lock up the GUI for seconds at a time, like connecting to a wireless network for instance.

      The new Clie is pretty ugly compared to the 760 too.

    6. Re:Zaurus by antiMStroll · · Score: 1

      Doesn't affect the PIM apps, but give the new ROM from the Kompany a spin if the OS is part of the hassle. Basically a de-bugged Sharp ROM with a KDE-like skin. Best I've used of four by a wide margin.

    7. Re:Zaurus by gotr00t · · Score: 1
      Hmm... IMO, the Sharp model is much better, and it just seems that Sony decided to copy their design. I've seen a lot of mobile PCs, and the Zaurus C700 series is the first of its kind.

      With its better processor and far superior OS ( I always hated palm because I bought a Palm IIIxe with Palm OS 3, and SUPPOSEDLY it could upgrade, the jump to 4 did very little for it, and I can't use 5 on it) I think the choice is clear which is better.

    8. Re:Zaurus by enichols · · Score: 1

      Yeah. This thing has integrated wifi and the sexy Sony design and all, but if you look at the other specs, it pales in comparison to the SL-C7x0 series. 8 MB of RAM? 480 x 320 screen? Please! The C700 has 32MB standard. If you want more, the C750 and 760 have 64MB. And all of them have a beautiful 640 x 480 screen. Only 32 MB of internal flash? The C700 and C750 both have double that. The C760 has a whopping 128 MB. Sony didn't release any detailed info on the processor, but I doubt it can beat the 400 MHZ X-Scale in the Zauruses. 1 Memory stick Slot vs. 1 CF card slot AND 1 SD card slot is a no-brainer. Oh, and Sony tacked on a crappy camera. Big deal. And of course, because this is Slashdot, I have to mention that the Zaurus runs Linux. It is far more hackable than any Sony product will ever be.

      Sony did get a few things right. The magnesium case is a nice touch. I feel wary paying over $500 for anything made out of plastic. They also included a keyboard with standard shift and fn keys instead of the strange setup Sharp insists on using. Integrated wifi is just about the only thing the Zaurus was really missing.

      I own a Zaurus SL-C750, and it is an excellent machine. Being able to hack and install almost anything on it is wonderful. It has a beautiful screen for surfing the web, hacking on a terminal, and watching movies. Having both CF and SD cards means lots of memory. If you pick up a nice-sized card, you can rip LOTR to avi and watch it on your Zaurus.

      Since both of these machines are at the same price point (the C760 is 70,000 yen just like the Sony model; the C750/C700 are actually cheaper by 10,000/15,000 yen), I hope Sharp gives Sony a good kick in the beanbag just for ripping off their design so much. Unfortunately, Sharp isn't cooperating with the Linux community as well as they could be in improving the built-in apps and devloping new software, and they seem to have no interest in releasing the SL-C7x0 series internationally, so I doubt they will compete well against this. If Sony releases it in the states, they can expect a lot of sales. A shame for Sharp and all of the people who own one of these excellent machines.

    9. Re:Zaurus by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, but maybe this will *finally* get Sharp to wake up and realize that there are markets for slick PDAs outside of Japan. Although folks have raved about 3rd party English language providers of the various flavors of Sharp's C7x0 PDAs, I guess I'm getting old enough where waiting for a reasonably priced/domestically supported version seems like a reasonable thing to do (N.B. I'm not saying that the folks who currently provide these machines aren't adding value, but rather that until the manufacturer's state they will or will not be providing the product domestically, there will always be that "what if" factor and knowing/hoping that if the market was opened, you'd have "official" recourse and support for any problems).

    10. Re:Zaurus by fishynet · · Score: 1

      also, if you don't like dynamism's price, just buy the zaurus from conics.

      --

      Cats: All your base are belong to us.
      Captain: Take off every sig !!
  30. Smartphones by erixtark · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Kind of makes you wonder, once again, what Sony will do with Sony Ericsson and its' smartphones, such as the P800. The PDAs and the smartphones are getting more and more similar. Seems kind of foolish for Sony to have different strategies (not to mention different OS platforms - Palm and Symbian OS) for the two.

    So far Sony is using Sony Ericsson to keep one foot in the mobile phone market, which is pretty much controlled by the operators (who Ericsson has steady relations to). This won't last forever, however, as the two markets merge and wireless internet access becomes transparent.

    Then, as with the PC market, developers and content makers will be ones leading the market. They will choose the platform that provides the greatest leverage for their applications. If that platform is Palm OS, Symbian, Java or .Net remains to be seen. I guess that's what Sony's waiting for.

    This new Clie is pretty cool to have while waiting, though. I most certainly want one! :o)

    1. Re:Smartphones by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Psion (aka symbian) should just start remarketing the Revo. "Best PDA ever." 8)

      Cons? it didnt have wireless and a color screen, but this thing is probably close to 8 years old. And they had the clamshell design nailed.
      This sony device is neat, and getting better, but comparing it to the revo design, it still looks like a joke.

      Revo + wireless = world pda domination. (IMHO)

      The symbian OS is so much better than the palm os, too. Much faster, more resilient... I even have an IDE on mine with a compiler!

      Alas, the only thing i'll see symbian/psion in now is menus on phones... sad.

    2. re: smartphones by ed.han · · Score: 1

      "seems kind of foolish for sony to have different strategies"

      maybe they're just waiting to see which approach will win out. they can afford to continue both lines until a clear winner emerges, i would think. pundits keep saying that will emerge in the next year or so and have been for how long now?

      ed

    3. Re:Smartphones by xswl0931 · · Score: 1

      What makes you think the Sony pda division even knows what the Sony cellphone division is doing? Do they even care since the products are aimed at different audiences?

