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A Raft Of New Products From Sony Japan
my1wong writes "Sony Japan has launched a DoVaio campaign which features a lot of new stuff. ... Main new stuff included wide screen notebooks ( E series), multimedia desktop replacement ( A Series), long-awaited evolution update to the ultra small U101, and this time it's a tablet indeed ( U series). Last but not least, the expected challenger to iPod, it's called VAIO pocket, VGF-AP1. All very sexy... Guess Sony has been woken up by Apple's success with iPods and Powerbooks."
God I love seeing shiny new gizmos coming out.
Not cos' I can afford them by any stretch of the imagination, but it means that the thing I've been wanting for the last 3 months is soon to be that much closer to my budget cos' it's becoming outdated...
'Don't worry' said the trees when they saw the axe coming, 'The handle is one of us.'
It looks like their iPod clone has some funky screen on it - is that a video player of some description?
Score:-1, Funny
Except for the proprietary ATRAC format killing of your poor MP3 world.
Ever notice that if you choose Sony, everything seems to work really well with if it is also from Sony? In their hardwary kind of way, they are getting as hegemonous as the big M.
At least not if you have your speakers turned on.
Could it be I'm falling in love? No I don't bloody well think so.
Beep beep.
From the images, it looks rather complex. Somewhat hard to change songs driving down the road.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
The 20 GB Vaio is heavier and bigger than the 20 GB iPod.
Great advantage: battery power for 20 hours instead of iPods 8 hours
When your battery is twice the size of an iPod... ;-)
Lars T.
To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck
I wonder what OQO's response to the U70 will be? The U70 is totally capable of acting as a desktop system as well, whereas the OQO was kind of underpowered in the same role.
Anyway, as a consumer annoyed by its vapourware status, I just have to say "IN YOUR FACE, OQO!"
I for one, am a happy Ipod owner. I am very happy that the device will let me play music files. I do not need to watch videos on it, i do not need to call with it or whatever else manufacturers want to sell me. I just want to listen to music with as little fuss as possible, and the ipod serves that purpose admirably. Not to mention it integrates great with my operating system :-)
I'm all for competition and for things looking desirable. But I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed with the two products I checked out (the tablet and the iPod-competitor), especially considering that Sony have a pretty decent reputation for product design.
I own an Archos Jukebox from a couple of years back. It's not the most attractive device. More recently (when I was passing through Singapore and Hong Kong) I got to see and hold the new Archos devices and they are a vast improvement.
From Sony, with a substantial budget and existing stable of industrial designers, I expected a lot more. The buttons are an absolutely crucial component of a device's usability and appearance, and I don't think these two products really stand out. I have an iPod 40GB (thinking of selling it because I don't really need it; but the design and usability is excellent) and it's a very attractive object. I guess I expected Sony to challenge that a little more -- to provide more competition.
'Thats they exact same thing a banana wrench monkey.'
Just got a Vaio for our President, one of the small ones, he loves it and all, but the problem I have with the Sony's is the sheer amount of crap they install on the machines - the thing just seems to really drag its feet due to all the unnecessary software installed. I got rid of most of it anyways, but what a pain.
Like Toshiba, I imagine Sony will cripple an otherwise decent piece of hardware with some sort of DRM scheme. Besides, it looks too complicated to be of much use as audio player and too geeky to be bought by anyone other than otaku and clueless salarymen.
(that would be the G-Sense instead of the flywheel).
Second thought after viewing feature intro:
Why horizontal instead of vertical and are color album cover icons a good usage of space/processing? Especially if it doesn't have Firewire.
Third thought after seeing more features:
Why are these the only approved OSs:
Windows XP Professional/Windows XP Home Edition/ Windows 2000 Professional/Windows Millennium Edition/ Windows 98 Second Edition
25+ buttons? Do they not know that people like(d) the ipod for ease of use, amongst other things?
Sony still use floppy disks in there laptops?! Can I get an external $200 5" floppy disk reader :/
Isn't sony's line of Hi-MD players, found here their first line at hitting the iPod?
I mean, even though a disc only stores 1 gig, I'd take removable media with $7/disc cost, ability to double capacity of old minidiscs, and a very long (minidisc standard) battery life over the iPod. This of course all before we even compare the cost of the units.
