Rating: Summary: Excellent value for money! Review: The major pro's are, 1. Low under hundred price (after rebate) and still good build quality. 2. Looks good, small size, light weight and a very nice flip cover included. 3. Jog dial, 15MB RAM and memory stick expansion slot. 4. HiRes display and very good white backlight. 5. 8 hrs of battery life on a single charge with backlight on all the time. 6. Runs Palm OS 4 which has zillion free apps available and is very easy to use unlike Windows based PDA's. 7. Good set of bundled applications.Con's, 1. The LCD brightness can't be adjusted, its too bright to use in dark conditions or in bed. 2. No other fun stuff like mp3 or color screen, but then look at its price! 3. Uses a Lithium Ion battery and Sony sells no replacements for it. Might be an issue in 18 months time. In short if you want to get a PDA which will do basic stuff and keep running for about 1.5 yrs get a SJ20. By then Palm OS 6 would be well debugged and color devices would be reasonably priced with improved WiFi, battery life, mp3 quality etc. None of the current Palm's or Clie's (SJ22/SJ33) compare to this Clie in value for money right now, although a many new PDA's should come out in fall.
Rating: Summary: JVR Review: After 3 years of reliable service from my palm III, it finally stop fuctioning. I was ready to replace it anyway because the screen was just to difficult to read (I'm getting older), with the backlight on or not. Thank goodness that Sony had the smarts to utilize the Palm OS. The SJ20 has a much improved screen (even for poorly sighted individuals like myself)over the palm III. What a relief. Thanks Sony. Also the memory stick was a big plus. I have several sony products that utilize this technology. I have found it to be an effortless method for transfering data. I also like the size of the Clie. It is a little thicker than I had hoped but you can't have everything. I gave it 4 stars because I have never seen a 5 star product of any kind. But this is a fantastic PDA. The improvement over the JS10 (Better screen and rechargable batteries) were just what I was looking for. Good job Sony, you made this old man happy again.
Rating: Summary: Great PDA Review: For a starter, like I was, this PDA was great. You may even love it if you're a professional and looking for a cheap PDA that will do what you want. This PDA was excellent to me until after about a year of drops, tears, breaks, crashes, and so on, the battery finally gave out and won't hold a charge very long at all. My PDA overwent so much wear and tear since I took it to my school and my peers wanted to touch it and would drop it. Supprisingly, it held up to all of it very well. The only problems I have with it are that the screen collects dust and fingerprints rather easily. I never bothered wasting money on screen protectors though. It also has a small crack on it, but it was probably from someone getting mad at it and slamming the stylus into it's screen. The casing held up very well for me. Infact, it's still holding what it should. It's 16MB memory is good enough for anyone wanting just games and scheduling apps. It's screen is crystal clear and is actually extremely good for it's price. In conclusion, if you're a student starting out wanting a PDA, or just a small business guy needing something to schedule, or maybe a gamer that doesn't care much about color display, then this PDA is for you. It's 16MB is good enough. Those other reviewers who talk about the screen giving in and stuff, they are mistaken. My PDA has probably undergone the most stressful year and it's still working perfect except the fact that's it's battery won't hold a charge very long, which I'm sure can be replaced...
