Sony has a winner with the Clie TJ25.
Written: Jan 13 '04 (Updated Jan 13 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Good value, beautiful screen, jog dial navigator, decent suite of productivity software.
Cons: Proprietary Memory Stick media, doesn't include Docs-To-Go, no Bluetooth compatibility.
The Bottom Line: I highly recommend the TJ25 for anyone who needs portable information storage. It lacks the gadgets that more expensive units include, but beats them with value.
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| openroad's Full Review: Sony Clie PEG-TJ25 Handheld |
Sony Clie PEG-TJ25 Personal Organizer
Internal Memory: 16MB
External Memory: Sony Memory Stick (not included)
Operating System: Palm OS 5.2
Display: 320x320 HiRes Color
MSRP: $199
----- Overview of TJ25 Features -----
The Clie TJ25 is a new model from Sony, and represents the lower end of the Clie PDA line. This is my first PDA, and I've been very impressed with this unit and how much time it has saved me. I purchased my TJ25 from Best Buy for $129.99 including a $20 mail in rebate. I don't often purchase extended warranties, but since a Palm is an inherently fragile unit I decided to go for it. A two year "performance guarantee" added $49 to the bill, but if I have problems in the next two years it will be worth it.
Before you power up a Clie you must fully charge the battery which takes about four hours. Like most PDAs, the TJ25 has a stylus pen for writing and selecting options on-screen. This particular stylus is expandable from it's closed 2.5" length to about 4" tall. This is somewhat annoying to me, as it seems to collapse when you don't want it to and leaves you trying to write with a 2.5" stub. Changing the way I hold it has helped a little, but it's still a minor irritation. You can purchase larger and longer stylus pointers from stores such as Office Max or Staples.
To enter text and numbers into your Clie you'll need to either learn Graffiti or type on the tiny on-screen keyboard. The writing system Sony uses with this unit is Graffiti 2.0, and utilizes a 2" wide writing area below the screen. The left 2/3 is for text, while the right 1/3 is for numbers and symbols. To make a capital letter, you start the letter on the text side and finish it in the numeral side. This system takes an hour or two to get used to if you've never used a similar interface before. It works very well most of the time, but long memos or date-book entries can get tedious. This is when the on-screen keyboard is useful, and I didn't even know it was available until I'd owned my Clie for 5 weeks. In the lower left corner of the Graffiti pad, there is a lowercase letter A. Tap this letter with the stylus and the keyboard with appear on the screen. Three different type sets are selectable; alphabet, numeric, and international. The best way for beginners to enter data is the keyboard, but learning how to write with Graffiti is useful for notes and memos.
The jog wheel is a fairly recent addition to Sony's line, and it's very welcome. Much like the scroll wheel on a mouse, you can roll through menu options or categories with ease. Selections are made by pushing the jog wheel, and left/right buttons flank the wheel on each side. You can easily navigate the TJ25 without even using the stylus, at least until you need to make a data entry. Four shortcut buttons share faceplate space with the jog wheel, and facilitate easy access to the most popular apps. Your date-book, address book, to-do list, and memo pad are all only a click away. Powering on the unit isn't necessary, since pushing the shortcut button automatically powers up the unit and goes to the selected app.
Battery life has been very good so far, with 5-6 days between charges. An easy to read battery meter is visible at the top of the main menu screen, keeping you up to date with its bar graph. I don't play games and I leave the backlight on low, so your battery life may vary. Charge times vary, but seem to average about 3 hours. This might seem like a long time, but it works out great if you plan ahead and charge before you need to.
Memory Sticks are available everywhere, and vary in size from 8mb to 1000mb (1GB). A 16MB card has been plenty for me, and I back up my data frequently. After four backup files and 16 photos, I'm left with 10mb free space on my card. A 16mb stick will run you between $5 and $15 on Ebay, so the cards aren't too expensive.