"Why are these the only approved OSs:
Windows XP Professional/Windows XP Home Edition/ Windows 2000 Professional/Windows Millennium Edition/ Windows 98 Second Edition"
Probably so they won't have to support any other OS that could be installed on the device. Just a normal case of preventing annoying/too difficult support questions.
This is the sig that says NI (again)
full review of VAIO audio playern y
http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/2004/05/10/so
Every mp3 player that has come out in the past two years has been dubbed an "ipod killer" but it seems the competitors dont understand that people dont just buy and ipod for the 20gigs. You buy it because of the look the feel, the adds, the feeling of going to the apple store and knowing your part of something.
i like sony and they make great products, and the video playback looks great but i cant see it beating the ipod.
my (22/7) cents
When will some company take a decent processor and throw it into a tablet? I used a Fujitsu tablet the other week and loved it. It makes alot of sense to me to be able to flip the thing over and read like a book. Great for kicking back and reading datasheets. Now, if it just had some gusto- I could put a bunch of design tools on it.
It is all Japanese to me.
This doesn't look like an iPod replacement but something I might mount in my car. There are to many buttons and it doesn't look very easy to use when say I am running with it, etc.
Evolution or ID?
I can't wait to see what horrible DRM Sony includes with its newest music player. If the past is any indication the DRM will be the products major stumbling block. The Sony version of iTunes is already riddled by DRM issues and I can't imagine that this player would be any different. One of the major benefits of the iPod and iTunes is that the DRM is not a hinderince to the overall product, this is what needs to be copied by the other music players in order to be as successful as iTunes. A slick player with a slick interface will only get you so far if you cripple the right of the people to do what they want with the things they purchase.
Please do not let scientific accuracy interfere with the intended humourous/interesting/insightful value of this comment
Does a battery life of 8 hours vs 20 hours make much of a differenece. Not, when it's twice the size. The nice thing about the iPod is that it is so small and light. I charge my iPod every few days. I can deal with that for something so small and light.
Evolution or ID?
As a vaio owner, i have to warn you: their support sucks and if you are a linux user, there isn't any. You are on your own (ok and the helpfull linux-sony mailinglist at insue).
Plus, I have been waiting for an intel centrino driver (for the wireless module) which, after months, is still developed by more or less one man on sourceforge.
Dont get me wrong, i love my vaio and linux works mostly fine on it, but as a consumer i'm just not satisfied... my next computer will probably be a powerbook.
The real question is bang for your buck. One of the big things with the powerbooks is what you get for what you pay. You almost always come away with a better deal with a powerbook. The best I have seen is another laptop come even.
THe other big plus in the powerbook is a BSD based OS. Not windows so there isn't as much crap (virus, worms, etc) to deal with.
Evolution or ID?
You can say that about almost any company, at least when it comes to things from the same people working well together. Say it about Cisco and their networking equipment, or HP and their printers/computers. If you're making products that can interoperate and they don't work with each other at LEAST as well as the competition's, you either got some shitty development, or the left hand is not talking to the right hand.
Even still, Apple doesn't have Sony's market power, not even with the iPod. It's a cute comment, but ultimately a moot point.
The story submiter actually suggested this'd be a potential concurrent for the iPod, hence my remark.
Now, I am sure this could be helpful in some ways.
BTW, why do some mods come on Slashdot whenever they feel touchy enough to mod anything they disagree with as Flamebait ?
Trolling using another account since 2005.
It's so sad to see all this great tech coming from japan. America used to be a world leader in gadgets and technology. WE invented electricity, the transistor, the a-bomb, the h-bomb, put the first man on the moon, and invented the internet!
Now, thanks to successive decades of greedy businesses and corrupt government, things aren't looking so bright. Encumbered by laws and mocked by an apathetic populace, our best and brightest are coming up with fewer and fewer revolutionary ideas.
Not only are we no longer inventing as much, half the tech mentioned in the article will never even see our fair shores.
God how I hope I look back in twenty years and laugh at my pessimism, but reading "Foundation" by asimov, I was struck by the presience of his novel.
