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Sony CLIE PEG-NR70 Handheld

Sony CLIE PEG-NR70 Handheld

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Very impressive, but getting an iPaq anyway...
Review: I am one of the biggest SONY fans you can get. As awesome as this gadget is, I am selling it and getting an iPaq instead.

The reason? Basically becasue I prefer the operating system on the iPaq compared with that of the Sony. If I was comfortable with the Palm OS, then I would stick with the Sony anyday.

It is incredibly good looking, functional and has 100% what you would expect from a top of the line PDA, and with the quality and finish you could only expect from SONY!!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great PDA
Review: I compared this PDA side by side with my venerable Palm IIIc and was very impressed with it. The screen resolution and brightness are superb, continuing Sony's success with the PEG T615C, and the clamshell design with the rotating screen overall was executed very well, I thought. It's not as bright as my IIIc, but the battery should last much longer than my now 2-year old than the IIIc, and it has 64k colors, whereas my IIIc only has 256. I just had a couple of complaints, but they're not serious.

The only problem with the screen is that it rotates only one way, which is clockwise. If you try to rotate it the other way, you'll find it won't go at all. This makes it different from the small LED screens on most camcorders, but it's okay.

The other problem is that if you rotate the screen 180 degrees and close it, so that you're now holding it like a regular Palm, rather than clamshell style, you now can no longer reach the four application buttons. Had they placed the buttons at the bottom of the screen, it wouldn't be a problem.

The other complaint I've heard is that the battery technology is a little flakey. A friend of mine that has one says the unit powers off without warning when the battery gets low. My Palm IIIc at least tells you when you need to put it on recharge. Also, he said the manual says you only need to recharge it for 4 hours before using it. But when he tried that, the unit wouldn't power up all the way and would lock up.

Overall, though, a great PDA. I would give it 6 stars if I could.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Nice for multi-media, but that¿s about it.
Review: I had come from the Diamond Mako or Psion Revo+ which I had bought for ~$100 a couple of years ago. The Mako had its short comings which was mainly the lack a hi-res color screen and lack of upgradeable memory. I loved the keyboard on the Mako and hardly ever used the stylus. The graffiti always seemed slow to enter data and you always had to pull out the pen so I like the keyboard. The NR70 had a keyboard, a nice screen, and expandable memory. I didn't really care about the MP3 player since it's too big too be conveniently used while on the go.
The Apps: The applications have the following problems: 1. The applications that are provided with the NR70 are bear minimum. It seems like they stuck them on it just so they could list them in specs. The contact book only allows you to look at the bear minimum of contact information from outlook (the home addresses don't even show up!!!). The calendar does not let you look at all the data. The mail tool is pretty much only good for letting you look at messages in the inbox. The remote has a limited number of remotes and only allows for basic features (so you need to have the remote around anyway). The calculator is very basic, the documents to go does not translate accurately, the picture program does not ever read GIF files and does not have good pan/zoom features. 2. All of the Apps lack options. The preferences only let you do a couple of things leaving so that customization is minimal. 3. There is very little keyboard support. This is probably because it's palm OS, but I constantly have to switch from keyboard to stylus to even move from text field to text field. 4. The only really useful applications I have I had to buy. This includes a new picture viewer, a new remote too, and a decent database tool.
The Screen: The color, clarity, and resolution of the screen is the best part of the NR70. My main grip is you can use it all. There are only a couple of applications that use the entire screen w/o the graffiti area. Even the OS app browser doesn't let you get ride of this area!
The keyboard: very awkward to use. The NR70 is hard to hold while typing and the keys are located in a weird config. The control/alt/shift key has to be held while typing the character (instead of pressed once) which makes capitals a pain. The enter key and back space are in weird spots. Several times the keyboard has just stopped working and the device has to be reset to get it back. Some of the time, you have to use the palm arrows instead of keyboard arrows. I would not get this device if you are like me and like to use the keyboard for entry.
Other: The battery life seems good. The screen can be seen in almost any light. The MP3 player app is nice if you don't mind a large player.
Overall, I feel upset that I paid $300 for it. I would return it if I hadn't bought it from Sony on-line which I don't recommend. If I hadn't spent so much on it, I would go back to my old PDA.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great PDA
Review: I have owned several Palms, an HP, a Blackberry and now have the NR 70. While I miss the wireless features of the Blackberry, that is about it. In every other respect this machine is really remarkable. Sony has engineered it very well. If you like the Palm OS, you'll love this. If someone could (I'm sure it is coming) combine the features and design of this PDA with a wireless capability, to my wife's dismay, I will be buying yet another PDA. Until that time, I will be enjoying the NR70. Good luck.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The latests in handheld technology
Review: I just recently got clie NR70 and I love it. At the begining it was a bit frustrating trying to figure out how to download MP3s but once I figured it out it was simple. THE BEST ON THE MARKET. I have tried MANY palms and pocket PCs and this is the best by far. The screen light actually lets you see the screen unlike the IPAQ so I love it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Fabulous
Review: I own the Palm Vx & I wanted to replace it with a color PDA. When I started looking Palm had just come out with their version color model. Since I liked the Palm operating system, I was all set to buy it until I saw the display. It was so dark & murky that it didn't look very different from the b&w display. I didn't want a Windows PDA so I waited. When I first heard about the NR70V, I knew I had to have it. I pre-ordered it from Sony. Now that I have it, I absolutely love it. The display is big & bright & the unit itself is easy to use & it comes preloaded with a lot of software.

