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Sony Clie PEG-SJ20 Handheld

Sony Clie PEG-SJ20 Handheld

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Solid PDA
Review: Sony continues to rock the entire PDA industy with its Clie line. Within weeks Sony introduced a low-end, mid-range and high-end unit in the SJ series. Other then price these units clearly target a particular consumer group. Its just a matter of weighing the features with the cost to determine which unit is best for you.

With virtually the same number of models ever released as palm there is really no question about quality and reliability.As a matter of fact some may argue that despite the much larger share of Palm over Sony in terms of units sold, with the past year it has been Sony who has picked up the slack as the Industy leader in innovation. In an industry which is highly dependent on innovation, Sony has done more for PALM in the past year and a half then PALM has done for PALM in the 5 years that they have been around.

Since all three units have identical exteriors I will review three at the same time. The buttons are a vast improvement from the T-series but may still pose as a problem with them being to close to each other. Otherwise the screen is terrific on all three and visual output is crisp whether monochrome or color. Hi-Res or 320x320 pixels is a huge improvement on palms 160x160 pixels. I may be exaggerating going back to 160x160 resolution is like going back to playing PONG on the Atari after playing Mario Brothers on the Nintendo.

In terms of battery life the SJ-10 and SJ-20 will give you a week's worth of battery life while the SJ-30 will give you 3-4 solid days of typical use before requiring a recharge. Although clie's are known to have slightly less battery life as its Palm counterparts, it certainly makes up for it with its screen.

Preference is really what will dictate which unit is best for you. If color is not important and all you need to do is input dates, contacts and notes then the SJ-10 will fit the bill. But if you need to do all those things plus games, documents and to view web clippings then the SJ-20 might be better suited for your needs.

This series is a great addition to the clie line with a unit for virtually everyone. You can't go wrong with any of them.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A great first PDA
Review: I am enjoying using my Clie, and am 100% happy with it. It's very small and light, with a bright screen (much brighter than the SJ10, which uses regular batteries rather than the rechargebable lithium unit the SJ20 has). It comes with all the software you need to sync with Outlook for Windows (including email), and even with a Mac (I have an iMac with Mac OS 10.1.5). It also comes with software allowing you to view and edit Word and Excel documents. It doesn't come with a cradle, but a cable instead --- no big deal. At this kind of price, you can get loads of use out of it for a year or two, then upgrade. And there's no need to be precious about it either, as I would be with a unit costing twice as much.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great PDA Great price.
Review: The Clie SJ20 is a great PDA. It opperates quickly and efficiently. The backlight is great and provides a perfect view of the screen. The unit fits in your hand very well. It is just the right weight and size. The one problem that I find is that the screen is fairly hard to see w/o the backlight on, unless it is under direct light. Every other feature and item of software included with this PDA are excellent. For the price and features the SJ20 is a great buy.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: good, but not good enough
Review: GOOD: best backlight with high resolution (sharp and clear). simple to use, popular and reliable palm OS 4.1 (no more and no less...completed package..AC charger, USB sync cable, ...), comes with great software (DOC(word/sheet) To Go, etc.), rechargable battery, reasonable price.
BAD: should read/write CF or SD card (well...it is SONY's), a kind of thick in size, a little ghost effect (but it is fine).
BOTTOM LINE: If you just need a "palm", don't care about the color display (I feel no need for that), MP3, audio recording,...this Clie PEG-SJ20 is the one you are looking for.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Nice and clean package
Review: Got this unit from the UCSD bookstore and have made good use of it over the past few days. The interface is intuitive and flexible. This is my first PDA and my first impressions are very positive. I wanted something easy to operate and functional for my needs. And so far, I have not been let down. Access to the calendar, to do list, address book and other utilities are a snap as with most PDAs. I do like the scroll wheel feature as it does make the selection of list items very easy. The B&W display is very clear and the included software is perfect for my needs. Bottom line is... very nice and a very clean package.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Nice unit but poor battery
Review: I picked this unit up for my son 2 years ago, he enjoyed it a great deal, until the battery would no longer hold a charge. That happened about a year after he got it. I was just looking into getting a new battery for it so he could use it again and went to a battery store. They checked and an aftermarket replacement cost $49+ plus $5 S&H so I'm still in search mode on that.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: This is the worst PDA I have owned
Review: DON'T believe the hype. I am pretty techno-savy and this unit did not do what it claims to do. The hot-synch did not work properly, the battery had below average life, difficult to reset, poor help files. Oh, did I mention, Sony never sent me the rebate they promised.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Economy & Power
Review: This is an attractive, compact, useful, easy to use, durable PDA. I had been using a Palm III and really enjoyed the high resolution of the Clie's 320 x 320 screen. Using the backlight drains the battery fairly quickly, but it's necessary for ease of reading, unless you are in an ideal lighting environment. After about 14 months of use, the battery stopped holding a charge as well as it was supposed to, and needs to be recharged about every two days. One of the few design flaws is an adapter required for either recharging or hot syncing. If you recharge in one location, and hot sync in another, you need to keep carrying the adapter around with you. My rebate came in the form of a free leather carrying case. It was so small that it's an ordeal to get the PDA in or out of the case, rendering the case virtually useless. However the protective flap works well and has an attractively accented logo. The jog dial is great for one-handed navigation. The "back" button is handily located on the side, but does not work in many applications, and just returns to the desktop. The search function became unreliable in later months, generating frequent fatal errors. The geek squad "fixed" this with a hard reset, but once data was restored via hot sync, the same problem immediately reocurred. Despite these shortcomings, this is a great organizational tool at a modest price.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Very solid PDA
Review: This little PDA does not have a color screen, does not play mp3s, and will not cook your food for you or drive you to work. As something to store information in, it's great though. It has 16mb of storage, which is enough to hold plenty of images and documents, and with the backlit high-resolution screen, you will see them clearly. The battery lasts quite a while because you are not wasting power on a color screen, too. This PDA is rather unique in that I know of no other one that has a backlit high-resolution grayscale screen. Those things make it the best among low-cost PDAs. Too bad you have to buy it used now. It's also stylishly designed, which helps if you feel sort of silly or geeky whipping out a PDA.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Great but dont let battery die!!!!!!!!!!
Review: I like this little Clie. Been great for keeping all kinds of information with me. You can even sink your emails so you can take them on the go or write then on the plane but DON'T LET YOUR BATTERY GO DEAD. I had written several emails and taken several notes and had not sinked them yet. I was still doing work and the battery went dead, so I figured I would charge and sink when got back to office. BUT NO!!!!!!! Once battery goes dead you loose ALL data on the Clie. So you have to re install EVERYTHING on the Clie. WHAT A PAIN!!!! This has happened to me a couple times now, I have not been using it. Just in my briefcase and battery has gone dead ... so again have re reload all the software and resink. You would think Sony would not have let this problem slip bye but when I called tech support they just said that's they way it is. SO next time I get a hand held this will be one of the first questions I will ask.


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