Rumor: Sony Preparing PEG-SJ20, PEG-SJ30

Earlier this week, Sony introduced the SL10, a low-end model with a monochrome screen. According to two different anonymous sources, Sony plans to introduce two new models in this series in the near future. The PEG-SJ20 will be a monochrome model similar to the SL10 except that it will have a rechargeable battery, not the removable AAAs the SL10 uses. The SJ30 will be a color version, also with a rechargeable battery. Neither the SJ20 or SJ30 will have the USB slot on the side that the SL10 does. Both, however, will have T-series HotSync ports on their bottom.

Both the SJ20 and SJ30 will have hi-res screens. One source who had an opportunity to see the SJ30 described its color screen as being comparable in quality with that on Sony's NR series.

The SJ30 will cost about $300. The price of the SJ20 is not yet available, though it is likely to be somewhere around $200. The release date for either model is also unknown.

Aside from the changes mentioned earlier, the SJ20 and SJ30 will be quite similar to the SL10. They will run OS 4.1 on 33 MHz Dragonball processors. Unfortunately, how much RAM the two new devices will have is not yet known. Both will have Memory Stick slots and Jog Dials with Back buttons.

The general shapes will be the same, though the coloration for the SJ30 will be different. It will have a silver flip cover, not the dark one from the SL10 and its casing will be all silver. All three models with have plastic casings.

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Ho hum...

I.M. Anonymous @ 7/26/2002 3:08:09 PM #
Where's my Sony OS5-based super clie!?!?!?!?
RE: Ho hum...
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/26/2002 3:09:42 PM #
Yep. Yet more products from Sony with a 3-month life span. I don't understand how their retail chain puts up with having inventory constantly obsoleted like this.
RE: Ho hum...
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/26/2002 3:12:11 PM #
!!! WHERE IS IT LOL!!!!
RE: Ho hum...
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/26/2002 3:55:39 PM #
Where's your soother...
RE: Ho hum...
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/26/2002 10:32:25 PM #
Who still need OS. 5 while Clie' in OS. 4 can do almost things in OS.5 ?
RE: Ho hum...
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/28/2002 1:09:43 PM #
Almost is not enough, the processor limitits what it can do, plus where is Blootooth and 802.11b?????
RE: Ho hum...
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/28/2002 1:46:32 PM #
Sorry, but Blootooth and 802.11b do not fit into the "Zen of Palm".........
RE: Ho hum...
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/28/2002 2:25:36 PM #
Gotta admit, it has better buttons.

PICK UP YOUR T615's WHILE YOU CAN!

I.M. Anonymous @ 7/26/2002 3:14:21 PM #
im sure once the sj30 is released, the t615 will be officially discontinuted...i would rather have the t615 with the advanced IR and slim metal body than the thick plastic SJ30....
RE: PICK UP YOUR T615's WHILE YOU CAN!
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/26/2002 3:56:57 PM #
It may actually replace the T-655.
RE: PICK UP YOUR T615's WHILE YOU CAN!
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/26/2002 4:18:34 PM #
you better be joking son
RE: PICK UP YOUR T615's WHILE YOU CAN!
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/26/2002 4:40:29 PM #
^ + I don't think this will affect the T series.
RE: PICK UP YOUR T615's WHILE YOU CAN!
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/26/2002 6:23:51 PM #
t615 is out the door soon, get it now if you want it...or else you will have to buy the sj30.
RE: PICK UP YOUR T615's WHILE YOU CAN!
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/26/2002 7:12:16 PM #
Look out Palm M130 and Treo 90 there's a new guy comin' your way and the SJ30 will blow them out of the water
RE: PICK UP YOUR T615's WHILE YOU CAN!
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/26/2002 10:17:12 PM #
uh, the T615 has been discontinued for a couple of weeks now.
RE: PICK UP YOUR T615's WHILE YOU CAN!
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/26/2002 10:57:06 PM #
uh, no its not. clie's are officially discontinued when they disappear from sonystyle.com the t615 is still available on sonystyle.com, therefore its not discontinued.
RE: PICK UP YOUR T615's WHILE YOU CAN!
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/27/2002 9:06:58 AM #
I think I'd rather wait for the SJ30, which seems to not have the ridiculous "buttons" that the T615 does. That stupid rocker switch is damn well unusable.
RE: PICK UP YOUR T615's WHILE YOU CAN!
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/27/2002 11:33:56 AM #
uh, discontinuance means they no longer manufacture the model. Sony stopped making the 615's a while back. They are just getting rid of existing inventory
RE: PICK UP YOUR T615's WHILE YOU CAN!
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/27/2002 6:20:55 PM #
I agree with a previous poster, I would rather wait for the new SJ30 with what looks like improved buttons than go for a T615c now. Also supposedly, the screen will be excellent (if its anything like the NR70/T665c).

