Sony Introduces Two Models with Keyboards, MP3 Players

Update: Sony has announced that these models will be available in the U.S. in May.

Sony Japan has just introduced two new cutting-edge handhelds. The PEG-NR70 and PEG-NR70V both have built-in keyboards and 320 by 480 color screens. They also have built-in MP3 and ATRAC3 audio players. In addition, the PEG-NR70V has a built-in camera.

These have a clamshell design, with the keyboard on one side and the screen on the other. However, the screen can pivot around and then close again, this time with the screen facing out, allowing these to be used like a traditional handheld, with text entry done through a virtual Graffiti area.

The screen doesn not flip all the way around like a note pad does. It opens, the screen rotates on an axis located just above the hinge, then closes back over the keypad. When the screen rotates, it's image automatically flips over so it is still upright to the user.

Frequent readers will recognize the NR70V as the one a Sony executive briefly showed off at PalmSource last month.

The 16-bit color Backlit TFT screen is 3.8 inches tall. When closed, both of these models are 5.4 by 2.8 by .65 inches. They weigh 7 ounces, including the stylus.

They are the first Palm OS models to use Motorola's 66 MHz Dragonball SuperVZ processor. They run Palm OS 4.1 and have 16 MB of RAM and 10 MB of Flash ROM.

Of course they have a built-in Memory Stick slot. They also have a Jog Dial and a Back button.

These have a built-in Lithium Polymer battery, which Sony estimates will last for 10 days, based on 30 minutes of use a day. They have an additional DSP chip for handling audio and this drains significant power. The company says these will last for 7 hours of music playback with the display off.

The PNR70V's camera is also on the hinge. It can take images with 100,000 pixels. It has a 1/6 inch CMOS Image Sensor and it can take pictures between 0.3 meters from the lens all the way to infinity. it saves images in PG Pocket format in sizes of 320x240, 160x120, or 88x88.

These models have the enhanced IR port from the T-series. They have other things in common with the T-series, sharing the same styli and HotSync port. This means the NR series should be able to use many of the same peripherals designed for the T series.

They also comes with ear-bud speakers and an audio control wand similar to previous Clié models with built-in audio players. Also like previous Sony models, the screen can be turned off while playing music. Because they use a separate DSP, the user can listen to music while using other applications.

In addition to software necessary to use the audio player and camera, they come with Documents To Go 4.0 Standard Edition to allow the user to access Microsoft Office files and Intellisync Lite for the Clié to synchronize with Outlook.

These handhelds have been introduced only in Japan. The NR70 will be available on March 23. The NR70V will be out April 13. There is no word yet on when they will be available in other countries.

The NR70V will sell for 59,800 Yen, or about $465. The NR70 will sell for 49,800 Yen, or $385. Again, these are the prices in Japan. They may or may not indicate what these will sell for in other countries.

Sony has also introduced the PEG-MSB1 Bluetooth Memory Stick .

Thanks to SaxonMan for the tip and Eugene for his translations. -Ed

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WOW

I.M. Anonymous @ 3/11/2002 12:31:22 AM #
And the screen even swivels from left to right:
http://www.jp.sonystyle.com/peg/Nr/index.html

RE: WOW
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/11/2002 12:46:50 AM #
you don't get it, it swivels all the way around, to be used like a traditional PDA too!!

RE: WOW
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/11/2002 12:47:17 AM #
And in case anyone cares, the connector of NR series is the same as the T series.

RE: WOW
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/11/2002 12:49:03 AM #
I found two models as T425 and T625 in Sony Germany website.
But I don't know German. Do anyone have idea on that
Thanks

RE: WOW
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/11/2002 1:10:05 AM #
T425 Thin with mono screen.
T625 Thin with color.

The same as US's T-series

RE: WOW
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/11/2002 1:30:03 AM #
Holy Crap! I am happily eating my hat now!

I posted the incorrect comment saying that the new models from Sony were only supposed to be phones not Palms. I am glad I was wrong!!!

THIS IS THE WAY ALL PALMS SHOULD HAVE BEEN AND WILL BE!

(Kinda like the Linux based Yopy…)

Now weez gonna have sum real fun!!!


RE: WOW
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/11/2002 1:45:45 AM #
is your hat cooked ? add some steak sauce too it'll taste better :)

RE: WOW
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/11/2002 1:51:35 AM #
Well, this kinda makes anything from Palm, Handspring and especially the Handera look like crap. I can just picture the flood of eBay auctions from people dumping their old PDA's.