I hate the use of the flamebait mod sometimes. This device has WAY too many buttons. Who could ever figure out what they mean while on the move much less sitting still. Comparing this to the design of an iPod is insane. No comparison. One is sleek and well designed and the other looks like an engineers nightmare.
this sig deleted by another sig
i expected a lot from this Sony device, especially in terms of design ... but after seeing the mini-Vaio, one thing is clear : iPod is still alone in his category - which is at least 2 levels above everything else ... at least in design
... just try boasting to your friends that you own a "Sony Vaio Pocket VGF-AP1" .. they'll fell asleep before you finish spelling the damn thing!
and don't get me started about the name
"There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action." Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Check out the VGC-RAxx desktops... pretty slick looking. Looks like there is some crazy cooling scheme going on too, with air intake slots in the middle of the chassis and a heatpipe CPU cooler; check out these pics.
I have a Sony Vaio laptop (it's beast-sized with a 15" screen) and it's been a good product to me - I have no complaints about it. I'm interested in the wide screen laptops, but the photos on the website looked like full-screen ones to me. Although I do like the fancy orange one at the bottom... All in all, I think Sony makes decent laptops and it's good that they're looking at the competition's success and offering the public more choices if Apple's not for them.
Industrial design is just so difficult.
How many ugly little stickers adorn your laptop when you take it out of the box? Three? Four?
And LED indicator lights on laptops that shine right into your eyes? That's just plain daft. My clamshell iBook has zero battery/HD indicator lights, just one that is on when it's asleep... and it pulses. There is a little ring around the hole which you plug in the AC connector, to the laptop. When the power's on, again, no harsh lights. They've made the side of the laptop a little transparent so you can see the green/orange tone.
Even the connector (the old one, circa clamshell iBook) has been carefully designed (it looks a bit like a flying saucer), not one of those black fugly things that may have come with your laptop.
ID is about thoughtful detail. And Apple is the holy grail of industrial design. It isn't just because they've got a technically talented bunch of designers. So do Sony. It's because of the tiny little things that have been done, all the little details, touch sensitive buttons, slot-drives, lights that don't shine into your eyes (like the very bright ones on my mom's NEC that they put just below the LCD screen!), lights, etc.
All factors equal, little things like this are going to help Apple prevail over Sony in the end.
I have a Vaio laptop (don't remember the number, but 700MHz PIII in the slimline case with external CD and floppy). It's a really nice machine, but when I went to replace the hard disk I discovered something: Sony tech support is useless. The only thing their hardware support page tells you is where to send the machine back. No service documentation available, and no spare parts.
Contrast this with IBM, where you can download PDFs with full disassembly instructions and parts lists. You can order parts from IBM for reasonable prices, and they show up in a couple of days. They're actually *helpful* on the phone -- I bought a refurbed Thinkpad that had a European keyboard, and they cheerully talked me through finding the US replacement.
Can't tell you if other vendors are as good as IBM, but I can tell you that if you plan to touch the hardware at all, avoid Sony like the plague.
On the DoVAIO site it mentions a "Type X" computer that is in development. It includes over a terabyte of disk space and can handle 7 different HDTV tuners at the same time. According to the info it will be able to hold a full weeks worth of 7 different stations allowing you to watch past and present shows as you like.
when a major multinational corporation, releases "new products" that are over priced and are "cool" because they have decorations that amount to 5 cents of shiny plastic,and a few hours with solidworks (=common cad program) /. drools.
When a major multinational corporation releases a major upgrade to an OS used by millions,and distributes the upgrade for free, they are the evil empire.
seems to be a lack of consistency here
Is the battery replaceable, or is it like the old iPOD battery?
I struggled for days and days and all I got was this lousy sig.
The VAIO Pocket Interface (play movie to view in action) does not seem very good to me.
For those who won't watch the above link, there is a grid of 5x5 'buttons' you run your finger up and down, left to right to simulate scrolling and navigating menu levels. The problem is, what if you want to go down more and you run out of buttons because you initially positioned your finger wrong? Maybe you can just pick your finger up, but I would think it easier to use the touchpad a la notebooks (and what Apple derived for the iPod) that we have been used to using for years.
There is also a rather large color screen whcih looks like a nice power drain to me, especailly when the thing is playing in my pocket, displaying a color albumn cover.
