Well, unfortunately, handhelds break when you drop them too many times. It's time to update... well, there isn't much of a choice now. Seeing as I had a T615 with a 128MB Memory Stick that has all my information backed up on it... I went for another Sony model. The NX and NZ models are too big, bulky, and expensive for what I need to use my PDA for so I threw those out of the picture. Although I played with the Palm Tungsten T several months ago, I wanted to stick with the Memory Stick so that really left me with very few choices in a reasonable price range. I wanted to stay with a color model as well... so that really boiled the selection to the SJ30/22 and SJ33. I had already seen, used, and reviewed the SJ30 since there were 30 people in the hospital carrying this model around. That model was functionally similar to my now defunct T615. So... I'm really left with the brand new SJ33... a PDA that seems to pay homage to Handspring's Treo lineup.

Note that currently the SJ30 is now discontinued and the SJ22 model recently released by Sony is the same model as the SJ30 and sells for a nice $199 price tag. It just seems like an innovative way to institute a price cut on a CLIE.

The Short Take

Overall, the SJ33 is a solid Palm OS based PDA that has made some of Sony's previous high end PDA features more affordable. The handheld overall is still fairly pricey at a $300 list price. The addition of MP3 and the faster 66MHz processor on the Palm OS 4.1 platform doesn't quite justify the $100 price difference over the next lower model SJ30/22. There are a couple of styling changes in the SJ33 over the rest of the SL/SJ CLIE PDA lineup which weren't all for the better as well. Note that for another $100, you can get the Palm OS 5 based CLIE PEG-TG50 model as well.

Pros:

1) Under $300
2) Hi-Res screen now standard on Palm OS PDAs capable of displaying up to 65,000 colors.
3) Memory stick expansion
4) Jog dial
5) Integrated translucent cover (there are different color covers available if you order direct from Sony... blue and yellow/orange that I'm aware of)
6) 16 MB of RAM
7) 4 MB of Flash ROM... although it's hard to see what PalmSource would do to the Palm OS 4.1 base.
8) Not much thicker than other CLIE SJ models even with the cover.

Cons

1) Back to the crappy scroll buttons... I also wished the application buttons were bigger.
2) Cover covers application buttons and scroll buttons.
3) I miss having a cradle... just a personal preference
4) Power switch is awkward... it also feels flimsy

Another new product cycle?!

The SJ33 maintains the overall size and basic look of the SL/SJ PDA models. It has a size of 4 1/4 x 2 7/8 x 7/8 inches (HxWxD) and a weight of 6.1 oz. For a Palm PDA, it is a bit heavy (although nothing like the NR/NX/NZ series by Sony!) and slightly thicker than most Palm OS PDAs. Since I used case on my previous Palm PDAs... the additional thickness of the hard plastic cover makes it the same as a PDA with a decent leather case on it. Although the overall dimensions and stylings of the SJ33 is similar to the SL/SJ lineup, there are still several styling issues that lend the SJ33 to look more unique against the other SJ models. The change in the power button to a power/hold switch, the addition of a headphone jack, the obvious integrated hard plastic cover, and the more stylish but less functional application and scroll buttons. Otherwise, the SJ33 functions just like... the older PEG-T665 model! If you compare the PEG-T665 model with the SJ33, it is just about the same model functionally and technologically. So it is very safe to say that the SJ33 is a tweaked version of the older T665 model.

Pricing?

The pricing of the just about all PDAs went through a major overhaul in the past 6 months. I remember when I thought and said that $300 was a great price for a SJ30 PDA. With the intense competition brought about from Pocket PC handhelds and a variety of item with organizer features integrated into them (cell phones, hard drive MP3 players) as well as the sinking prices of the a real laptop/notebook computer... $300 for a handheld is looking a little steep now. I would say $250-$275 is a decent price for a PDA of the SJ33 quality.

Those of you who know me or read my other epinions knows that I usually rustle up some kind of deal so... Read my epinions article "The Art of Buying... Getting your money's worth!" . I used a few little know $15 coupons from amazon with a 5% Amazon discount from my credit card, the free shipping offer, and a $25 mail-in rebate from Amazon. Amazon's starting price was $288.94. That brought the unit to about $235 range!

