Sony Clie PEG-UX50 Handheld
by Sony
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List Price: Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Sony Clie PEG-UX50 Handheld
Customer Review: Significant Improvement Over Previous Clie Handhelds
Summary: 4 Stars
The Clie PEG-UX50 is the latest in Sony's line of high-end Palm OS handhelds. Unlike many of its predecessors, which kept getting bigger and bigger to stuff in more features such as higher resolution cameras, etc. the UX-50 has returned to about the size of the 760 series (in fact, in height, it is slightly smaller). Its high-resolution screen, unlike the NR/NX/NZ 60s & 70s, actually has a portrait aspect ration, making the device seem more like a micro-sized-pc than a Palm. Some prominent PDA vendors such as Mapopolis have released new versions of their software to support this latest form factor, but much of existing Palm OS software is unable to take advantage of the new unit, fortunately, Sony included a backwards compatibility mode! Its small QWERTY keyboard is much easier to use than the NR/NX/NZ units, but still is unsuitable for serious typing.
One area that the unit is really lacking is in the cradle department. It ships with a pad that it can be attached to for charging, unfortunately, it appears that the mini-USB cable must be plugged directly into the handheld to sync. Also, the pad is no where near as elegent as cradles for previous models. Also, as a result of switching to mini serial, Sony has rendered virtually all Clie accessories useless with it.
Overall, this unit is one of the best to come out of Sony. The camera (which can capture full-Clie-screen video) is incredible, the changes to the keyboard seem to be in the right direction. Now if they could only do something about the price tag ...
Customer Review: Great toy, customer support is less than desireable.
Summary: 4 Stars
I buy a new PDA once a year. I find it interesting to play with the latest gadgets. I found this PDA to be great with WI-FI application. I was able to log on the internet via Wi FI almost immediately. Now bluetooth application was more difficult to figure out. I have two desktop and two laptops and I was able to achieve sync via bluetooth only to my new Mac G5. I found sync via bluetooth on window based computer to be almost impossible. Also, although the ads promise ability to connect to sony ericsson phones via bluetooth easily, I found it impossible. I found getting help on my issues to be impossible. Most of the Sony support staff does not seem to know much about this product. Pictures looked nice, but needs more memory overall. Everything else is great!!!Customer Review: Get real, $700 bucks! Buy a sidekick.
Summary: 1 Stars
This thing is $700 bucks, and no phone? Come on. You could buy a Nokia 6800 for $150 bucks and do the same stuff, without the mp3 player. Or buy the Sidekick for $200.Customer Review: Very nicely packaged, but...
Summary: 4 Stars
... I recently came into possession of this baby as well as an HP iPaq 5550. It's been an interesting comparison.The Clie is exquisitely designed. Everything fits together very nicely. The keyboard is large enough to be useful, and you can hide it when you flip the screen to tablet mode. The one gripe I have about the physical ergonomics is the location of the scroll wheel -- I wish it had been placed on the left, where the power button is presently located. Its placement underneath the keyboard can be somewhat awkward. I thought the screen would be bigger, but it's high resolution and quality compensates for its size.
I'm relatively new to PalmOS, so I have no point of comparison other than the iPaq I'm also using, which is based on Windows Mobile 2003. For good or bad, you don't feel like you're using a regular computer on the Clie -- the interaction style is rather different. I'm guessing this is a feature of the PalmOS in general.
The web browser NetFront, which I'd read rave reviews of, is somewhat lame. You can't control the font size, and bookmark management is not especially flexible. As far as I can tell the only thing you can do is create a long linear list of bookmarks -- no user-defined folders or anything like that. It's also darn near impossible to control the web browser from the keyboard exclusively -- I found myself switching between keyboard and stylus quite frequently, which was somewhat annoying.
The "entertainment" functions such as the still/video camera capabilities are merely toys. By no means are they a replacement for a real digital camera. Still, very handy when you need to take a quick picture of something for a report and all you have is your PDA.
I have not yet tried syncing to my PC, so I can't comment on that aspect of it. The wireless networking capability (802.11) works well. I had it up and running with my Linksys wireless router in a matter of minutes with WEP enabled. Connection reliability was very good; I never lost a link to the router when within reasonable range (this has *not* been the case with the iPaq, I might add).
All in all, a pretty nice device. Would I have spent my own $700 on it? No way. I could never justify that kind of dough on something so frivolous. But it is a very slick gadget for those who must have the latest and greatest.