    4. Re: smartphones by erixtark · · Score: 1

      Yepp. That's kind of what I said in my post. :o)

    5. Re:Smartphones by erixtark · · Score: 1

      What makes you think the Sony pda division even knows what the Sony cellphone division is doing?

      Well, I hope they do. Anyway, the CEO of Sony comments the relationship here:
      http://www.alwayson-network.com/comments.ph p?id=24 6_0_2_0_C

      "I really want to own either Symbian or Palm -- I want to buy them."

      Do they even care since the products are aimed at different audiences?

      Are they? Why do you think so?

  31. Functionality as PDA or as Laptop? by SilentUrbanFox · · Score: 1

    Where does one draw the line at what to call a PDA? I personally view that little device as more of a laptop. I look at PDA's as cheap things to keep addresses on, store books, and other simple things. Something like this falls closer to the laptop category to me. Now if only I could boot Linux on it, I would be all over it.

    1. Re:Functionality as PDA or as Laptop? by BrianGa · · Score: 1

      PDAs are instant-on, for one.

  32. not released, announced by acm · · Score: 2, Informative

    Sony Japan didn't release it today, they announced it. It will be released in Japan around August 9th, and no date has been given for the US. Sony's handheld president Masanobu Yoshida will hold a press conference in Sanfrancisco Friday announcing a new PDA (almost certainly this one) for the US.

  33. PalmOS 6 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This device looks great (finally a clie with an acceptable amount of RAM et all), but I would need to be quite desperate to buy a 500 dollar pda running PalmOS 5.2 when PalmOS 6 will probably be released later this year.

    I certainly wouldn't like to bet on the upgradability of these devices...

  34. When are they going to put hard drives in PDA's? by Omni+Magnus · · Score: 1

    I know that they can build 8 gig hard drives the size of a credit card. (slightly thicker though) I wonder when they are going to start using them in PDA's?

  35. Clie costs over $500 smackeroos by truthhurts1 · · Score: 1

    For that much i would expect a handheld microcomputer that would have alot more power. It seems this targetted for the affluent which is good business ofcourse.

  36. nothing new here by u19925 · · Score: 1

    it has 320x480, 64k color display, same as what is already available for a long time. same goes for bluetooth. the only new feature is wi-fi which was available previously through external CF cards.

    Other than new look, i failed to see anything newsworthy in this.

    1. Re:nothing new here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What in a pda? all integrated????? Shut up fuckwit.

  37. Battery life... by RobertKozak · · Score: 1

    Sony rates the battery life at 14 days with 30 minutes of typical use per day.

    Or in other words...

    Sony rates the battery life at 30 days (about 1 month) with an ample 15 minutes of typical use per day.

    --
    Bet this .sig looks familiar.
    1. Re:Battery life... by RobertKozak · · Score: 1


      Actually thinking about this further you can get a whole year on 1 charge if you decide to use this device for only 1 min and 9 secs each day.....
      ....not too shabby.


      --
      Bet this .sig looks familiar.
    2. Re:Battery life... by BenjyD · · Score: 1

      Although keeping the DRAM refreshed while the unit is off uses some battery power (at least, it does on most Palm units), so I guess it won't be exactly linear.

  38. Re:When are they going to put hard drives in PDA's by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    When they can make the batteries last longer than half an hour.

  39. Impressive specs... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...but I just CAN'T believe Sony's president is handheld-size! I realize Japanese people are smaller than most, but come on!

    (RTFA if ya don't get it)

  40. Under $600 in Japan - more info by Cy+Guy · · Score: 1

    in PCWorld.

    The camera can take 640x480 shots even though they don't fit on the screen. And has "movie recorder" software, I'd like specs on its movie recording capability. If it can take 320x240 MPEGs at 30fps I'm buying one as soon as they are released. If its some weird file format, or less than 20 fps, or not at least 320x240 I'll wait and buy a real digital movie camera instead.

    Also it has USB and infrared ports of course.

    1. Re:Under $600 in Japan - more info by Enfors · · Score: 1

      It records at 160x112 (with audio). Not much, I know. And I don't think it stores it as MPEG either.

      --
      -Enfors-
    2. Re:Under $600 in Japan - more info by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have an NX70V and it takes movies in MPEG-4 format.

      I see no reason why this would have changed with the UX50.

  41. Sony Clie PEG-UX50 problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

    I don't want to start a holy war here, but what is the deal with you Sony Clie PEG-UX50 fanatics? I've been sitting here at my freelance gig in front of a Sony Clie PEG-UX50 for about 20 minutes now while it attempts to copy a 17 Meg file from one folder on the hard drive to another folder. 20 minutes. At home, on my Pentium Pro 200 running NT 4, which by all standards should be a lot slower than this Sony Clie PEG-UX50, the same operation would take about 2 minutes. If that.

    In addition, during this file transfer, Netscape will not work. And everything else has ground to a halt. Even BBEdit Lite is straining to keep up as I type this.

    I won't bore you with the laundry list of other problems that I've encountered while working on various Sony Clie, but suffice it to say there have been many, not the least of which is I've never seen a Sony that has run faster than its Wintel counterpart, despite the Sony Clie PEG-UX50' faster chip architecture. My 486/66 with 8 megs of ram runs faster than this 300 mhz machine at times. From a productivity standpoint, I don't get how people can claim that the Sony Clie PEG-UX50 is a superior machine.

    Sony Clie addicts, flame me if you'd like, but I'd rather hear some intelligent reasons why anyone would choose to use a Sony Clie over other faster, cheaper, more stable systems.

    1. Re:Sony Clie PEG-UX50 problem by mrklin · · Score: 1
      Does your 486/Pentium Pro fit in your pocket? Can it make a girl looking at it go "Ooooooh, it's so cute"?