Rating: Summary: The ONLY PDA a beginner will need for a while! Review: I did a ton of research before settling on the Clie SJ20 from Sony. In the end, it just made sense to go with the best. I wanted an inexpensive PDA because I wasn't sure it would "catch on" with me. So that narrowed things down to the Dell Axims (the only Pocket PC worth buying) and low-end Palm OS models. The Axims were out because after all the accessories I'd want, I'd spend closer to 500-600 dollars. I then compared other PDAs from black and white used Handsprings to the flashy new color Tungstens. The built in memory and high-resolution of the SJ20 sold itself with the only detraction being the proprietary Sony memory sticks. Amazon just happened to be provideing big rebates on both Lexar Memory sticks and Clies, so I bought the SJ20, which has the same features as the SJ30, minus the color screen and half the price. I also bought it because it's only a few dollars more (on Amazon.com) than it's competition from Palm, the Zire which is worthless in comparision. Let's compare shall we? SJ20 vs. Zire: 16 MB vs. 2 MB built-in memory, 320x320 vs. 160x160 screen resolution. The Clie has lots of included software for watching movies and pictures as well as editing and viewing Word documents and Excel spreadsheets. It's also fully compatible with all black and white and greyscale third party Palm software. It's been my experience that Sony = quality, from their televisions to their video game consoles. The Clie is no different. For being so small (like a deck of cards, only thinner) it sure is sturdy. So, if you're new to the market of PDAs like I was, you too will see the value inherent in the SJ20. I know if this PDA proves its worth to me, my next one will be another Clie, with built-in keyboard, MP3, camera and full color screen, the NX70V!
Rating: Summary: Great PDA!!! Review: This is the best grayscale PDA ever made! It's fast enough for me, I don't care about waiting 10 seconds for a search. It's high-res screen is amazing. It's great to view pictures on, even if they are in BW but look fantastic when they are sized correctly. One of the bundled programs, gmovie, is totally useless. When you transfer an .avi file it changes it into 60x120 resolution and then dislays it in low-res. That, alas, is the main problem with the sj20. Very few developers make FREE programs for it's high-res screen, oh it'll run low-res apps fine but they seem blocky after you go from a high-res app to a low-res app. Palm OS 4.1 didn't take high-res into consideration either, so if you want to be able to recognize your icons you better set them to "small." I don't know what other people have done to their SJ20s but I have dropped mine a couple times and it still works great. I don't know why some people were complaining about the graffiti pad, it's better than on the Zire even if it can't compare to Graffiti 2 found on OS5 devices. The reason I gave it 4 stars is because the battery is erratic. I run no programs that make it turn itself on and I have even left it out of it's case but it seems to use more battery when it is off than when it is on. The bottom line: If you want to save 20 bucks from an SJ22 then buy it. As long as you remember to plug it in every couple of days (I forget sometimes) this si a fantastic PDA and hands down the best grayscale one.
Rating: Summary: Very good and practical organizer Review: The CLIE works great but the software for Sync misses some items at times. Apart from the software, it's a very handy compact and easy to use organizer
Rating: Summary: Another Cracked Screen Review: Great basic PDA except for one thing, the screen cracked with very little contact, and it no longer works. I have seen this same comment from many others as well. Sony service is non-existant. Be prepared to baby this thing if you buy it.
Rating: Summary: New to PDA's-the SJ20 is a great product. No regrets. Review: I am new to using a PDA and did not do much research into what to get. I know of Sony's reputation, the salesperson gave me the facts and in the end I do not regret getting it. It is a lovely product and works well. There are lots of free software available for download and I am always doing just that. Have tried many and they all work well on the SJ20, what I don't like I just uninstall. Even my wife had got the bug with it, I am always asking her if I can have it back to do my work. I am even thinking I will get another for her to use.
Rating: Summary: Disagree with other people's negative points Review: I did alot of research before I bought my mother and myself or Sony SJ20. I've used a basic palm for years, but my Mom is new to this technology and both of us love our SJ20's. I was hesitant to buy at first becase some of the "negitives" I had read about including that the flip cover falls off and the stylus falls out easily. We've both had our Sony's for over a year now and neither of us have had this problem even once. Nor have our screens broken (as people have said they're more fragile than palm's screens) despite occasional dropping or other daily abuse. We love the Sony brand so far and may stick with it for our future upgrades!
Rating: Summary: Nice implimentation, but not durable Review: The sony is a great design. Easy to us, and the jog dial works great. However, the unit is not durable. I had previously had a Palm III for 2 1/2 years (when the screen shattered). This unit lasted 8 months before the data entry module malfunctioned.
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