I only came here to do two things; kick some ass, and drink some beer...looks like we're almost out of beer.
They've done it to me with a tape recorder and a laptop in the last couple of weeks. Numerous other crap before. It's reaching the point where I'm discouraging folks from choosing Sony, 'cos they can't even keep stock of a product for the lifetime of their 'Sony Style' magazine/catalog thing that they have here in Australia.
I find your ideas intriguing and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
Some general comments after reading the posts, and checking the links...
It looks like the actual WideScreen offering from Sony is the S-series
(Link: http://www.vaio.sony.co.jp/Products/VGN-S70B/), not the E-series as mentioned in the post. Looks cool, but I think the WideScreen to buy if you are going to go ye old Windows or Linux route would be a 64-bit offering, like the current 64-bit AMD laptop from eMachines.
Glad to see that Sony lowered the resolution on the U-series. The older U1/U3/U101 model had XGA resolution on a 6.4 screen. I saw a U3 at trade show...beautiful screen, but talk about turning you cross-eyed. It was almost necessary to use the magnifier tool on every screen. 800x600 just makes more sense on a screen this small.
Any finally, that new VAIO Pocket player looks more like RCA Lyra Audio/Video jukebox then it does the iPod. I believe the Lyra lasted less than a year for RCA (they don't sell it from their web site anymore). I'd say Sony's will most likely follow that same fate. Most consumers I know want more storage in a smaller size, not larger.
My Japanese is not that good, but my vision is... for now
(void) signal(SIGALRM, (alarm_fired=1)); if (alarm_fired) printf("Revoke is clueless!\n");
$465, it only plays ATRAC 3 format and the looks...well, I'm not sure Apple have too much to worry about. I don't think the Sony brand has all that much cachet these days - they just churn out mass-produced stuff built down to a price, same as most other manufacturers. Shame - they used to be a bit of a Japanese icon in the days of the first Walkmans, when Trinitron was by far the best TV tube you could get.
When I am king, you will be first against the wall.
These machines are great, but please save the word sexy for people.
Guess Sony has been woken up by Apple's success with iPods and Powerbooks.
Huh? Vaios have been sexy from the start. I saw my first one in 1997, and thought it looked a lot better than any other offering at the time (especially Powerbooks, which more resembled the Dell Latitude line than anything sexy).
Compare, the
Vaio 505 from 1997
and
The Powerbook G3 from 1997
and then tell me who copied whom...
The simple truth is that it does seem to have a huge number of buttons. At first glance I though it was some kind of rubber hand grip...but no...they're buttons!
I really want to like the kit Sony designs, but it really doesn't compare with Apple's gear....no matter what you think of their systems.
This is kind of sad, as Sony is the best of the 'pc' makers when it comes to decent hardware design....what is it that's so difficult about designing a nice looking, easy to figure out, & robust piece of electronic kit?
The IPods not much smaller than the Sony player. Sony's player has the following dimensions:
11.5 x 6.3 x 1.7(cm) as compared to 10.4 x 6 x 1.57 (cm) for the IPod (20 GB)
It weighs 195gms as compared to IPods 158 grams.
Read short writeup from The Register
Not sure if the Sony player plays video though.. It has a color screen and 20 hours of battery life. May give some competition to the IPod if the ease-of-use factor does not suck.
Oh yeah, and for all those nay-sayers who say that this will crash and burn, dont be so hasty. I know people who will buy a gizmo only because its a Sony. It has a good reputation that it will cash in on..
You mean is it replacable or is it replacable? Simple mistake because the iPods battery is replacable as well.
As a test a few weeks ago, I asked one of the companies to send me a new battery. I write Mac articles, so this isn't a problem. I changed it out in an hours time and no (additional) scratches or damage to the iPod with the tools that were sent along. The unit in question costs $50.
So don't be a dumbfuck ass shithole that wants to suck cock to the Slasdot corporate downtrodden living in their parents basement who masterbate over pictures of Natalie Portman when she was just an 8 year old in a move with a french pervert.
Some mod me up or suck cock bitches.
and this time it's a tablet indeed ( U series).
No, it's not, because it runs plain Windows XP Home and Pro - not the Tablet edition. The whole point of a tablet PC is the handwriting recognition, note taking, etc built into the XP TabletPC os, not just using a pen like a mouse. Nice try, Sony, but other vendors have tried the same routine and failed miserably.