      I think not.

    2. Re:Sony Clie PEG-UX50 problem by smeenz · · Score: 1

      Hahahahahahahahaha :)

      Have you got some automatic flamebait generator script there or do you actually go to the trouble of changing the nouns every time you post that message ?

    3. Re:Sony Clie PEG-UX50 problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      100% ACK.

      Sony is marketing products for a sale and not for support.

      They manufacture products that look really cool, have lots of features and attract people.

      But they don't care about support and everything else that follows after the sale.

      After all the experiences I made with Sony I do not consider buying Sony products any more - as *I do care* about the money I spend.

      There are other products that have a much better "ROI".

  42. Because it would be a laptop. by Inoshiro · · Score: 1

    Heck, I would consider this straying too far from the promise of a personal digital assistant.

    Look at it; it's like a mini-laptop. Laptops from 12-14 years ago had similar screen resolutions and CPU speeds (even if they had less power, were bulkier, and lacked Wi-Fi/Bluetooth, etc). What it looks like is a Vaio Laptop Junior.

    I have a Clie NRV70. It's nice (except for the datebook bugs), but it's incredibly bulky compared to my Vx. It'd be nice if sony would have an external keyboard that's attachable when you're sitting for a while. The camera feature is similarly handy, but somewhat silly when you consider that most people have good digital cameras. I want a wicked PDA, not a wimpy jack of all trades. That's just another reason why a PDA shouldn't have a 30gb hd in it.

    --
    --
    Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
    1. Re:Because it would be a laptop. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are you ignorant, or just stupid? Adding a hard-drive to it isn't suddenly make every feature on your pda suck, imagine having however many divx movies in the palm of your hand. You're argument is like saying that you want a refridgerator without an ice dispenser because you feel it would diminish it's ability to keep stuff cold.

  43. Eh...but the price? by Qweezle · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Okay, okay, this is all well and good. I think the thing is cool as anything I've seen in the PDA market, but we all have to keep something very important in mind: the price. I hope I'm not the only one who has realized this thing will undoubtedly be as expensive, if not MORE expensive than the $800 NZ-90, which may be worth its weight but is still too expensive for the average income-bringer. I wish that Sony could, instead of constantly coming out with expensive, fully-equipped PDAs, come out with a few solid, varied budget machines. THe SJ-22(or whatever it is) is a good PDA, and cheap, but Sony should be able to provide more in that price range. Still, I am very excited about the prospects of wardriving with a laptop-style PalmPilot! I should also point out to the unknowing that this model shares a close form factor(not size) with two Japanese Sony Micro-notebooks, which are available from Dynamism, the U3 and the U101.

  44. I heard there's already a recall planned... by naner42 · · Score: 3, Funny

    I heard that if you're:
    Using the integrated Wi-Fi while having the blue-tooth disabled
    and touching the casing of the unit
    and standing on carpet
    and someone IMs you
    it gives you a mild electric shock...

    --
    Self realization: I was thinking of the immortal words of Socrates, who said: "I drank what?"
  45. How much of an innovation is this really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I've had an Intermec 6651 for close to a year and, though it's a Windows CE machine, it plays MP3's, makes movies/takes photos, does the nifty flippy thing, has a touchscreen, etc, etc. I bought mine on e-bay for $300 and its been running ever since.

    This seems like a lot of money just for the Sony factor

    1. Re:How much of an innovation is this really? by computechnica · · Score: 1

      Another re-hash of the HP Jornada 720. Which I am posting this with from my couch via CF Wi-Fi card. Now maybe if they added a 20 Gig HD like the one in a IPOD that would rock.

  46. BYE BYE POCKET PC!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Talk about arse kicking.

    Howevere this bares more than a passing resemblence to the new sharp Zaurus models.

  47. Wow! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A 65,000 screen! What's a 65,000 screen?

  48. ...and a towel by _TinCho · · Score: 1

    Never forget the towel!

  49. small but not small enough... by pioneer · · Score: 2, Funny

    I think all these companies have the wrong idea. Here's my idea. You build a ultra small form factor PC that has no display, no cdrom. Just wireless, VGA maybe some USB and a great battery. Then you buy one of these nifty goggles and figure out some kind of input device and you are money.

    now, if only some one kind find me one of these ultra small form factor PC's ... I found something called the Mini-PC-EX1 which is 450g (pretty light!) but it has a CDROM and is still a bit clunky...

    So, the question i ask is this? Anyone know of a truly ultra small form factor displayless pc? (that runs linux)? And, anyone know how I could input into this device with enough speed/accuracy to code?

    Just imagine entire corporate headquarters transforming into parks where people wander around with eyeglass mounted displays, and pocket size pc that are wireless connected... No need for small stuffy offices or cubicles...

    If you know anything please contact me with information...

    1. Re:small but not small enough... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can google for "wearable computer" and get several good links describing what you want.

      Here's a company selling them (though not cheap!): http://www.xybernaut.com/home.asp

  50. Funny....looks very akin to my design by PortHaven · · Score: 1

    Funny, looks surprisingly similar to a design I drew up last year in 2002.

    http://www.porthaven.com/archiveimages/dreampda.gi f

  51. convergence of products by BigKato · · Score: 1

    How long is going to be before the size of laptops and PDA's are the same? Seems to me that they're on that path right now. I've never owned a PDA and hope I never have to. Maybe it's because I'm not as important as everyone else or i just find it easier to write stuff down if i have to remember it. I also don't own a cell phone and hope I never have to.

    --
    So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.
  52. I'd love to get one... by charlie763 · · Score: 1

    but it needs a CF slot. What are they thinking?