Well, Handspring is on the way out and I think this put s a stake through Handera pretty much. Maybe Palm should start making PocketPC's..

RE: WOW
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/11/2002 2:05:18 AM #
Ed, you seem to fail to mention it can
record too.
This function is very important to some people.

If the news is not from this web site, I would
probably say this is fake. :-)

Unbelievable. Sony do a great job again.


RE: WOW
mstur @ 3/11/2002 3:00:07 AM #
Sorry to say this, but I think these are just new toys for geeks and Sony lovers ;-)

These new Palms are no more organizers. They are a hybrid between a digital camera, a notebook and a Palm.
I would not like to carry one of these on my belt...

I would rather have a faster internet connection over my mobile phone than a larger screen and a camera !

RE: WOW
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/11/2002 3:16:52 AM #
Just add the bluetooth module to one of these beauties and you have your fast internet connection.

Anything else?
I shouldn't think so.

WOW

Cheers,
Jan

RE: WOW
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/11/2002 3:20:01 AM #
"These new Palms are no more organizers. They are a hybrid between a digital camera, a notebook and a Palm.
I would not like to carry one of these on my belt..."

Why is it not an organizer, you can always buy the one with no camera, and yeah there are many ppl buying PDA, and not all of them are like you, some people like to pay a little bit more ($0 - $100) more for a device with more functions. e.g. have mp3 play back capability, with a built-in keyboard.

It's as good as an organizer as any palm PDA out there, if not better considering it has virtual grafitti. Anyways Sony always emphasis on multimedia so putting in a bigger screen with virtual grafitti , faster CPU , camera and mp3 player is just the natural way to go.

I'd love to carry one of these on my belt, why ?? because it's right about as big as the M525 and has more capability.

RE: WOW
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/11/2002 3:36:12 AM #
1. Bluetooth is fast, but it ends 10 feet from your Palm. There is no Bluetooth infrastructure, contrary to what is now avaiable with WiFi.

A mobile will get you the same speed a 56 K will provide. This is too slow for most needs.

2. I really see only a very small niche for these palms. There will be even more software problems than with the older Sony hirez screens.

3. I would buy one with an ARM processor and Palm OS 5, UMTS connection built-in.

RE: WOW
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/11/2002 3:38:45 AM #
They have really raqised the bar with these two offerings. As other posters have pointed out, Palm and Handspring are really going to have to pull out the stops to match or surpass this.

As to the poster saying he wouldn't use it. That's fine. The product isn't for you. Just like a Lexus isn't for some while a Neon is. Personally I'd go with the Lexus, just like I am considering when (ever ) this one arrives in Europe. Of course by the time it gets here Arm based machines will b just around the corner... maybe its worth waiting after all?



RE: WOW
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/11/2002 3:43:54 AM #
Actually i don't think it will cause compatibility problem

There are basically 2 types of applications, those that takes advantage of the big softgrafitti screen, probably most of those are written and maintained by sony, so they should know how to clean up their own mess. And those that doesnt take advantage of the big screen, for those apps, the grafitti area will always be visible.

anyways it's not like this device will be running OS 5, so there should be no OS 5 migration compatibility problems too.

Reuters on New Sony PDA's and Bluetooth Memory Stick
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/11/2002 5:55:46 AM #
Reuters: Sony unveils high-end laptop, handheld computers
http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/020311/t51960_1.html



RE: WOW
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/11/2002 10:23:51 AM #
Does anyone have an audio file (.mp3, .wav or .au are all fine) of the noise this makes when a car backs over it? Probably about the same as a Vx, with the exception of the screams of the owner once they notice what's happened.

All the bells and whistles just distract users from the overall purpose - to organize your life, not to waste more time!

RE: WOW
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/11/2002 6:01:29 PM #
>>Well, Handspring is on the way out and I think this >>put s a stake through Handera pretty much. Maybe >>Palm should start making PocketPC's..

Don't be an fool, remember that Palm makes the OS, if it weren't for Palm we would not have our Clies.

-----------------------------
I love my Clie, and I love Palm. Do you?