What's your damage, Heather?
...but rather a 5x5 button area that allows for 'gesture' type navigation. Check out the animation here. Personally I think this could be quite intuitive yet powerful. (I'm a great fan of mouse gestures in Opera.)
I own a Vaio R600 (same as R505 abroad) and I
hate it.
There is insufficient airflow to cool the
harddisk and the disk *will* sooner or later
die as a consequence. Make world, change
disk.
The Vaio R600 is as noisy as a bunch of
helicopters hovering over your roof. Things
go downhill from there when the CPU gets
loaded and the fans *really* start to spin up.
The power connector is soldered to the mainboard
and *will* sooner or later break due to
mechanical stress.
I've complained to Sony - no response. I will
never buy a Vaio again - mine is crap.
Well, considering Sony INVENTED the portable stereo player, it's not clear to me who woke whom up.
Best Buy can have you arrested
They came on a raft all the way from Japan! That is so cool.
I like my 20gig 3G iPod, but the battery life is nothing short of an embarassment. I would gladly add less than 2 ounces and 25 cc to increase the battery life. I feel lucky if I can really get 8 hours of my iPod or even 2 1.5 hour sessions over a period of days without charging.
What's most distressing about the iPod isn't necessarily the lack of long runtime but the lack of charge holding ability. I'll use my iPod, from a full charge, for about 45 minutes and then carefully shut it down and lock the controls. I'll pick it up 2-4 days later and it's at a third of a charge or less, despite not being used. I'm not sure what it's doing when apparently off, but it uses a ton of power.
I've had it for less than 4 months and it's displayed this behavior since it's been new. Adding a whopping 25cc worth of battery would be great and there's no way it would damage the iPod's ergonomics at all. Until then, it's something that pretty much always needs to be tied to a power source.
Can't wait to get myself one. :)
It makes the Ipod look like Caesar's Ghost, anaeimic and weak.
This Pocket Vaio look so good, its going to turn those persky Ipod ostriches green with envy.
Plus you can actually download music at cheaper prices from WalMart.com as well, and get 20 hours playing time, while the Ipod guys are still busy hurrying home to recharge after just 8 hours playtime.
faulty laptop? sony *won't* sell you the spares. they don't even provide *drivers* for some of the suckers, as some different model numbers merely denote different OS's installed at delivery, and they won't let you change and keep support. they're legendary for the quality of a support - just not in a good way.
For example the original iPod was 1.8cm deep - the new ones feel like they're half the thickness.
I'm sure some people won't mind, but really - it's much bigger, and much heavier (all things being relative).
And if they wanted to go with gestures, why not just use a trackpad instead of 25 buttons?
A 5x5 matrix gives you tactile feedback as to where you are, mirroring the on-screen interface, e.g. it's much easier to "go down two steps and then over one", etc. It's an improvement on a trackpad for this type of interface, e.g. a menu based interface where you don't actually have to manipulate a mouse pointer. From the animation I think this would actually be very easy to use. The problem with the iPod is that you can only go up or down, select or back. So to change the EQ for example you have to go back through lots of menus, select the EQ you want, and then get back again through the menus to the album you were playing*. This Sony device would enable much quicker navigation through the menus. The iPod UI is the best currently available on a digital music jukebox, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't have problems.
*5 back, down, select 'Settings', down, select 'EQ', up/down, select eq setting, back, select 'Browse', select 'Artists', up/down, select artist, up/down, select album, up/down, select song.
Why are these the only approved OSs:
Windows XP Professional/Windows XP Home Edition/ Windows 2000 Professional/Windows Millennium Edition/ Windows 98 Second Edition
Because those are the only operating systems that Sony computers ship with.
You can tell a great deal about the character of a man by observing those who hate him.
Dayum!
And you actually claim to write Mac articles with that kind of language?
Don't be silly.
That's like saying Bin Laden is head of the anti-terrorism squad!
Guess Sony has been woken up by Apple's success with iPods and Powerbooks.
