lavoisier's Full Review: Sony CLIE® PEG-NR70V Handheld
With the recent hot trend of color Palm based handhelds, many manufacturers have attempted to heat up the competiton with offering exclusive features such as affordability or high resolution screen. But Sony returns to the competition with the latest Clie NR series. With the NR series, it looks like a conventional handheld, as well as a handheld with an integrated keypad. But does Sony have what it takes to really heat up the competition once more? Find out.
Features
This handheld also features the magnesium with brushed aluminum effect housing, kind of like you've seen with the Clie T series handhelds. But the nice thing with this handheld that makes it so exclusive is the CMOS camera integrated into the handheld itself.
With 16MB of DRAM and 8MB Flash ROM, you have plenty of space to store your important information and beyond.
Because it is equipped with a new 66MHz processor, unlike many of the current offers that only house up to a 33MHz, which only allow upgrades or modifications to the Palm OS 4.1 in case there are any applications that optimize the full potential of the processor.
You ever wonder what¡¦s inside the package? It's a very generous bundle indeed, because it contains the handheld itself, with the stylus, the USB charging cradle, headphones, audio controller, software and many more that you would expect in a Palm based handheld. But, ever know what's inside the handheld itself other than just the generous memory? Find out.
With the 320x480 resolution in the 16-bit color screen (65,000+ colors), it allows the handheld to display the pictures, text and background much more clearly than those Palm based handhelds, many of which still use the standard resolution., which makes the screen not as clear as the Clie handhelds' color screens. Plus, with the reflective TFT technology and the proper backlighting for the screen, it makes the color screen even clearer than the competition, even in direct sunlight, but it's not really recommended to do so, as it may damage the screen.
Plus, the handheld has many multimedia applications built into it, including the audio player and the all-exclusive CMOS camera. With the CMOS camera, you can take pictures out of basically anything out there and the images that are produced are much better than many of the webcams that are offered. But there's even more inside the handheld itself, as it features Picture Gear Pocket for your photographs as well as the Remote Commander for your home entertainment electronics.
The entertainment software bundle includes the audio player, which allows you to play your favorite audio that you've downloaded off the Internet or ripped from your CD collection.
The audio player comes with a bundled remote control, which is plugged into the side of the handheld for convenience and ease of use. The audio playback isn¡¦t as good as dedicated MP3 audio players, but it's acceptable for a handheld. To play secure and stable audio, Sony requires the use of Magic Gate Memory Stick (White Memory Stick), because the purple Memory Stick that we're all familiar with has copyright protection built into it. No longer is that true with the PEG-N760c, because with the handheld, you can transfer audio files without formatting through the copy protected ATRAC3. The remote control for the audio player is rather small, but practical and easy to use, except that the lack of LCD display on the remote control makes it much harder to scroll through the tracks you would like to play.
Plus, the CLIE paint, allows you to create your own work of art on the go. Because of the large screen that is provided with the handheld, it allows you to precisely create your work of art, without any flaws, whatsoever with your stylus. Plus, with the gMovie bundled with the handheld, it allows you to view video clips and even video that you've recorded through your camcorder.
Other than the multimedia applications, a handheld must have some productivity applications too. This handheld doesn't even skimp on one. With the Documents to Go software, you can create and modify MS Office documents and it's ideal for those that are always on the go, without really carrying a laptop. Because the handheld has a QWERTY keyboard built into the unit, it's really an ideal companion for those that are highly productive on the go without the paper. If you travel often, you'll really appreciate that the handheld is bundled with the Street Finder Express by Rand McNally. What makes a Palm handheld famous anyway? You've guessed Palm Organizer Applications.
With the To Do List , you can set your priorities and without ever having to forget about what to do in just one day and it's ideal for those one day deadlines.
The Address Book allows you to store your clients or colleagues addresses, phone numbers and even e-mail addresses. With that, it can easily replace the Rolodex, which can really build up over time and it can even be messy and/or disorganized.
The Date Book will allow you to organize the events and you can schedule a baseball game, appointments and even anniversaries. With that, you can really replace your long term agenda without ever taking out a bulky pen and paper agenda. With the LED silent reminder feature, you can set it to silent for a reminder, in case you're in a scenario where silence is essential, such as board meetings.
For the Memo Pad , it gives you the capability to write anything you want to write, such as taking notes. The notepad , even makes taking short term priorities or small notes a pleasure as it allows you to write freestyle.
Other features include the calendar, world time and calculator. The world time really allows you to schedule a call to overseas when appropriate.
With the infrared port on the side of the handheld, you can even beam your contact to a colleague without ever having the colleague write down the information.
To input the data, you can either use your handwriting to write just quick notes in the notepad; the graffiti software allows you to write characters in a simple command. But for new Palm based handheld users, it can take a while to really master the commands. But the built-in giraffe software allows you to shape up on the graffiti pad writing. Tapping on the dot for the particular data type you would like to use, whether it's letters or numbers, activates the virtual keyboard. There, you can easily use the virtual keyboard for faster note taking. With the integrated hardware keyboard, you can quickly enter your data without ever using the stylus for entering the data. It's ideal for those who don't really want to bring their laptops for some light office work.
Plus, you can expand the storage capacity of the handheld by using Memory Stick media, through the slot on top of the handheld. But sadly, since Memory Stick isn't widely used for digital devices and that it's strictly for content storage (at least for now), it isn't as versatile as the Secure Digital / Multimedia Card featured in all of the Palm handhelds that offer the universal connector.
To power the handheld, the handheld features a Lithium Polymer Battery, which only lasts for a week on average use according to Sony. But if you're not going to use the handheld for the audio or camera, the charge might last a little longer than that. But if your purpose of a handheld isn't for multimedia, by all means look elsewhere.
With the universal connector featured on the bottom of the handheld, it means that the handheld can use basically the same accessories as the Clie T series handhelds like the T615 for example. But the problem is that despite the universal connector, it doesn't offer a serial cradle, even as an accessory. So this means, if your computer can't use USB ports such as those that have Windows NT 4.0 and/or that it doesn't have one, you're out of luck in this one.
With the jog dial, I can easily scroll through applications and keep my other hand free for another application, a real time saver.
The design may make you think that this is a cell phone, but it isn't as it is a flip over handheld with the keyboard built into it. But with it's unique 180 degree swivel screen feature, you can use this handheld both ways. The larger screen, without the graffiti area is ideal for viewing your video, creating your work of art, taking pictures or typing your own notes. The smaller screen, is ideal for just light writing in the handheld for those contacts and many more.
With the Palm OS 4.1, you can even feel secure for what you beam out of or anyone that tries to access your handheld's contents. Plus it's stable enough to really withstand heavy workloads just like those professional handhelds.
But the greatest drawback of the Sony Clie handhelds, including the PEG-NR70v, is the availability of accessories. They're limited to just the carrying cases, Memory Stick media, additional styli, travel kits and cradle kits.
Another drawback in this handheld is that it's rather heavy at 7 ounces and with about a 0.7" thickness of the handheld, it isn't really a practical handheld that you could put into your shirt or pant pocket easily without almost detecting it.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I feel that the Sony has marked a milestone in Palm handheld developments, as a result of the faster processor and the integrated CMOS camera; this is really a quantum leap in Palm handhelds. But at $600, this isn't a thing that you may want to think about, especially if you're not really in for the multimedia applications.
Built-in digital camera for taking photos on the go; save files on optional Memory Sticks High-resolution reflective color display includes front ligh...More at Amazon Marketplace
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