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Sony U750P Handtop

Posted by timothy on from the cute-but-limited dept.

captainJam writes "In September we announced that Sony's U50/U70 line was being dropped. With news today that a North American version of this handtop is coming out, that news becomes half-truth. The U50/U70 may be no more, but the line has been upgraded a touch and simplified by having just one model instead of two. Handtops.com has a brief look at the new Sony U750P."

11 of 81 comments (clear)

  1. Cool... Drool... XMas present, anybody? by Dancin_Santa · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I've read U50 reviews stating that the U50/70 is expensive. That's relative -- do you really NEED such a device? Nobody really NEEDS to watch movies or do any of the other myriad things one could do with a U50, the point is that you CAN watch movies and listen to music, you CAN check your email, you CAN play games, restart your HTTPD and sendmail daemons all from the comfort of your couch, or train. This is a luxury device, and given the specs and amount of effort that must have gone into making it, I don't think the price is expensive at all. This is the Rolls Royce of iPods, you pay for quality and finesse. The U50 is an extravegance that makes life more fun, and as such, it's worth every penny.

  2. Re: Dropped by theanonymousbrit · · Score: 3, Funny

    So it can survive being dropped? That's a neat feature.

  3. What's the niche? by Kiyooka · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Wouldn't it be better to buy a laptop for that price? Then you could play DVD movies and do a lot more other things too.

    Then again, with this you can bring all your work AND media with you. Plug it in at work, detach it, listen to mp3s on the subway ride home, plug it in at home...

    Nah, I'd still rather have a laptop!

    1. Re:What's the niche? by CountBrass · · Score: 3, Interesting

      So would I. But we're not the target market. It's aimed at people that need more than a PDA but need something considerably smaller than a laptop.

      Try using any laptop one-handed (laptop in one hand, use the other hand to drive) for any extended period of time.

      Think people doing stock control; data capture; viewing electronic documents (blueprints at a building site say) and you'll probably get more of an idea what this is about.

      --
      Bad analogies are like waxing a monkey with a rainbow.
  4. Anyone owns smth similar? by ceeam · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Question for owners: what these devices are good at? I mean, at $2000+ it should offer smth that $300 PDA or $450 Smartphone don't. Please - it's not a flamebait, I'm genuinely curious. :)

    1. Re:Anyone owns smth similar? by CountBrass · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Simple: it's a general purpose PC, not a PDA or a Smartphone; nor is it an mp3 or movie player: although it *can* do everything those devices can do (except make calls).

      Sure there's some crossover (the closest was the Zarus but not really). The Sony has the hardware you'd expect in a "proper" PC eg a hard disk and a lot of memory (no PDA or Smartphone I know of comes with half a gig of main memory).

      So it's aimed at people who want to do more than you can do on a PDA/Smartphone but want something smaller than a laptop.

      The reason the price is so high is a) the market is small and b) miniturisation costs money.

      --
      Bad analogies are like waxing a monkey with a rainbow.
  5. being tiny and inciting lust in other geeks by RMH101 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    that's the point: they're tiny, they look cool, and you want one. much like a mont blanc fountain pen or an omega seamaster watch compared to a biro or a cheap digital watch: they don't do anything different - they're just nicer - and some people are prepared to pay for this.
    personally i could have bought a hundred cheap watches for the price of my omega, but i keep telling myself that the amortised cost per glance at the time is quite reasonable!

  6. Just a reminder folks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Captain Jam

    Another one of /.'s favorite advertisers. Now we have another story plugging his crappie little site.

    News for Nerds? Shills that matter.


    captainJam's Recently Accepted Submissions
    Sony U750P Handtop
    OQO review: pics, in-depth, specs, bench, linux
    OQO For Sale
    OQO price and release date
    HagakiPC - "Postcard" PC
    Handtop Roundup
    On the Possible Handtop Paradigm Shift

  7. Still no Bluetooth? by Hast · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This seems like a perfect applience for Bluetooth, unfortunately they forgot to include it, again.

    Wireless keyboard and mouse as well as going online through mobile phone doesn't seem too bad as far as I'm concerned.

    And those complaining about "get a laptop instead" clearly have no imagination. These are made to work in situations were you only have your hands to hold it. Eg during your train ride to work (which many US people don't do). It's made for use on the move, in those situations a laptop is just not possible.

  8. Tokyo Police Cataclysm Division by Graymalkin · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm at a loss to understand the appeal of these. I can see the appeal of a handheld computer system with a large screen and I grasp the desire to have a lot of storage space on such a handheld. What I don't get is why a PC with its general purpose nature is being shoehorned into such an inappropriate form factor. It seems to me a device truly meant to be a haldheld and not cimply a tiny PC would be an overall better design.

    I can see very few instances where something running a StrongARM/XScale chip with 64-128MB of RAM isn't going to be powerful enough to handle chores that would end up relegated to a handheld device. Current PocketPC and Palms can play video, compressed audio, and even 3D games. This is on top of all of the mundane uses like note taking, calendar keeping, and contact management they might be used for.

    Running typical desktop software on a handheld device doesn't seem very appealing to me either. Running a full version of Word on a handheld while riding on the train sounds a bit ridiculous to me. A Word document viewer on a lightweight device makes a bit of sense but not the full application. I don't see many people with an overwhelming desire to run Outlook XP on their handhelds.

    Then there's the price tag of these suckers. The U750 costs more than most high-powered laptops and quite a bit more than even extremely powerful and feature filled PocketPC and Palm handhelds.

    --
    I'm a loner Dottie, a Rebel.
  9. I want a keyboard by Jack+Porter · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I've got a U101 and it's a great carry-everywhere notebook. I can do all the emailing, websurfing and occasional sshing that I need.

    But why on earth would anyone want one without a keyboard? I've tried surfing the web with tablet and there's nothing worse than trying to type a URL with a stylus.

    This thing is just a really expensive media player - I can't see any other use for it.