Considering that the first thin, square PBG4 (2001) was very similar to the thin, square VAIO notebooks that Sony had, at the time, been making for a couple years (1998) (scroll down), I would have phrased that a bit differently. Hit or miss, Sony's been making cool, small, sexy gadgets for years.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
VAIO Pocket is supposed to compete with iPod?
Makes me think of what my girlfriend said last night. "Why is it so huge?
Slashdot = -1 Redundant, Asperger, kdawson FUD, Libertarian, and Linux
Yes this device does video. . .
to be more specific there are two models:
One that plays only music and displays JPEGs and another that plays video
Picture of the interface if anyone's interested
Link to main article in Japanese
With a name like "VGF-AP1" you know it is going to be sexy technology. That is so much more catchy and memorable than iPod.
with so many others out there, this thing doesnot look like it has a future at all.
This may seem picky and somewhat off-topic, but I really didn't look at much on that website, because it pissed me off. I HATE websites that resize my window. I set that window size for a reason and thanks to Sony, I have to do it again. If you want to win me over, DO IT WHILE LEAVING MY BROWSER WINDOW ALONE! There should be a test before you're allowed to create websites.
"The best laid plans of mice and men gang oft agley..." - ROBERT BURNS
I worked in Sony here in Japan. Every division except movies and PS2 is running at a loss. They have NO new ideas and the morale there is rock bottom. Everyone hates the President as an arrogant a*hole. 5 years from now they won't exist. It's goodbye Sony. They'll be bought out soon after they lose enough money... How many Sony appliances have YOU bought in the last 8 years? Not enough to keep them solvent.
I want something that's durable, fast, and intuitive. And the iPod gave me that and more.
Goddamn whats the stock symbol for mac's marketing company?! im liquidating everything and putting it in there. Even discriminating nerds are injecting brainwashed marketing-phraseology into their conversations, seemingly right off the ipod brochure? Makes you feel like youre "part of something"? Its a freakin toy man! Maybe ill just put all my money in mac safely knowing they could sell dinosaur repellant in a stylish can to their legions of dittoheads. rant complete!
---------
No matter how thin you slice it, its still baloney.
Dumbass troll. The sony converts (transcodes, even--ick!) YOUR music to DRM'd ATRAC, a format ONLY SONY [cares to] support.
iTunes rips your CDs to whatever real format you want (MP3, AAC, WAV, AIFF, AL) and NEVER adds DRM. The only place there's DRM is in music you choose to buy from the music store. If you don't want DRM, use AllofMP3 or rip a CD. That's not Apple's fault, ask the labels why they won't sell it without DRM.
The difference is that music you rip with iTunes is also compatible with any other decent player out there. Music you rip with Sony's software is compatible with other people with the Sony software, but oh wait, it has DRM so it's playable on the Sony portable and only your computer there. (And what happens if you have to reformat your hard drive and your GUID changes, will you have to re-rip and re-transcode your collection? So now you need two copies of your music. One real, one Sony Fantasy World. Great.)
Sony's entertainment division just brings down the electronics division. If they were this asinine back in the 90s, Sony would have quit making VCRs when they were still a must-have item, because clearly letting people record video is just asking for piracy. I think Sony should dump the entertainment division, spin it off and never speak to them again. Their hardware would improve immensely if they didn't have to worry about offending the dumbasses in the entertainment division who have no sense about technology.
Looks like a detachable pseudo-tablet unit about double the size of a Clie' with a docking station & keyboard. While there is a "fin shaped" stylus, it looks like the tablet unit is more designed for viewing than for interactivity. In other words, moving from "read only" to "read-write" on this thing probably is a lot easier if you have a desktop handy to put all the pieces on.
Not quite the useability of a laptop or a desktop.
The price is a little off-putting for a 900 MHz Celeron (U50), especially if one is basically after entertainment on the bullet train...
"Obviously, I'm not an IBM computer any more than I'm an ashtray" (Bob Dylan)
expected challenger to iPod: suports both MP3 and WMA. But don't hold your breath. Everything is converted internally to ATRAC format.
Don't know if we have to laugh or cry.
Does SONY have any sense of reality at all?
It's not elegant.
Apple's products, including the iPod, are elegant: therefore, people pay Apple's premiums. It's all about the user experience.
Nice try, and I'm sure it's a fine product. It's just hideous.