    --
    Welcome to the land of the free...pay toll ahead...no photography...please open your bag...
    1. Re:I'd love to get one... by dvk · · Score: 1

      Amen. From the article: "Naturally, it has a Sony Memory Stick Pro slot, but lacks the Compact Flash slot of some of Sony's other recent models."

      May people (I for one) would never buy a PDA - no matter how great - if it has no CF card slot. And one that can be used for peripherals, as well as memory (like my current Handera). I do NOT want to pay separately for my memory cards for PDA and digital camera.

      -DVK

      --
      "The right to figure things out for yourself is the only true freedom everyone shares. Go use it"-R.A.Heinlein
    2. Re:I'd love to get one... by Enfors · · Score: 1

      "but it needs a CF slot. What are they thinking?"

      They are thinking "If we put a CF slot on this thing, we will sell less of our memory sticks. So, let's not put a CF slot on it."

      --
      -Enfors-
    3. Re:I'd love to get one... by enkidu · · Score: 1

      Another Handera user eh. Can you believe those things are still going for $170+ on ebay? I just want a sleeker Handera with 320x480 grey scale screen running Palm OS 5.x. See my ran^H^H^Hcomments on PDA design here in my journal Of course, it's never going to happen...

      --

      There is no trap so deadly as the trap you set for yourself
      -Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye
  53. Still not as good a Psion! by G4from128k · · Score: 2, Interesting

    GRRR! Another poorly designed handheld. Looks like the typical hard-to-touchtype keyboard that is so common on these little things. Rounded buttons tiny buttons are inferior to indented square buttons. The battery life of 7 hours (30 min/day x 14 days) also sucks for sustained note-taking applications.

    Why don't people want usable keyboards and long battery life anymore? Why did Psion die?

    --
    Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
    1. Re:Still not as good a Psion! by davebooth · · Score: 1

      If my psion seriesV hadnt bitten the big one I'd still be using it. If it had only croaked a few months earlier I'd have been able to get it fixed and still be using it. The palmOS replacement was a letdown.

      --
      I had a .sig once. It got boring.
    2. Re:Still not as good a Psion! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      touchtype on a mini-keyboard? somebody mod this as funny. I have a compaq microkeyboard with bumpy buttons and I can type faster on that /w two thumbs than most can touchtype.

    3. Re:Still not as good a Psion! by G4from128k · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Can you thumb-type that fast for hours on end? I guess my thumbs don't have the endurance and speed. I need a keyboard of modest size.

      I've owned a range of good ultra-portables over the years. My Cambridge Instruments Z88 was good, my Prolinear Palmtop was a little better, and my Psion 5 & 5mx are nearly perfect. If/when the 5mx dies, I will probably go back to an earlier machine because nothing on the market is as good as these older devices. (So much for progress)

      IMO, too many handheld devices follow the Microsoft school of design -- cramming too many features into a device to the point that overall usability is very low. Like Microsoft, these other companies have learned to play the specsmanship game.

      But the real determinants of usability are seldom obvious in the store, on the box, or in the web press release. Its only when the consumer has bought the device that they discover how much it really sucks.

      --
      Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
  54. Practical uses for built in cameras by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Actually phones with built in cameras have become popular with people who have to work in the field such as insurance claims inspectors, construction contractors, etc. They don't need big, pretty images, just clear enough to send back to the main office or their boss and get a reply without someone having to make a trip or wait a day.

  55. Zaurus C7x0 or PEG-UX50? by xeno · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Oh, my heart skipped a beat there.

    I'm expecting delivery of my Zaurus C750 today(!). After a long and relatively constructive affair with PalmOS devices, I decided to bite the bullet and get a device that I could actually do some work on (text & spreadsheet documents, email, browsing), rather than just coordinating the work. The last straw was HandEra EOL'ing their PalmOS hardware just as I was looking forward to turning in my 330 for an upgraded version with a color screen.

    But Sony has never been a viable alternative from my POV. Why? All that proprietary crap. I don't want to get into a PalmOS vs Linux/Qtopia debate (I like both), but the Sony custom menu-scrolling-rolodex thing is just horrid (my def of "horrid" is that it slows down usability and doesn't even look cool), and the screen resolution breaks some of my most useful apps. The hardware is the same: Memory sticks are a "non-starter" as those inside the beltway might say. Sony-only accessories? Nah. I really dig having two standard (CF and mmc/sd) ports, and I'd be hard pressed to give that up. It's nice having extra memory, a communications device, AND a keyboard at the same time, ok? So the 5600 Zaurus seemed like the natural progression. Then the C7x0 series came out, and I could resist no more.

    Now, am I sorry I didn't wait for the PEG UX50? Not at all. The UX50 will likely be in the same price range ($650+/-) as the C750/760's and has the same swivel-screen keyboard setup. Nifty. But the screen resolution of the UX50 is half that of the C7x0, it's got only a small fraction of the user memory, you can't expand with standard devices (CF memory, modem, serial, external monitor, etc), tho the built-in wifi i nice. A 0.3 Mpixel camera is the same as the PalmPix, no? I have one; it's useless. The screen swivels in the UX50, but does not switch display orientation. The only advantage I can see is that it *might* be available in the US with direct manufacturer support before Sharp starts selling the Zaurus here.

    Just my $0.02US.

    J

    --
    I think not...(*poof*)
    1. Re:Zaurus C7x0 or PEG-UX50? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      dude, re:
      "the Sony custom menu-scrolling-rolodex thing is just horrid"

      It's an option... you can easily set it to use any of the standard Palm OS launcher views. Or use a 3rd party launcher and customize the shi# out of it.

  56. Re:Spam@slashdot by JooBYE · · Score: 1
    um... this is call a NEW PRODUCT.
    Remember?... "News for Nerds. Stuff that matters."