My only complaint is that battery life is not that great. I love playing games on it so I plan on purchasing the ac adapter to save the battery power.

The unit is fabulous, however, even with the short battery life.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Awesome!!
Review: I purchased this item with some fear about the screen and the useability of the keyborad but I am glad I did, the screen is beautiful, great resolution and quality, and the keyboard is very useful, you can actually type comfortably.
What I think really separates Sony apart from competitors like Visor for example, is the design and the software bundled with it, you can use the Memory Stick drive to tranfer files from the PC to the Clie and Viceversa, images, mp3 files, documents, everything can be transferred.

I should also tell you that the Clie doesn't really feel hot after a while, compared to the Pocket PC handhelds that really begin to feel hot after 15 minutes.

I really recommend this product to anyone who is looking for the extra functionality offered by Pocket PC devices, but that doesn't want to trade off the flexibility offered by the Palm OS.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Fantastic Hand Held PDA
Review: I recently purchased the NR70V model. Has saved carrying a laptop around to project sites. Can even purchase project management software, review Excel and Word documents all on a pda!
Great screen to boot!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Don't buy this yet!!! Wait for the new NX series
Review: I thought this item was the best pda in the market but I just went through the Sony website and they are advising about their new pda. Wich works with palm OS 5.0,has a faster processor and supports wireless connection. So if you are willing to spend some cash in buying the best pda around wait for this new model.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Wow!
Review: I'm not really a gadget person, but I'm a big fan of PDA's because they really are so useful. I've had a Palm Vx, IIIc, and a Compaq iPAQ, all of which I've been very fond of and have been absolutely essential in keeping me organized.

I currently own a Sony Peg-T615C, and if I hadn't purchased it recently I would buy this one right now. I just got back from CompUSA where I gave it a test drive, and I just have to say "Wow!" This is really one cool PDA.

The flip-open clamshell design with the integral keyboard and the rotating screen has been nicely executed. If you want, the whole screen turns over 180 degrees and then you can close it and then hold it just like a normal Palm Pilot, if you don't want to hold it in "clamshell" style.

One concern I had was resolved right away. The keyboard looked sort of cheesy from the advertising photos, because it looked like one of those membrane-types that don't have very good tactile qualities, but the buttons are slightly raised and have enough spring to them so that they actually have quite a nice, solid feel. Although I'll probably stick to the Graffiti handwriting, the keyboard works quite well. The only other PDA on the market with an integral keyboard that I know of is the Zaurus, running an embedded version of Linux. Although I was impressed with it, it's more of a Pocket PC and doesn't run the Palm apps. Actually, it won't run the Pocket PC apps either because of the Linus operating system. But it's still an impressive offering in its area.

But getting back to the Sony, another thing you'll notice that's different is the Graffiti area is virtual, like the Pocket PCs, and is more evenly vertically divided between the letters and numbers areas. Also, it's noticeably taller, which increases the overall height of the PDA compared to the PegT615C, but I'm sure I'd get used to this pretty quickly. However, it does increase the height making it noticeably bigger than the Peg-T615C, but it's okay.

One thing to consider is that since the NR70 can use the whole screen, they're going to have to develop new apps that take advantage of this. The native apps, the Memopad, Todo list, and so on, probably do, but I couldn't figure out how to cancel the virtual Graffiti area to test this. Anyway, Sony says it has 4000 developers signed up to create programs for their PDAs so I'm sure there will be more apps making full use of the screen soon, not to mention the greater resolution of the Sony color screens, which are 320 x 320 instead of 160 x 160, and in the case of the NR70, 320 x 480.

The program availability problem aside, all in all I think this is a great unit. In fact, I'd give it 6 stars if I could.


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