Features

The SJ33 has all the standard Sony PDA hallmarks... the 320x320 resolution screen with fantastic color reproduction (the blues are still a bit dark) and able to display up to 65,536 colors, the jog dial and back button, the standard four application buttons, the poor scroll buttons, memory stick slot, 16 MB of main memory (15 MB and change available) and the nice Sony touches with some of the applications. In addition to this, you get the much faster Motorola Dragonball 66 MHz processor and MP3 and ATRAC3 music playback capability. Sony's decision to add a hard plastic translucent front cover was a great decision... and it takes nothing away from the stylings of the SJ33. The store sold SJ33 has a gray/gunmetal colored cover but you can get a blue or an orange/yellow one if you order direct from Sony.

The unit does have some minor and major design flaws. On minor flaws, I wished that the application buttons could still be accessed with the translucent cover in place. However, the power switch is on the side of the case and the back button can double as a power button and the jog dial as a scroll rocker. The power switch feels flimsy to me... I'm afraid it will break at any time. The unit is somewhat thick to begin with... so if you like adding a leather or metal case to your PDA, the design and thickness make it rather difficult. The major design flaw is the smallness of the application buttons and the poor scroll rocker/buttons. Although not as bad as the T series CLIE PDAs, they are still quite bad.

Screen Blurbs and Seeing Colours

The Sony color PDAs have one of the best color screens available... and the SJ33 is no exception. Details of photos are accurately maintained and color reproduction is extremely close... I still feel that blues are a bit too dark however. The backlight is quite powerful at the highest setting but there is a wide range of settings for the backlight on the SJ33 (as well as the entire SONY PDA line.

Memory Issues

16MB of main RAM is pretty much the standard for Palm PDAs today... low end units have 8MB usually and the Palm Zire has 2 MB. Personally, I need at least 16MB of RAM. Running many of my medical programs like ePocrates Rx 6.0 with qID takes up over 2.5MB of Palm RAM real estate! I also have Vindigo 2.0 with NYC, Brooklyn, and other cities installed... over 3 MB of real estate. Johns Hopkins Antibiotic Guide... another 1.5 MB. Sony's own preinstalled software that you can't get rid of... gives you 15.1 MB of memory to start with anyway. Other medical programs that I can't store on the memory stick... another 2+ MB. AvantGo with the medical journals... another 4 MB of real estate... but I didn't have the space anymore so I tossed AvantGo! I have over 2 MB of notes and memos on my PDA and don't forget phone numbers and contacts either. Geez... I just used up 12-13 MB without breaking a sweat! I always keep at least 2 MB of main memory free for running applications... you have to for your handheld to work properly.

The 4MB of ROM still doesn't mean squat... Palm OS 4.1 certainly doesn't use that much space and future 4.x versions will not require 4 MB of ROM (Palm OS 4.1 hasn't been upgraded for about the past year!). Palm OS 4.1 takes up about 2 MB of ROM so you have about 2 MB of ROM space to play with if you purchase third party software to access it. The stuff stored on ROM will not get erased if the unit runs out of power or if you forget to recharge it.

Don't forget that this isn't a Palm OS 5.0 capable unit and will NOT be. So if that is important to you look at Palm's Tungsten T or Sony's PEG-TG50 model... their low end Palm OS 5 PDA. Both run about $399.

Battery life

Sony has made a little progress in battery life. I've gotten this PDA to run up to 6 to 6 1/2 hours with the backlight at the lowest setting. The MP3 player runs up to 9 to 9 1/2 hours with the screen off. You can get a AA battery attachment that adds a few hours of battery life. SimCity was my test game again! Yes, I like SimCity that much... but I still haven't gotten SimCity 4 yet.

Memory Stick? Expansion of your Handheld via Sony's Universal Connector?

In the past couple of months, a slew of new memory formats have been announced. Sony introduced a new memory stick format. However, the SJ33 is still using the original memory stick format. Things haven't changed all that much in the standard memory stick land... there are only two real peripherals at this point... the memory stick camera and the bluetooth memory stick module.

Note that memory expansion through the memory stick is not the same as using your main RAM... it is much slower to access and you cannot run programs straight off the memory stick (but memory stick access is much faster than in most previous Palm OS 4.1 based Sonys). It must be copied to the SJ33's main RAM and then it is run... thankfully, this is done automatically. Note that you need to have at least the same amount of main RAM free as the size of the program you're running. I would recommend at least 2MB of RAM be kept free at all times. The memory stick format is still mostly a Sony used format... so if you have alot of Sony stuff, the memory stick format may be a good choice for you. Other companies have been very slow to adopt the memory stick as standard... and it won't be changing anytime soon. It seems that the rest of the Palm PDA community is turning to Secure Digital cards.