One thing I do wonder is how the battery life will be on the new color handheld. I sincerely hope its better than both the T665 and T615.

RE: PICK UP YOUR T615's WHILE YOU CAN!
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/27/2002 8:14:08 PM #
uh, i dont remember reading that sony stopped making the t615, they just lowered the price to compete with the treo 90 and m130. plus the t665 was being released at $399. i would think that if sony stopped producing the t615 a month back, they would sold them all in a week. the t615 will be discontinued now that this sj30 is coming out.
RE: PICK UP YOUR T615's WHILE YOU CAN!
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/27/2002 8:19:33 PM #
I don't think they'll discontinue the T615 Just yet, since the SJ series might not use metal casing, Sony might keep the T615 around just for people who like metal casing better.

I for one would take a T615 over a plastic case SJ30 (if it really uses plastic).

Deja Vu?
Bartman007 @ 7/28/2002 2:18:05 AM #
Am I the only one that has noticed that the SJ30 sounds almost exactly like the N-610?

I realize that the SJ30 has OS 4.1 and the T-series connector, but other than that the under-the-hood look exactly the same.

Seems like Sony is getting into very fishy practices lately. Luckly, my flahsed N-710c still does everything I need it to do.

Peace,
-Bartman007

RE: PICK UP YOUR T615's WHILE YOU CAN!
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/28/2002 3:55:34 AM #
come on, Sony has been doing the selling case design business since the first day they invented Walkman. It's just natural for them to create the same 3 things with the same internal organs but with different case design complelling to different type of person.

Sony frightens and confuses me.

Moosecat @ 7/26/2002 3:15:09 PM #
Maybe I'm just a caveman, but I can't even keep track of Sony's PDA product cycles. Imagine the family tree you could draw...

And this kind of constant revision cannot be good for sales -- it simultaneouly leaves consumers confused as well as unwilling to spring for a Sony now if they suspect yet another upgrade is just around the corner.

People rag on Palm for being so "slow" in introducing new devices, but if this is the alternative, I'll take slow.

If Sony would just devote its considerable innovative energy to getting the little details right on a device (e.g., the buttons!), they'd be better off.

RE: Sony frightens and confuses me.
sandbuck @ 7/26/2002 3:39:56 PM #
This is Sony's universal product policy. Their digital camcorders, for example, have the same crowded product line.

If you have a model for every $N increment, the odds are that customer who intended to just pay X for a widget will "slide up" the price range to X + $N, or maybe even X + $N + $N since it is "just a bit more" than than their original X price point.

It's a slick way to tweak more margin out of every customer.

RE: Sony frightens and confuses me.
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/26/2002 3:48:37 PM #
it doesn't really confuse the regular consumer anyway since they do not keep track of what new products came out. All they look at is features, and Sony always has the best ones!
RE: Sony frightens and confuses me.
Altema @ 7/26/2002 3:49:13 PM #
I run into the same problem with their audio gear. I've bought 5 MiniDisc recording decks. When I go back to the store, the model I had is gone, replaced by another with minor changes. The differences have been as little as the input selector switch color changing from black to silver. This was given a different model number of course. So now I have 5 different models, all to do the same thing.

RE: Sony frightens and confuses me.
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/26/2002 3:54:22 PM #
Yeah, this is just one kind of marketing strategy. The idea is that as new customers come into the market, mass-market customers that is, there is a relatively new pda from Sony, always. Mass-market customers don't know that they've released 4 other handhelds in the past 6 months. They just say "hey, the latest handheld in the market".
RE: Sony frightens and confuses me.
Moosecat @ 7/26/2002 3:57:12 PM #
Obviously, Sony has thought all this out and determined that they make money doing it this way, so I was probably a bit rash to say that it must hurt their sales. But these new releases are not costless; they have design and R&D costs for every new PDA. Granted, there are a lot of common components so the costs are not as high as they could be, but they are still there.

I had a friend who bought the first Sony with the high-res screen and MP3 player (whatever it was called -- I can't even remember now). When the NR70 rumors started (after that Sony guy showed one on screen). I e-mailed my friend the link. He wrote back and said he didn't open the link, because he "didn't even want to know" what Sony was releasing now to render his device obsolete.

I think that's how I'd feel.

RE: Sony frightens and confuses me.
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/26/2002 4:03:53 PM #
just because Sony made something better and more expensive doesnt make his device obsolete .....
Constant product churn = no peripherals
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/26/2002 4:20:30 PM #
If you have a use other that what Sony's marketeers have deigned for you to have out of the box, forget it. At least Palm keeps the platform stable enough so a 3rd-party peripheral market can exist.

And doesn't anybody else find it odd that even Sony's own peripherals aren't available in the U.S.?