    If they were pitching it, they would be telling you where you could purchase one that you profit them.

    And last but not least... if you don't like the topics, submit your own.

  57. Shave your cat? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'll buy anything that encourages shaved pussies!

  58. haha we've come full-circle by rokzy · · Score: 1, Interesting

    it looks just like a personal organiser

    personal organisers...

    "it should be more sleek - get rid of the keyboard"

    palm computers...

    "it should be more convenient - give it a keyboard"

    palm computers with keyboards

  59. Re:Spam@slashdot by imsabbel · · Score: 1

    I dont complain about the content, but about the wording:
    the new KILLER pda with all kind l33t a$$ features like ÜBER 65000 screen and blablabla.

    It just sounds like one of the commercials i like least.

    --
    HI O WISE PRINCE. WHT TOOK U SO DAM LONG?
  60. Re:Spam@slashdot by JooBYE · · Score: 1

    again... submit your own. It's public created content.

  61. Wifi? How about GPRS? by gad_zuki! · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I was hoping they would have a GPRS modem in the new Clie. If I'm in a "wifi zone" I'm probably near a computer or laptop.

    Of course people use technology different than I do, but my Sidekick and GPRS through tmobile keeps me attached to the product. I get mail, web, and chat anywhere I go.

    I'm going to hold back my gadget lust back until the Treo 600 comes out. They've already announced plans for GPRS support and I believe Compaq is putting GPRS modems in their future PocketPC models.

  62. to many serious pdalovers@slashdot by imsabbel · · Score: 1

    Who says i dont? :)

    Well, i guess with all the pda fanboys around i should be happy to be informed about this awesome new product. WITH A 65000 SCREEN...

    Ok ok, the horse is death, i can finally stop beating ...

    (mental notice: stop beeing annoyed about badly written acticles. People wont get a joke and you will only burn karma in a series of troll moderated post during you fruitless effort of explaining you position)
    ->entering karma recharge mode....

    --
    HI O WISE PRINCE. WHT TOOK U SO DAM LONG?
  63. So New its Actually old? by Giggles+Of+Doom · · Score: 1

    This design is nothing new, really. Remember the first wave of Windows CE devices that looked exactly like this? Sure, its been updated to the latest and greatest, but from a design standpoint its nothing revolutionary.

    --
    "A coward dies a thousand deaths, the brave but one."
    1. Re:So New its Actually old? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, the UX50 (4 x 3.4 x .7 inches) is about the size of a GBA:SP (3 inches squared).

  64. Their motto: by dracvl · · Score: 1
    PalmInfocenter.com, check it 2, 3, 4 times a day.

    If that's not asking for a slashdotting, I don't know what is.

  65. If it has a decent MP3 player, I'd get it by SilentTristero · · Score: 1
    I just got a brand-new NX80v the other day and it is sweet. Its one big problem so far for me is MP3s: first, it can't play VBR mp3s, so my entire ripped album collection (lame --alt-preset standard) is useless. It can play up to 320k CBR, so it's not a quality issue, just space and time and software.

    Second, you'd think with the top-of-the-line Clie and a top-of-the-line Memory Stick Pro, you could at least play back sony's proprietary ATRAC3 files -- no such luck. MS Pro doesn't support them. (Of course you couldn't play them from the CF card anyway, so who really cares, unless you want to fit a lot of songs on the device.)

    Third, Sony's audio API is completely proprietary, so the chances of seeing a VBR MP3 or OGG Vorbis player are slim-to-none, until someone reverse engineers it or they publish the API.

    If the DSP in this UX50 can handle VBR MP3s and OGGs, I would be very tempted to return my Clie NX80 today and wait for it! (Of course who knows how long that could be -- September, probably.)

    By the way, for anyone who cares, the major differences are:

    • NX80 has 1.3mp camera, UX50 has 300kp.
    • NX80 supports memory and Sony WiFi CF cards; UX50 has WiFi, but no CF support.
    • sideways form factor
    • new CPU of some kind, as yet unknown
    • larger keyboard
    • jog wheel on top front instead of jog dial on side
    -- Tristero
  66. Product Info by dmccarty · · Score: 3, Informative
    Since the comments on this story have been limited so far to the usual it's-against-my-religion-to-read-the-articles-but- I-think-I'll-post-a-+1-funny types, here some information on the unit from the Japanese product page at Sony:
    • Specs:
      • Sony Clie PEG-UX50
      • 802.11b
      • Bluetooth
      • Sony-developed Handheld Engine CPU (8 - 125MHz on demand)
      • 3.2", 16-bit, 480x320 resolution (locked to landscape mode?)
      • 4.1 x 3.4 x .7" (103 x 86.5 x 17.9mm) and 6.2oz (175g)
    • Wireless connectivity: Comfortable wireless LAN network connection, or Bluetooth with automatic switching (corresponding equipment required)
    • Battery life: 14 days of "normal use" (apparently 30min/day, backlight off) with a LiIon polymer battery. An extended battery is available for 35 hours of continuous use
    • Built-in camera: The camera can rotate 300 degrees and take low-resolution stills (.3 Mpixel) or video (160x112) (w/ audio). It has a digital 3X zoom, white balance, "effects function" (It can possibly be used as a remote webcam via Bluetooth?)
    • Web browser: Can be set to a one-button push (woo! note to Sony: check if Amazon already has the patent)
    • Screen: Wide-screen, bright, video-supported, 480x320, 65,536 colors
    • Storage:Memory stick, 22MB built-in, 16MB "of the substance" (?)
    • Build: Lightweight, magnesium case and chassis with security loop
    • Web browsing:
      • Supports: "Forward," "Back," bookmarks, JavaScript (not all), JPEGs, GIFs (animated, too), PNGs and SSL
      • Doesn't support: Flash, Java (?)
    • Video: Can display video up to 30fps, converting AVIs on your computer to MPEG1 or QuickTime. (Can store 130 min of video on a 128MB memory stick, or 460min--wow, nearly 8 hours!--on a 1GB memory stick)
    • Audio: Support audio playback for MP3 or ATRAC3 formats for appx. 16 hours (?) with the standard battery
    • Software: I won't get into the software because unless you get yours now from Dynamism it's almost certain to change in the US version.
    --
    Have fun: Join D.N.A. (National Dyslexics Association)
  67. Remember who makes the CLIE. by vegetablespork · · Score: 1
    Sony:If you still want to buy toys from them and help fund the war on freedom, at least now you can't say you didn't know.
    --