----- Software -----
Address Book: The address book is everything I'd hoped it would be, and more. It has all the typical features you'd expect from an address book, including room for 4 phone numbers, 4 extra lines of misc. data, and a large notepad area for extra info about each contact. Each entry can be filed under business, personal, or unfiled. This allows you to filter your list and keep you friends seperate from your work contacts. You can also add or edit the filters and make your own. You may include a picture with each entry to help refresh your memory on what that person looks like. This can be very useful for salesmen or business associates you don't see very often.
Date Book: The calender/date book has also helped me to keep my appointments, mostly of the business variety. I usually tell a client I'll be there in 2-5 days for a service call, and then after a few days go by I can't remember the exact day or time. That isn't a problem with the date book, and it's been a great asset to me. You can set appointments for each hour of each day, and may fast forward or rewind using days or weeks. You could even set an appointment several years away if you wanted to, but you'd have to set an alarm to remind you. If you want the event to alert you, you need to have your Clie on at the time of the alarm.
Clie Viewer: One of the reasons I purchased the Clie TJ25 over the Palm brand offerings was the proprietary Sony Memory Stick media format. I have a Sony DSC F707 digital camera and a Sony digital HandyCam, so I have quite a few memory sticks. I have two 16mb sticks which are quite useless for digital photography but quite useful for the Clie. The Clie Viewer lets you look at any pictures on the current memory stick, zoom in for a closer look, or jump to the next picture. The screen does a very good job of displaying my 4.0 megapixel images, and I can zoom in without any noticeable quality degradation. You can use pictures from your memory stick as thumbnail images for your address book contacts, or just have them on your Clie to show friends and co-workers. Think of it as a portable slideshow of sorts.
Other useful mini-apps include a functional To-Do List, very nice Calculator, Memo Pad, HotSync software for PC-PDA data backup, MemStick Backup for saving everything to a memory stick, and several included games on the PC CD which you can transfer to your Clie. Software for the PC consists of the Palm PC desktop which facilitates syncing your Clie software with your PC, IntelliSync Lite which allows you to sync your address book with Outlook or Lotus, and your Date Book with several different programs. Games include Bejewelled, Solitaire, Breakout, Insaneiquarium, and several more. All the games are fun even though they are limited trial versions.
-----Bottom Line -----
While shopping for my Clie, I was overwhelmed by the combination of technology available in various models of PDAs. You can get a Palm with a WiFi internet card, a digital camera, MP3 player, and it's hardly any bigger than my TJ25. This will cost you somewhere around $600, but hey you'll have the most compact gadget in the office! These super-Palms weren't what I was looking for, since I wanted a simple to use and reliable information manager. The TJ25 is a great beginner PDA, but it's also perfect for someone looking to keep all their contact info in one easily portable location. The propriatary memory stick media can either be a bonus or a drawback depending on whether you have other Sony products or not. The instant memory-stick backup capabilities leave me with peace of mind that even if a freak accident wipes my PDA's data I'll still have my information saved.
Quite a few Sony accessories are available for the TJ25, including a keyboard, docking station, D/C car adapter, hard carry case, larger stylus, privacy filters, and more. Aftermarket accessories are also available and usually are cheaper than Sony branded items.
The TJ25 is a great PDA for the student, family man/woman, or business person on the go. It has a very easy to operate interface, an easy-on-the-eyes HiRes color display, and a price point that makes it very competitive. Only if you need more on board storage or more professional applications should you look elsewhere.
My one minor complaint is the lack of Bluetooth compliance. I don't expect it in this price class, but it would be nice to sync my phone, laptop, and PDA. Step up to the $299 Clie TG50 and you'll get Bluetooth and a physical keyboard.
The closest competitor to the TJ25 is the Palm Tungsten, which seems to run roughly $50 more in stores. It carries 32MB internal memory and will accept SD and MultiMedia memory cards. It uses the same Palm OS 5.2 and Graffiti software the Clie comes with, but it's also pre-loaded with Documents to Go v6.0 Professional Edition. This software is for creating and editing of Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint files. If you use Office files very often, you would most likely find the Tungsten more to your liking.
Thanks for reading, and feel free to comment!
Openroad
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 129
Recommended for: Students - Stylish and a Best Value
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