RE: Sony frightens and confuses me.
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/26/2002 4:21:20 PM #
I guess it's a good thing, then, that there aren't 10 more companies selling PDAs. Think how frightened and confused you would be then! :)
RE: Sony frightens and confuses me.
cykalan @ 7/26/2002 4:27:24 PM #
the same old question: when sony's releasing something new, your old clies will not go "unfunctionable" immediately. you can just keep it and continue to use it if you don't want to upgrade!!

Alan
----
Read your manuals before you ask!!
Bravo, Sony
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/26/2002 4:27:45 PM #
Sony is the saviour of the consumer because Sony helps in giving the consumers CHOICE!
RE: Sony frightens and confuses me.
Moosecat @ 7/26/2002 4:34:53 PM #
The whole argument that "It's not obsolete -- it still does its job even if there is now an improved version out there" only goes so far. C'mon -- the freaks on this site, way more so than average joes, care very much about keeping up with the state-of-the-art. And anyone who regularly reads this site who doesn't admit to pangs of jealousy/lust when a new device comes out -- even if our old ones work fine -- is either lying or wasting his time on this site.

By virtue of being on this site, we are generally NOT the sort of people who can remain perfectly content with a device that is superseded by more advanced things later on. We're ALWAYS on the prowl for an upgrade -- that's why we all clicked on the "new Sony rumor" article. Of COURSE it bothers me if my expensive device is quickly superseded by a better one. That's pretty normal. It happens with cars ("Dammit, my 2002 didn't come with the retractable cupholders and clip-on floormats!"); computers; TVs -- pretty much everything that is regularly updated.

I've got an m505. It does the job fine. But when the m515 came out, I had to resist my impure urges to go buy it, because it is better. If I bought a Sony, I'd wage these battles against my gadget-freak self constantly.

Anyway, now I'm just fighting to wait for OS5.

RE: Sony frightens and confuses me.
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/26/2002 4:47:03 PM #
Planned obsolescence is one of the most powerful psychological marketing ploys ever invented and this is a topic very well studied by experts. The thing is, we are all materialistic by nature, and that's ok.
Me2
RE: Sony frightens and confuses me.
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/26/2002 4:49:14 PM #
The SL series are more low-end models. At least, they don't obsolete the NR series.

Notice that while Sony releases a new model every 3 months, it's *usually* an alternate between low end and high end. So, the actual life span of a Clie is more like 6 months, approximately.

It's just a marketing strategy for Sony. Palm uses a different approach. Pick the one you like -- it's all about choices, friends.

I agree with moosecat that if you are reading this site, you are not average joe, and might feel kinda "cheated" by Sony that they release new models frequently, and somehow has a strong urge to upgrade. Sony is exactly targeting people like us.

But we have a choice to choose to resist or fall for Sony's marketing plan. Either way, no point to complain. I personally would prefer PDA coming out more frequently, just like all other consumer electronics.

Yup, we have choices, and that's great.

RE: Sony frightens and confuses me.
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/26/2002 5:00:11 PM #
>At least Palm keeps the platform stable enough so a
>3rd-party peripheral market can exist.

Hello, all T, NR, and SL series use the same connector, and memory stick. just like all recent Palm PDA uses the universal connector.

>And doesn't anybody else find it odd that even Sony's
>own peripherals aren't available in the U.S.?

I don't. Sony is a Japanese company! So, some Clie peripherals are only available in Japan.


RE: Sony frightens and confuses me.
sub_tex @ 7/26/2002 5:06:25 PM #
It's sad that some people would rather have technology slow down so that they can spend more time looking at their current toy.

As if a model has to be out for a yr with no new models for it to be considered great and the company not be blasted.

The more new stuff the better, I say. The pda you can buy in year is a heck of a lot better than the ones that were available in the year gaps just 3 yrs ago.

1998 - palm III
1999 - palm IIIx

ouch.

RE: Sony frightens and confuses me.
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/26/2002 5:39:33 PM #
I don't care WHAT company you will worship, but the true definition of choice requires staying power. If the models keep becoming discontinued, accessories from 3rd-parties will be slow to develop. Anything to alter screens, case covers, keyboards and the like change everytime. I don't care if they share the same connector, it's a different case, button and weight. Consumers will get ripped off, plus I know developers hate having to test their programs on ALL of their devices. It just makes it impossible. Rather than make this, just sell stuff cheaper. Sony may be profitable, but Nintendo's is actually worth FAR MORE, why? (Aside from games) It releases fewer hardware devices, better designed and adds support as time goes on. Could you imagine if Game Boy's were redesigned every 3 months? I don't understand how Sony can keep doing this. Why buy or save up for a Clie if by the time you do a new one is announced?
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