Waaaaaaaaaaaa!
michaelfurman @ 3/12/2002 1:46:30 PM #
"Its not an organizer anymore!" Sniff Sniff! Well?! So what!! I personally will giggle my butt off when I can cary hundreds of pages of tech manuals, zoomable images, and be able to create new images of production parts on the fly, e-mail them to China and NY right from the production floor. Holy Crap! This is like the road warrior's equivalent of a Swiss Army Knife. Listing to techno when I like will be pure gravy!
BTW I've been a power user since the Palm 5000 first came out in late 1996. This is my 4th upgrade.
Anyone wanna buy a cheap Prism with all the doo-dads?
-myk-

RE: WOW
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/12/2002 5:42:05 PM #
Er, it doesn't record.


RE: WOW
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/12/2002 8:38:14 PM #
So what if it has all these additional uses and functions? It is less to carry then. No need to carry seperate pda, mp3 player, bulky digital camera etc etc. An all in one unit is ideal. Those who don't want nothing more than a organiser - fine, there are plenty of basic organisers to choose from. No need to diss this promising achievement. This is what many of us have been waiting for. :)

how about

cp31 @ 3/11/2002 12:32:29 AM #
how about:
virtual grafiti
imporved speaker for wav files
voice recorder
what is the japanese price tranfered 2 US dollars

RE: how about
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/11/2002 12:56:55 AM #
Price should be $399 for the one w/o camera and $499 with, I think.

RE: how about
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/11/2002 1:04:21 AM #
Close enough.

Yen/US$ = 128.6

W/Camera - Y 59,800 = $ 465
W/o Camera - Y 49,800 = $ 387


This is Japan. Prices in the US (if they ever get there, or should I say WHEN) should be closer to 499 and 399.

RE: how about
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/11/2002 1:08:59 AM #
Should be within one month after Japan release. That's what happened to the T-series

RE: how about
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/11/2002 1:17:26 AM #
Then put me in cryo and wake me in May! This far surpasses anything I have ever seen in a PDA. Thank God it's Palm OS, thank God it's using a established (albeit just barely) connector.

320x480?

I.M. Anonymous @ 3/11/2002 12:32:49 AM #
Doesn't the PalmOS API only support multiples of 160?

RE: 320x480?
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/11/2002 12:35:03 AM #
http://www.sony.co.jp/sd/CorporateCruise/Press/200203/02-0311B/

Nicer picture and more info here in Japanese!

Dragonball SuperVZi66MHzj
320~480dotsA65,536 Color
1 Megapixel Camera

PEGA-MSB1 Memory Stick Bluetooth

RE: 320x480?
cp31 @ 3/11/2002 12:35:09 AM #
160 times 3= 480

RE: 320x480?
LarryGarfield @ 3/11/2002 5:39:44 AM #
The "basic" PalmOS supports 160x160 only, period, end of story. Sony developed an API for their previous CLIEs that duplicated the drawing functions for 320x320 only, period, end of story screens. How they're handling this screen, I don't know.

HandEra's screen API was completely different, and separated the current resolution from the API functions, making it more elaborate but also more flexible.

--
This post is ROT26 encrypted. Reading it is a violation of the DMCA

RE: 320x480?
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/11/2002 8:07:25 AM #
more like 320x320 with graffiti n 320 x 480 without.... do abt the same as handera in management]

RE: 320x480?
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/12/2002 2:40:20 PM #
>"Sony developed an API for their previous CLIEs that duplicated the drawing functions for 320x320 only, period, end of story screens. How they're handling this screen, I don't know.

>HandEra's screen API was completely different, and separated the current resolution from the API functions, making it more elaborate but also more flexible."

I've done development with the sony hi-res API and its a snap. An app that i just did detects if its a Sony w/hi-res and then uses the hi-res functions - which are identical to the Palm API functions except the name of each function has a 'HR' prefixed to the function name - virtually a mirror of every Palm OS graphics function. Any x and y paremeters must of course change to reflect 320 x 320, but that is all - nothing new for Palm programmers to learn in order to implement. I dont see how you could beat this. You could come up with a more flexible open ended approach that deals with different resolutions (which i expect is what we'll see in PalmOS 5.0) but for now, the Sony approach has been elegant, easy, no compatibility problems.

RE: 320x480?
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/12/2002 4:13:01 PM #
> the Sony approach has been elegant, easy, no
> compatibility problems.

As long as you only ever use it on a 320x320 display. I'd call that unelegant and ripe for future compatability problems.

RE: 320x480?
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/12/2002 4:17:50 PM #
huh !? According to what he said, fixing compatibility problem between OS 5 and sony version of high res is pretty simple. Basically you just need to change the name or Sony can write a wrap function.

