Comments on: Sony PEG-NR70V Review

nategall says "blah!"

Two things, when the screen is open like a notebook (the way my wife uses it, I like the screen out pen only method... if only there was a quick way to get to DateMan from there!) the unit is heavy in the far direction towards the screen so you have to hold the unit firmly to use the keyboard.

And... I would love to see that bluetooth MS card Sony showed at CES years ago! I have a T68 that loved talking BT to my old 505, now I'm internet less on the road... guess I could go back to IR from the 70 to the Cell phone.

I can't believe the amount of positive feedback I have read about this unit. Not sure if I have seen this before.

Can't wait - I have already started downloading apps and hacks for it!

Al in Canada

In the first look report, you mentioned that there were some dark shadow on the edge of the screen. But they didn't appear in the final review. Could you give us a bit more details on that? Thanks,

- Mark

PPC sucks because you have to recharge every day, I hope Palm and Sony don't go there.

Don't get me wrong, I myself am a palm user, but the pocket pc will do everything palm will ever be able to and has the advantage of being one with the microsoft giant.

any one agree/disagree?

thanks,
Waver

waver@start.com.au

For what seemed like years, people had raged on about what the "best Palm" was. Heck, some still do. At any rate, take a look at the offerings available from PalmOS OEMs. There is just about something for everyone. And it looks like we as users are getting to the point where we accept the differences instead of hoping to get the current "greatest thing."

Yes, there will be those who crave the features of this device and buy it, just like there are those who seek the newest Cadillac or Corvette. But many others of us, while still impressed, will opt to keep what we've got and/or perhaps wait a little longer for "next year's models."

PDAs are finally getting to the automotive-esque stage of development, and I think that's a GREAT thing. Can't wait to see what OS 5, 6, and 7 bring.

Ed, or anyone else, thoughts on this???

Well, back to my Laptop for the power user.

Can I overwrite the Japanese language Clie/Palm OS with a English language version? If so where can I download it?

There is still something to be said for a small form factor.

To each is own, enjoy your NR's. I'll stick with my svelte m515.

Could someone re-post the websites that offer the cheapest prices for 128 MB Memory Sticks? Any substantive rumors on when the 256 will be available?

Thanks, Robrecht

I just got an e-mail from Targus They informed me that they are NOT planning on releasing a keyboard for the Peg NR70 series from Targus-

"Hello and thank you for writing. Unfortunately, we are not {planning on releasing a stowaway keyboard), due to limited market demand. We are sorry to disappoint you."

I don't know about you, but a working stowaway is an absolutely essential to my PDA use.

Your thoughts?

Thanks,

Dryden

The power pack is same as T-series, can use an adaptor to use as charger on the road. This is interchangable with T series. There are various other
peripheral than can be shared with the T series, this
can only be a good thing.

Although the built-in PIM apps dont initialy used for full screen. The memo pad can be extended to use the full screen using some software as hrFontMapper.

CrsMeDoc and tiny Sheet canuse landscape Hires+ mode, you can count Acid Image as well as you can rotate the image using a full screen.

Note worth metional about the battery alarms it that you wont get much use out of the machine one you get your first battery warning. Would have been good to have time based battery meters where you would get a warning about 5 minuted to the end like in some IBM Thinkpads...

So the question is which is faster an ARM based machine running OS4 software via an emulator or the 66Mhz Motorola processor. I know its a difficult question to answer as the macines aren't around but a theoretical discussion would help me decide.

PS Thanks for another great RV Ed.

i say bah humbug. at least the pocket pcs have a picture of a running faucet.

This is invaluable when I'm in a meeting, or even if I'm
in a movie theater. I set so many alarms that I can't
know when one will go off. So in times when I need to
not make noise, enabling the silent alarm is critical.

Is there anything on the NR70 that allows this functionality?
If not, is there any known hack that could be added on
to make the alarm silent? This is an ability that I can't
afford to lose if I want to keep using a PDA in the same
fashion.

-chris

When the HandEra 330 was released, lots of folks were merciless about how "geeky" it looked. It was silver, it was big, it was bulky. You wouldn't look professional pulling it out in a meeting you'd look like a techie nerd who had to drop lots of cash on the newest toy. Sure, it had lots of useful features, but you simply wouldn't look cool, you'd like like an extra from Star Trek pulling out a tricorder.

