My first PDA - the Clie peg-s320 was a good choice
Written: Feb 08 '02 (Updated Feb 08 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Low cost & internal battery
Cons: Screen is a little shady
The Bottom Line: For a low cost pda go with the clie over any of the visors or low cost palms.
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| Gov9's Full Review: Sony CLIE® PEG-S320 Handheld |
The device has been used for about a month and a half.
I finally broke down to the PDA temptation. I was worried that I would rarely carry it with me away from home, but it turns out it is now just like bringing my wallet or keys.
My main consideration for a first PDA was price. The s320 was about $150 but I have seen it for a little less now. What put the clie over the top in the purchasing process was the internal rechargeable battery. The charge lasts about 2 weeks for me with an average use of about 15 min. per day. The charging takes about an hour and a half. This is really nice if you are a cheapskate and don't want to pay for batteries.
This was also one of the cheapest pda's with 8mb of ram. This is definitely needed and is enough for anyone who is just dealing with the basic functions and a few games. By the way it, comes with palm os 4.0 the current standard.
The screen is clear, but I wish it was a little sharper. It is large enough, but I need the correct amount of lighting or will always have to be adjusting the screen. However for about $200 more I would not move up to a clie with a color screen. The only reason I see to have a color screen is if you were interested in using it for pictures or video. Otherwise it is just a nice, but not essential feature. The flip top seems real flimsy and useless, but it does the job and now I'm glad that it is very light and flexible.
The desktop software is the Palm desktop and you also get the picture and video software-although not with the full features. It is easy to sync (through the usb) and only takes a few seconds. If you are using AvantGo (more later) it will take maybe a minute or two.
I like the design better than any of the Visor's or Palm's. It is a medium sized palm with a light gray shade and a blue flip top.
As far as the software I use the basics(address, date, memo, to do). There are many great programs to download. I use True-Term foreign language dictionary, blocks, and AvantGo. You can have many programs and still have plenty of space left. AvantGo downloads selected channels (thousands to choose from) when you hotsync. This a great free feature. You just sign up on AvantGo's website and pick which channels you want. They even have things like the NY Times, WSJ, & USA Today in abbreviated formats. The only problem is sometimes it has trouble downloading the channels when their site or your internet connection is slow. It will give you error messages and no channels will be updated.
Sony's unique features are the jog dial and the memory stick. The jog dial I never use because I get along fine with their stylus that fits nicely into the back of the clie. The memory stick is formatted for all of Sony products. If you want to carry things to or from your clie to other places, this is what you will want. I have not had a need for it yet. I have heard negative things about the memory sticks being a pain to format and not working with clie, but I cannot comment on that.
To conclude, I'm very pleased. Not enough shock to give it 5 stars, but a solid 4 is deserved.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 150
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Epinions.com ID:
Gov9
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Member: John
Location: Laurel Springs, NJ
Reviews written: 30
Trusted by: 4 members
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