It seems that Sony and other third parties arenow rather aggressive in making accessories for the T/NR/NX/NZ/SJ series CLIEs especially since they use the same base connector. Several keyboards have been released for the T/NR/NX/NZ/SJ series now. Sony makes several accessories for the SJ models. This includes the external AA battery pack attachment (extremely useful but very expensive accessory). Even full sized keyboards are available now!

Software?

The standard software is included although most of it is trial software. The full version of Documents-to-Go standard edition, PowerOne calculator, and Kinoma Player are particularly useful.

Vindigo is also excellent but you have to pay for it.

Muzac...

The SJ33 does a decent job of MP3 playback. It is just as good as any flash based MP3 player and you have at least the basic function for MP3 playback with limited equalizer functions. I haven't tried ATRAC3 playback since I don't own a MagicGate memory stick. You definitely need to buy a memory stick for MP3 playback however, you will not have room on your main memory for a decent song. Volume through the headphones can be quite loud and the speaker does an acceptable job at playback... but stick to headphones. Using the built in speaker does shorten the battery life by an hour or so.

I don't place a great deal of value on the MP3 part of the SJ33... but the MP3 part of the SJ33 is quite solid.

Build Quality Issues and other Minor Problems

There are more of stories of other Sony handhelds... but I have heard too many of them from different users across multiple Sony CLIE PDA models. In my case, the only issue I had was how easy it was to damage the case on bumps and drops that my m505 and Palm Vx took with no incident. I already had a large dent on the right lower corner of my T615 with case deformation that almost didn't allow me to place the unit in the cradle! Two more small unintentional drops finally finished the T615 unit. However, many of my friends who own T615s and other Sony units had problems with the fragility of the screen... well, actually the part called the digitizer. This is a piece of plastic that lies over your actual screen and reads the stylus strokes... the plastic tended to crack very easily under light pressure. I haven't experienced this yet but it seems that quite a number of friends have (many who switched to Palm PDAs and a few who went with Pocket PCs now). Once the digitizer is cracked, it makes the unit nearly impossible to use since the unit can't detect any of your stylus strokes. Personally, I've rarely heard of this on Palm built units. It is not a common occurance but one you should be aware of in the Sony units.

Several of my friends had issues with the power button breaking on their S300/S320/S360 models. Quite a few have had their Sony PDA stop running/turning on after 3-6 months of use. Remember their is only a 90 day warranty on many Sony PDAs. As I stated earlier, the power switch on the SJ33 seemed suspect to me as well. There seem to be less problems in the higher end Sony CLIEs so it's hard to know what to expect on the SJ33 unit.

Another issue is the ultra thin stylus... it doesn't feel comfortable in the hands... at least my hands. Second, the slot in the SJ33 still feels loose fitting (although not as bad as it was with the T and other SJ series PDAs)... the stylus will often just slide out of the unit if you turn it upside down quickly. A good jerk with launch the stylus out of its silo towards the unsuspecting person in front of you with good enough speed too! Sheesh... a package of 3 new styli will cost you $15 too! Yes, Sony even standardized the stylus. At least the stylus has a solid construction if nothing else.

Final Impressions

Although there are a few problems that still exist on the SJ33 and the return of older problems that plagued Sony CLIE PDAs from a year ago, the SJ33 is an overall solid handheld that is a decent value for the price. However, if MP3 playback isn't necessary, you should look at the SJ30 (now SJ22) model which will run anywhere from $170-$199... about $100 cheaper than the SJ33. If you want more security from a Palm OS PDA, look at Palm OS 5 models but be prepared to pay a much heftier price.

Although I prefered having a cradle, hotsyncing and recharging is done by an adapter with a mini-USB connector and a power adapter. This is the same parts sold as the travel charger and travel hotsync cable.

Why did I choose the SJ33 instead of reverting back to a SJ30 or the upcoming SJ22? I most desired the faster processor which does speed up the unit considerably... My searches through the large medical databases have considerably shortened. Opening applications is noticably quicker and access to the memory stick is also noticably faster than my T615. I also wanted to stick with Palm OS 4.1 since I wanted guaranteed compatibility for all the Palm programs I use (including BackupBuddy from Blue Nomad software!)... which is why I didn't go to a Palm OS 5 handheld yet.

If you want to read more Palm OS 4.1 PDA reviews, look at my profile page... I've also reviewed a handful of Pocket PCs and a Palm OS 5.0 unit.

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 234