So now Sony releases the NR-70/V. It's silver, it's big, and it's bulky. Yes, I know it's thin when it's open, but it's still bulky/heavy. It's sleeker than the 330's boxy III-series look, but it's STILL BIG. Those who defend it generally marvel at how it's smaller than they expected and how it's got tons of features for the size. Either way, I tend to think if you pull this out in a meeting, you'll look like a techie nerd who dropped hundreds of dollars on a new toy who wants to pretend he's on Star Trek.

Why do we not hear this kind of criticism on these boards? Is there something about the "Sony" name that somehow makes users impervious to "geek" labels?

Also, the camera's resolution is so low as to be nearly useless for $100 extra, they should at least be able to give you 640x480, if not 1024x768.

The processor is just another 68k and will not run OS5 or later systems. No good.

The device itself is pretty large and heavy.

My recommendation: wait for the next version of the device.

Thanks.

Greg

Per the following

>I.M. Anonymous @ 5/7/2002 2:49:22 PM
>My recommendation: wait for the next version of the >device.

and a mere 55 minutes later

>I.M. Anonymous @ 5/7/2002 3:46:44 PM
>Too be honest, I love my PEG-NR70V

you have gone from being complete against the NR70, to admitting that you own and love the NR70.

please, seek help before it is too late.

Now then, I just hope my will power won't fail me, so that I can stick to my T415 until PalmOS5 devices are out...

About the screen resolution comment I think you have to try to understand the working of Palm OS and the company making the hardware, it is not a multi tasking windowing OS, its not easy to push and pull anything other than menus, even Handeras grafitti crashes alot, to be stable, software has to be actually written for it. Sony, being a big company cannot risk having a horde of newbies whining why their machines crash everytime, so they just disabled that mode by default and leave it to the developers to support it... which I think is a very sound decision. The only thing that I think they should do, is at least include more hires+ software with the hardware... at the very least picturegear.
I dont think that is a flaw, think of it as a new feature like when first color or hires comes out... I dont think you can write... "one of flaw of this hardware... is that most programs cannot display in hires/color/16bit colors unless they are specifically written for it."

The keyboard... just because you only use it for 1 or 2 days and cant write faster than graffiti which you probably have used for a few years you should downplay it. What about new Palm users? What about seasoned portable keyboard users like the thumbpad? Those are still some of the best selling accessories for Palm, why? because I think people like keyboards.

Memory stick included? well Sony can put in a memory stick, but that will add the cost obviously... (cmon this CLIE is cheap! the camera is expensive 100 bucks, but NR70 is very cheap) look at Palm M505 price and look at the NR70. So yeah they can give you maybe a few measly dollars discount for included memory stick, but what about those who have owned clies, and vaios, etc... they already have memory stick, why do they need to pay extra for something they dont need? whats so surprising about that? They did put that you need to buy a memory stick to play MP3 on the box.

DSP is Digital Signal Processor (yeah I know very minor, I shouldnt nitpick sorry )
But I have to say... HAAA??? DSP takes alot of power? DSP takes the same amount of power as the chip and enables you to play MP3 and multi task which a feature alot of people like... The screen is the power gobbler. With that off, achieving 11 hours of playback is amazing. I think my ear will be sore listening for even 8 hours of music. Even if they use the original processor, you will still achieve only that much.
And I think you have to add that ATRAC3 can only be copied into the white secure OpenMG memory stick.

The speaker, you should differentiate sound utility and the MP3 player usage of speaker... MP3 playback volume is actually TINY, it really depends on your encoding volume, well because its a small polyphonic speaker, making the sound louder will actually crack digital sound and make it sound worse...
SoundUtility on the other hand is a polyphonic player... it plays sound which the speaker is supposed to play, notice you have to use the desktop converter to convert your sounds? That is why it can play it loud and clear.

About Movie, well worth keeping or not is personal taste, Im sure many PPC buffs would be angry if you call their oscar winning short movie clip not worth keeping.
But I do find 1 use which many people seem to agree, play MTV. Since GMovie can convert the sound to a high quality 44000 khz atrac, you can get a very good sounding MTV movie for about 20-30 megs, certainly quite feasible to store 2 or 3, and still have room for your programs and MP3s.

There is wireless modem CF slot from Sony in Japan, but is Japan only so is a line modem connecter.
It should come out in US too, soon I hope.

Well at least unlike other reviewers you dont complain about the cameras picture quality... its expensive and near useless yes... but for something that tiny, id say its damn good.

Regards,

Kudos for the Excellent review!