    Call (206) 338-5780 COLLECT for information about a genuine BA, BS, MA, MS, MBA, or Ph.D.

  68. mod parent up: +1 informative by ed.han · · Score: 1

    [gapes & tries to figure out how i got modded up as insightful]

    seriously: good call by that webmaster. i was having a lot of trouble bringing up the techspot site for about half an hour or so...anybody know if there many sites doing this sorta heads-up, anti-slashdotting armoring?

    ed

  69. Re:When are they going to put hard drives in PDA's by smeenz · · Score: 1
    When that same hard drive can be dropped while spinning without any data loss

    and of course when it can be run for more than 5 minutes on the clie's battery...

  70. Re:Wifi? How about GPRS? by Wesley+Felter · · Score: 1

    The Clie can use Bluetooth to connect to your Sony Ericsson GPRS phone. For some reason Sony isn't trying to merge their phone and PDA product lines.

  71. ugh by zapp · · Score: 1

    I really hope you are aware that an ipod has an internal hard drive. hard drives offer much more storage space, but are way way way slower.

    Flash memory is usually what is included in smaller mp3 players (in the 32mb-256mb range for example) and also in these hand helds. Flash ram has advantage of keeping what it was storing, even when power is turned off.

    PC's use another kind of ram, which is fast, is cheaper than flash memory (thus you can afford more), but loses its contents when power is disconnected.

    Just because they share the same unit (byte), doesn't mean they're the same thing.

    --
    no comment
  72. Skeptical of flipout keyboards? WHY? by Wraithlyn · · Score: 1
    "I've always been a bit skeptical of handhelds that have flip out keyboards like this"

    Two questions:
    1. What is there to be 'skeptical' about? It's like a mini laptop. What's wrong with that?
    2. Where are all these flip out keyboard handhelds he is skeptical about? I think there's a decided lack of them.

    I am using an ancient Sharp OZ-770PC because I simply cannot find a modern organizer with a form factor I like better. (Also, 2xAA batteries last it like 6 months) The TMobile Sidekick looked interesting, but that was about it.
    --
    "Mind, as manifested by the capacity to make choices, is to some extent present in every electron." -Freeman Dyson
  73. Re:Sony Clie PEG-UX50 problem - Troll Alert by gadwale · · Score: 1

    AHA.. the TROLL STRIKES AGAIN!

    Here are your other posts:

    -------------
    Mac fanatics (Score:-1, Flamebait)
    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 19, @03:29PM (#5546279)
    I don't want to start a holy war here, but what is the deal with you Mac fanatics? I've been sitting here at my freelance gig in front of a Mac (a 8600/300 w/64 Megs of RAM) for about 20 minutes now while it attempts to copy a 17 Meg file from one folder on the hard drive to another folder. 20 minutes. At home, on my Pentium Pro 200 running NT 4, which by all standards should be a lot slower than this Mac, the same operation would take about 2 minutes. If that.

    In addition, during this file transfer, Netscape will not work. And everything else has ground to a halt. Even BBEdit Lite is straining to keep up as I type this.

    I won't bore you with the laundry list of other problems that I've encountered while working on various Macs, but suffice it to say there have been many, not the least of which is I've never seen a Mac that has run faster than its Wintel counterpart, despite the Macs' faster chip architecture. My 486/66 with 8 megs of ram runs faster than this 300 mhz machine at times. From a productivity standpoint, I don't get how people can claim that the Macintosh is a superior machine.

    Mac addicts, flame me if you'd like, but I'd rather hear some intelligent reasons why anyone would choose to use a Mac over other faster, cheaper, more stable system

    ------------------

    SGI Problems (Score:-1, Troll)
    by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 14, @02:50PM (#6435975)
    I don't want to start a holy war here, but what is the deal with you SGI fanatics? I've been sitting here at my freelance gig in front of a SGI (a 3000 w/64 GB of RAM) for about 20 minutes now while it attempts to copy a 17 Meg file from one folder on the hard drive to another folder. 20 minutes. At home, on my Pentium Pro 200 running NT 4, which by all standards should be a lot slower than this SGI, the same operation would take about 2 minutes. If that.

    In addition, during this file transfer, Netscape will not work. And everything else has ground to a halt. Even BBEdit Lite is straining to keep up as I type this.

    I won't bore you with the laundry list of other problems that I've encountered while working on various SGI, but suffice it to say there have been many, not the least of which is I've never seen a SGI that has run faster than its Wintel counterpart, despite the SGI' faster chip architecture. My 486/66 with 8 megs of ram runs faster than this 3000 mhz machine at times. From a productivity standpoint, I don't get how people can claim that the SGI is a superior machine.

    SGI addicts, flame me if you'd like, but I'd rather hear some intelligent reasons why anyone would choose to use a SGI over other faster, cheaper, more stable systems.

