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.

Comments

Battery Life

[pheared]

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.

Sony wants ubiquitous wifi

[dspyder]

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

Re:Sony wants ubiquitous wifi

[yelohbird]

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...

embarrassing question

[AssFace]

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)

Zaurus C7x0 or PEG-UX50?

[xeno]

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