You mentioned 8MB of user-accessible ROM. FlashPro appears not to support the Clies. How can we access this?

Thanks!

As for the video player, I agree, you can't use it for full length movies. But I have the 128 Mb Memory Stick and I am able to watch full episodes of my favorite sitcoms for only 50-80 Mb. That even leaves room for a bunch of MP-3's. So there is a use for it!

I don't have the NR70V yet, but I just sold my N760C and am looking for a decent price on the NR70V now. Your review of it makes it so I can hardly wait to get my hands on it...

Ironically, I ended up sitting on my Vx two days ago and cracked the screen.
Part of me was bummed (especially in this economy), but part of me was excited.

So I ran out to Circuit City and finally just bought one of these little monsters
(After contemplating in the store for 2 hours).

I went back to my hotel room and charged it up (very excitedly). Transferred my data
via the beam category function for everything from my broken palm Vx.

So what did I do with it? (Ironically I was going to a wedding) and found the camera to
be very useful. I also use it to take pictures of signs and pieces of paper I don't have the
time to transcribe via grafitti.

I realized this thing is NOT useful without a memory stick. So I went out and bought a
PURPLE Memory Stick (Not The MagicGate). Remember, you can just transfer MP3 files
directly via computer.. You don't need ATRAC.. It's a worthless feature implemented by
the MUSIC POLICE. No one will use it if you just learn to drag and drop via MSIMPORT.

This thing is FAST!!!! The USB cradle makes hot syncing AVANTGO channels actually bearable.

A couple of hints I had to learn immediately. For new owners:

The IR Beam function will not work until you soft reset the palm out of the box. So..
Don't get frustrated.. Just hit the reset button before you use it for the first time to
make it work. (I brought mine back to the store, because I thought it was broken)..

All the models had the same problem.

You MUST REINSTALL some applications through the palm desktop via hotsync or
it will crash your PC during a hotsync application if it was beamed from your old
handheld. (AvantGo, Database Applications, FreeCell).

So How do I like it? I LOVE IT!

Would I recommend buying it to replace an existing unit? no.. unless your old one is
broken or you really need the functionality or a faster processor.

The Processor on this thing is FAST and large Database searches are bearable!

The battery life is miserable, but if you can afford this thing, buy the car charger.

I like the way this thing flips shut (protecting the screen).

The size is not a big deal.. Remember.. You're adding functionality.. It is well worth the
money...

Any questions or comments, please email me at: nyspy@hotmail.com

Cheers.

NYSPY

~Cal

The WriteRite people (by Fellowes) don't have one for this Clie model yet, but one is available from the SonyStyle.com web site for $9.99 *EACH*!! And they will charge you almost $5 to ship EACH ONE!! I called their order line to see if that's the case, and unfortunately, the order take states there's no way to get around it. (Can you say rip off?!)

I begrudgingly ordered only one (they are also back-ordered by a month or so) but politely declined her offer of 3 styli for $15 (plus the privilege of paying another $5 shipping). I'll just wait until my local office supply store or Circuit City have them in stock!

Has anyone tried out their screen protectors?? How do they work? Are they just like the WriteRites or better/worse?

Thanks in advance.
Sam

I am fairly new to these things. I have an older sony s320 and wanted to upgrade.

I am debating between the new Sony nr70V and the I-Paq. I know one is PalmOS and one is CE but I am not sure which would better fit what I need being that they are both around the same price.

The I-Paq seems a lot more powerful and the Sony seems to just have some xtra gimmicks which make me wanna get it.

The things I will want it for are:
Contacts/Calendar
Reading books
Music (MP3)

I am wondering, if I wanted my handheld to sync. my e-mails and possibly some docs. maybe it would be easier if I had a CE handheld?

If anyone can offer some insight, or knows some good articles on these issues I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks in advance,
Chaim
Chaimdan@hotmail.com

Also, would it be theoretically possible to create a 'digital voice' alarm? eg. in a meeting, its running late but the boss doesnt seem to realise, then all of a sudden theres a digital female voice saying, "beep beep- 1 oclock: You have an appointment", with you pretending to be suprised and apologising (but really you'd be showing off :) )

... is anyone else having problems getting the PDA to recognise a phone via IR? Mine failed until I did a soft reset, worked for a week and now consistently doesn't work. Soft and hard resets aren't helping any. The IR will still beam to other PDAs and the phone will recognise my old Palm and talk to it - just not the Sony. Very frustrating. Would appreciate any advice on the matter.