    ---------------

  74. Why a camera? by T3kno · · Score: 1

    Why are so many electronics manufacturers insisting on putting tiny little battery sucking crappy resolution cameras on everything?

    I have been shopping for a new cell phone for the last few months and almost all of the new nice phones have a POS camera attached. I don't want that crap, and I have no idea who does. They drain the battery, get broken, dont look nice and add useless bulk to the device and the OS.

    This Clie looks really nice, but I will not even considder buying one until they offer a camera-less version. I have a very nice 4.0 megapixel camera with it's own memory, own card and it takes great pictures, I dont need some piece of crap camera on my phone or pda.

    Why slashdot? WHY???

    --
    (B) + (D) + (B) + (D) = (K) + (&)
    1. Re:Why a camera? by philipx · · Score: 1

      You are obviously throwing your 2 cents in without being very well informed...

      If you look closely, you'll notice that in order to use the camera you'll have to rotate it out of it's place and thus expose the objective. Except for the NZ series all the Sony's had rotating cameras. If you don't rotate the small wheel that exposes the camera, the PDA looks as if it had none. So I don't see what your point about being ugly is....

      Almost the same thing for "adding useless bulk": if you ever looked at one, you'll notice the camera wraps around the clam-shell hinge, like a ring. Therefore nothing bulkier gets added.

      As for the being a burden on the battery - that's straightforward silly. If you don't use the camera it consumes no battery. Even a 3 year old would know that much.

      --
      __________
      Don't belong. Never join. Think for yourself. Peace!
    2. Re:Why a camera? by makapuf · · Score: 1
      Why slashdot? WHY???


      because some of us are bored at work.
    3. Re:Why a camera? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      never visted www.mobileasses.com ?

  75. What's the "eyelet" for? by gekman · · Score: 1

    The hole thingy to the bottom left of the keyboard is for a:

    a) Wrist strap

    b) Key fob

    c) Neck chain

    d) Cowboy Bob Secret Decoder Ring

    --
    Look at all the happy creatures dancing on the lawn...
    1. Re:What's the "eyelet" for? by yomegaman · · Score: 1

      You put your WEED in it!

      --
      ...wearing a skin-tight topless leather jumpsuit, with cutaway buttocks and transparent crotch panel.
    2. Re:What's the "eyelet" for? by Chuqmystr · · Score: 1

      I think it's there so Mr. Lifto (dig around for your own pics damnit! I'm too lazy to link deep right now ;-) can swing it around from his, uh, lifting points...

  76. Now if only... by Mac+Degger · · Score: 1

    Put in GSM, and I'm buying.

    OTOH, I'm not even interested in the Treo 600; I want a PDA with a GSM in there, not a phone with PDA functionality on it (they already exist, and suck).

    I want the screen realestate and (even just limited) data entry, not a small toy I can't read a book on or plot my programmable calculator of choice on.

    --
    -- Waht? Tehr's a preveiw buottn?
    1. Re:Now if only... by The+Or's · · Score: 1

      Then you must be American...

      Americans want to be able to talk to people through their PDA's.

      Here in Europe we seem to want to be able to take notes on our phones.

      I guess that eventually the distinction will become blurred.

    2. Re:Now if only... by Mac+Degger · · Score: 1

      Well, if you overgeneralise a little, you'd conclude I was european (which I am), 'cause I want GSM, not CDMA :)

      --
      -- Waht? Tehr's a preveiw buottn?
  77. How about an *accurate* description of the RAM? by Bones3D_mac · · Score: 1

    There seems to be a lot of confusion regarding exactly how much memory this thing has internally. I've heard everything from it having 32MB or RAM to 104MB. So what the hell is the *real* total? To make matters even more confusing, every diagram I've seen on this thing shows 4 banks of memory, each marked as 16 megabits (not megabytes).

    --


    8==8 Bones 8==8
  78. Someone got us up the bomb by E1v!$ · · Score: 1

    Wha? The thing is big enough, why don't they just throw the palm OS on one of their transmeta machines?

    I want a PDA that will fit in my pocket COMFORTABLY. The Tungsten T is already too large (as a result I don't carry my palm with me everywhere anymore ) WTH would anyone want this thing?

    1. Re:Someone got us up the bomb by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      The thing is big enough, why don't they just throw the palm OS on one of their transmeta machines?

      Big? The UX50 is smaller in volume than a Palm III.

  79. The interesting bits. by Jonavin · · Score: 1

    Nothing new here except the CPU and RAM allocation.

    The "Sony Handheld" engine concists of an ARM926-based CPU that can vary between 8Mhz-123Mhz (performance vs battery life trade-off), built-in GPU/DSP, 64Mbit of on-chip RAM, direct interface for MemoryStick/USB/Camera/audio. Basically a single chip computer.

    http://k-tai.impress.co.jp/cda/static/image/2003 /0 7/17/cli11.jpg

    The UX50 also has a strange configuration of RAM. 32MB DRAM, 16 of which is user sable (the other 16MB is for system heap space). Then there's another 64MB of non-volitile RAM. 22MB of that is used for files you normally can't store in PalmOS RAM (MP3s, andanything that isn't in Palm db format). Another 16MB of non-volitle RAM is used for automatic backups.

  80. 65,000 screen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wow! A 65,000 screen!! I always wanted one of those...

  81. Reminds me of the old Psions by stevarooski · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I had thought this form factor had died out? It is DAMN hard to type on those little keyboards!! If you want more input functionality than a handheld, get a subnotebook like the Sony Picturebook or Fujitsu's Lifebook P-series. If you want more computing power in a handheld, get a tablet pc.