I guess it doesn't matter to you, all you care is Sony is using something not standard in Palm OS, so you could go on some online forum and post it for 100 times.

RE: 320x480?
atrizzah @ 3/12/2002 5:16:26 PM #
No, I agree with him. What happens when the change resolutions again? Soon they'll need functions with other prefixes and so on. There are better ways of doing it.

Peace Out
Alan
RE: 320x480?
ihxo @ 3/12/2002 5:24:16 PM #
"No, I agree with him. What happens when the change resolutions again? Soon they'll need functions with other prefixes and so on. There are better ways of doing it."

No I don't agree with you :P There is not other better ways to do this right now, sony wants higher res for photo and stuff like that, so they made a new API just for their high res, and so happen the function call of those high res is basically the same as the old Low res.

example:
Low Res:
DrawScreen(a,b,c)
High Res:
HRDrawScreen(a,b,c)

How hard would it be for Sony to redirect their High Res Function calls back to low res function call when palm OS 5 comes out? very easy, they always take the same parameter of data.

RE: 320x480?
xumdeo @ 3/12/2002 9:18:17 PM #
320x480 is for idle mode (calendar, time display) or image display (as a "picture frame" that's wht sony said), i think
so basically, i'm looking at the shortcut buttons, the extra time display icon under the software-graffiti area, just like yer system tray, u see that?

but when yer using the on screen keyboad, that would "substitute" the graffiti area, but that's the jap version, dunno what would happen when they ship them to us...

http://www.palmoslove.com/work/feature/nr70/nr70-19b.jpg

RE: 320x480?
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/12/2002 10:56:28 PM #
I wrote the first comment about the sony API being easy to use. i really dont see the issue here - PalmSource gave it their blessing and until os 5.0 its the only way to go - and a great solution to bringing hi-res to palm devices without requiring developers to learn a damn thing extra - that is what i call 'elegant'. Anyone disagreeing - especially lame if they are saying its a 'hack' when Palm has worked hand in hand with sony on dev issues - doesnt realize how bad some other implemantions of the APIs are. Case in point: Kyocera. They have virtually no support for developers, they've got an sdk which only discusses their 'telephony' API addon, and no ROM files for the Palm emulator (esential for debugging). This wouldn't be bad, except that they claim that for all non-telephony PalmOS features, the API "should be the same as an equivalent Palm OS device" - meaning that, since the kyocera is OS 3.51 (like the m1xx series i believe), then if your code works for those other devices, then it will work for Kyocera. NOT TRUE!!! I ran into bugs in their implementation that i had to pin-point and work around, figuring it all out myself without any support from Kyocera.

But the worst 'hack' of the OS comes from PalmSource itself: Palm OS 4.0. The 'money people' at Palm decided that, although $$ could be made by charging users of older machines for this upgrade, they knew that m5xx users wouldn't shell $40 just to fix bugs in the device they just bought. They also new that - with a price war going between them, Handspring and Sony - that profit margins were tight so they weren't about to make the upgrade free to m5xx users.

Their solution? Tell everybody that '4.1 is just for older devices - m5xx users dont need this cause its the same'. They blatantly mislead everybody in an attempt to save $$$ and the result is that users get screwed with software that craps out and developers get screwed with the blame and responsibility (and cost - it took me 2 wks to work around OS 4.0 bugs) of finding work-arounds.

Sony 'hacked' the OS??? Please!!!

PS - The above can be verified as fact by any member of Palms Dev program - there is a ROM file called 'paltform41_m505enUS.rom' (it may still be on their sit - im not sure)that confirms that they originally planned to release 4.1 for m505 users (this is the only Palm rom file i know of where this has happened), before the PalmSource management decided not to release this in order to save money. I love Palm OS and will continue to develop for it - but screw whatever idiot at PalmSource was responsible for this - YOU COST MY COMPANY $$$$$$!!!!!!

RE: 320x480?
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/12/2002 10:56:31 PM #
> There is not other better ways to do this right now,
> sony wants higher res for photo and stuff like that,
> so they made a new API just for their high res, and
> so happen the function call of those high res is
> basically the same as the old Low res.

There was no need to make a new API. You should look at how HandEra implemented this. They just use the standard Palm OS APIs for hi-res graphics. There is a resource you set to specify that the app can handle hi-res (otherwise it runs in the user specifed compatibility mode). Once that hi-res resource is set, you just use the standard Palm APIs to access the hi-res screen.

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