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New Sony Clie PEG-UX50

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the just-makes-you-wanna-lick-it dept.

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.

22 of 267 comments (clear)

  1. 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?

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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
  5. 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 ?

    --
    When will I end this grieving ? When will my future begin ?
  6. 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.

  7. 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-

  8. 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.

  9. 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.

  10. 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

  11. 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.

  12. 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 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.
  13. 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*)
  14. 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 !!
  15. 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

  16. 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.

  17. 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.

  18. 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
  19. 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.