    I had a Psion Series 5 for a while, which also feature a keyboard plus pen input. Despite how dated it is, I still consider it a great little machine--responsive, neat software, worked well with windows, etc. But that keyboard made my hands scream. Eventually, that became the key factor why I gave up using the thing.

    I guess one caveat is that I haven't tried the new thumb-boards that are on the zaurus and the new palms, but at least they don't even pretend to be for real typing--and I can see how they'd be useful for passwords, etc.

    --

    - - - - - - - -
    Don't worry, being eaten by a crocodile is just like going to sleep in a giant blender.
  82. Aw crap! by csoto · · Score: 0

    iPod, UX-50. iPod, UX-50. CiPod, UX-50. Crap! No fair! I really didn't want to be a gadget freak, but crap! These are too cool!

    --
    There exists no way of exchanging information without making judgments. --Bene Gesserit Axiom
  83. PDA Keyboards by SarahAnnAlien · · Score: 1
    I spent several hours today typing on my brand new folding palm keybard. It works pretty well since the keys are about normal size and I was able to get used to the keyboard quickly, and get a lot of stuff done.

    I would not want to type, say, my thesis, on those funky little Clie keys. The folding keyboard seems much better if you need to type a lot of text. And if you don't need to type a lot of text, what's wrong with the stylus? (Hint: use the little tap keyboard, with practice it's faster than handwriting recognition, at least for me.)

    I spend a lot of time in situations where neither wireless nor full size keybards are practical, so what works well for me might not be as good for other people.

  84. LINUX on this baby ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    hi !

    i'm a newbie and just ordered a zaurus sl-c760 from a jap friend of mine because i can install debian on it, and start learning serious linux. ...is there anyone capable of telling me if i can change OS on this new clie ?

    i mean install linux on a memory stick or the RAM available and reboot from there... ...maybe a double boot system with palm and linux available ? ...well this might seem s-f to those of you who understand hardware/OS compatibility issues better then me; but it is actually possible to double boot under qtopia and debian on the zaurus sl-7xx series. you can even jump from one to the other on the fly...

    is any kind of linux OS install possible on this new clie then ?

    thx a lot,
    a.

  85. Crippled CompactFlash? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Does it have a crippled CompactFlash slot like the other top-of-the-line Clie models?

    1. Re:Crippled CompactFlash? by pickity · · Score: 1

      There's no CF slot in the UX series, which is a shame but also cuts down on the size of it. Besides, if I wanted to carry a brick, I'd by the NZ90.

      --
      ----------
      word to your moms... I came to drop bombs...
  86. Wasted space by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So much wasted space around that screen!

  87. Unless your boss is ver yhands on... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I wouldn't try to sell him on this. Really. And I'm a true Zaurus user and love the unit myself.

    But consider this:
    He gets his new Zaurus. If he's not technically inclined, and many managers aren't, he'll have a hell of a time figuring out what to do when things go wrong. But let's say you've got that covered by giving him a nice big SD card to back up all his data. Backup/Restores are pretty straight forward,I guess. The problem comes when he wants to install some new apps on it. Right now the Zaurus community is so splintered, it's not even funny. Go to www.zaurus.com/dev/ and count how many different ROMs there are, none quite compatible with the other. Now go to www.killefiz.de and look at the apps there - there are a ton, but if you don't know what you're doing you'll end up with an app that won't run on your particular ROM. And when you try to install it, you'll get the ever-so-helpful error msg Something's wrong with ipkg.
    I think the Zaurus has a LOT of great potential, but for mass use, it's not there yet. Truthfully, I don't know that it will ever be accepted by the masses. Sharp goes back and forth on it's support, and seems to be slowly dropping support/sales everywhere but in Asia.

    OK, having said all that, if your boss DOES like to tinker and get under the hood (or if, by proxy, you do), then by all means, check it out. You should be able to find some good deals of both the 5500 and 5600.

  88. Decuma vs graffiti by arsinmsn · · Score: 1

    The graffiti system of text input isn't anyone's favorite: slow, prone to error, and pointless for westerners to learn, since the few characters of this alphabet can be easily deployed over the area traditionally reserved for graffiti input.

    However, this device with its Decuma software points up how nifty stylus input is for Japanese. The interface interprets the strokes of the stylus and gives a set of best guesses for the user to choose from. (visible, lower-right, here http://www.sony.jp/products/Consumer/PEG/PEG-UX50/ feat4.html also at the Decuma site www.decuma.com) With good processing speed, this is a nice implementation from the point of view of those using a writing system of thousands of characters.

    Keyboards (remember Japanese typewriters) have not been ideal for this language; maybe the PDA is.

  89. Memo to Sharp: HURRY UP by metamatic · · Score: 1

    Yeah, Sharp really need to get the Zaurus 7-series shipping in the USA, if they want to have any hope of selling any.

    I was waiting for a Sharp Zaurus, but it looks like Sony are going to release my next PDA first.

    --
    GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
  90. Re:Too bad it's a Palm by cmay · · Score: 0

    When you say form factor, I assume you are talking about the landscape layout, not the height/width stuff, because there are PPCs that are much smaller than this thing. For keyboards: http://www.pocketpcmag.com/sep03/Images/Sept03_p18 _1.jpg They already have integrated keyboards. True, they arn't in landscape mode, but WinCE can easily support landscape mode, you can tweak any ppc to run in landscape. I guess the deal is you wouldn't have the thumbboard in the right spot, and it wouldn't open like a laptop, but M$ has opened the WinCE code so anyone can develop their own CE device so I don't see why someone can't put out something just like what Sony made on CE.

  91. Re:Too bad it's a Palm by pocopoco · · Score: 1

    The Samsung Nexio S160 is very close to this form factor running a MS OS. So it's certainly doable, just not seen as marketable in the US yet.