Product Description

Windows Media Player 9 for Pocket PC--plays MP3 and WMA audio files and Windows Media video clips * 3.5" LCD with Portrait and Landscape viewing modes * built-in microphone for voice recording * Secure Digital card slot (accepts SD cards, MultiMediaCards, or SDIO accessories) * warranty: 90 days * ... Read more

Features

• Five Way navigation button plus 4 programmable application launch buttons
• 3.5” Transflective type QVGA TFT, Portrait and Landscape modes
• Microsoft Windows Mobile 2003 software for Pocket PC
• 203 MHz Samsung 2410 processor
• Up to 25 MB user available memory including 10 MB iPAQ File Store

Reviews (15)

Great Product, but Limited on Memory
I recently purchased the RZ 1715 through Amazon, after a thorough online search and reading many reviews posted here.Thankfully Amazon is giving us the option of purchasing this type of entry-level unit, as all my local electronics stores seem to have ignored it in favor of dedicating shelf space to the much more expensive top-level products.

After two weeks with the product I can confirm that the other reviews are spot-on with one exception: the on board memory.At only 25MB, this can be very limiting for all but the most casual users; anyone considering this for business purposes (not requiring WiFi) should be cautioned - the software requires that all on-board processes and databases be run from the on-board memory, not the SD cards.SD cards are where you store your music, photos, files, etc., imported from the PC, but synchronized databases from Outlook can and will quickly gobble up that 25MB space in a hurry.These databases cannot be run from the SD card.Users with contact databases in software such as ACT, Salesforce.com, etc., would be well advised to look at the next higher model, which I believe roughly doubles available memory.

I'm going to try to exchange the RZ 1715 for something with more horsepower.Sure hope I'm not too late, or this was a very expensive lesson learned...

The best best best best of all the pdas
this is my first pda.my sister bought this for me.i didnt buy this from amazon but i bought this from radioshack but at amazon it is much cheaper.

this pda is the best compared to my friends.it is small,lighter and the graphics are also good.but the processor little bit slow but its not that much slow.the only problem is that u cant put mpeg files only avi files.

other than that it is good.if u want more info contact me adboralessa@hotmail.com

For the same price, you can get a top of the line Dell Axim
The harsh reality is that anyone who got this was sorely ripped off. I've been following Pocket PCs very closely for over two years, and the specifications and the molassas slowness of this unit is a real shame for the technology that is capable of being produced today. For the same amount of money used to buy the RZ1715, you can get a 624mhz Dell Axim with 64mb RAM, 64mb ROM, integrated WiFi, integrated Bluetooth, and respect from the online PDA community. There is absolutely no reason to buy this unit because 1) It is not a bargain PDA. You can get other PDAs with much better features for even less than this unit is worth, 2) It has less than the bare minimum of features. Anything under 300mhz is considered a dinosaur of PDAs past. Why this unit was produced in 2004 is beyond me.

If you are looking for a Pocket PC to give as a gift to someone, don't pick this one. I guarantee it is a ripoff and an insult. You can get a really great Pocket PC for even less.

What are the people thinking?!?
It is truly amazing what the people have been saying about this PDA. It is slow, only 32Mb RAM(!!), poor battery, etc, etc, etc...

It was voted as the worst PDA of the year by PC Magazine, in their last Top 10 Worst Products of the year.

There are many other options in this price range that are much better: In Pocket PC camp, there is the Dell X30, in Palm camp there is Zire 72. Both offer so much more for less money.

Just the pocket pc 4 me
I have been a palm guy for quite a while. That was a mistake. This pocket pc does so much more than a stupid palm could ever do. Powered by a speedy samsung processor, this pocket pc cranks out 203 mhz of pure power. Dont be fooled by the discription. It says youu could play MUSIC. They should've said you can play music and Videos. Its true. Just get at least a 128 mb memory card.(I have a 256 mb memory card.) The display on this puppy is absolutely dazzeling. It uses a tft screen and is, in my opinion, more hi rez than a 71' plasma. I never want anything bad to happen to this pocket pc. I love it. You will to if you go get it at your nearest bestbuy or circuit city. I got it at circuit city. Go buy this piece of work now. The zr1715, a piece of art and a pocket pc for all your daily needs.
Did I mention that you can play games? It is true. It plays all types of cool games. Just do an active sync and play. It is so cool. The color is fabulous and the graphics r to. So go get 1. ... Read more

Product Description

A broad range of features, multimedia, and Bluetooth wireless technology make the small and sleek iPAQ h2215 pocket PC an essential tool for communicating and managing information anywhere.PRODUCT FEATURES: View the dazzling display on the LCD, indoors or out; Enjoy your favorite multimedia wherever you are, whenever you want; Take advantage of flexible storage and expansion with the Compact Flash and Secure Digital slots; Get things done fast with the powerful processor, optimal performance, independent graphics controller (for fast video playback), included applications, and abundant memory; Get wireless connectivity in or out of the office with integrated Bluetooth technology; Print locally, print wirelessly: send documents, e-mail attachments, and photos from your iPAQ; Print to a corporate-class network with additional software; Be ergonomically comfortable with the soft-touch sides and slip-free grip; Use the ipaq as a remote control device for audio and video equipment with the integrated Universal Remote Control; Speak and listen using the integrated microphone and speaker; Recharge the removable Lithium-Ion battery for on-the-go power. ... Read more

Features

• Removable/rechargeable Lithium-lon battery for on the go power
• What's in the box: HP iPAQ Pocket PC, USB Desktop cradle/charger, AC Adapter, Slip case, battery, getting started poster; charger adapter; HP iPAQ Pocket PC Companion CD
• A sleek Pocket PC with the optimal combination of features, performance, and expandability
• Compact Flash and Secure Digital slots for flexibility and convenience in storage and expansion
• Integrated Bluetooth for wireless communication with other Bluetooth devices

Reviews (69)

It even has a name...
My girlfriend called my HP iPAQ h2210 "Clara"... I like it and I love my handheld, it's very usefull.

I use the Bluetooth connectivity every single day, I have a Bluetooth headset, a Bluetooth cell phone so I can make phone calls from my iPAQ's Contacts List while my phone stills on my pocket and answer calls with the headset as well. Also, I can transfer files from my iPAQ to my desktop computer thru bluetooth and synchronize it, connect to the internet via Bluetooth thru my desktop computer, send SMS... you name it.

Also it has the NEVO program so you can control your TV, Hi-Fi, VCR and even learns new codes.

Highly recommended...

Powerful and Reliable
I bought this IPAQ after doing much research.I wanted a Pocket PC, and knew that I needed to keep it very small.This IPAQ has met all of my expectations.I have used it for a year now, and plan to use it for at least another 18 mos. before I consider upgrading to newer technology.

If I could do it again, I would at least look at pocket pc's that have built-in keyboards.When I originally compared these, I didn't think I would use that functionality much.After using it my stylus for a while now, I think I would prefer a keyboard option.

I have had not problems with my IPAQ and it does everything it is supposed to do.

Good Feature/Price ratio
I have owned this PDA for about 6 months now.
The battery life is far superior to the iPAQ3XXX series PDAs!
I can use this off and on for a few days straight without having to recharge.
Aside from battery life, it seems to be very fast and responsive compared to my Toshiba Genio. Another major selling point was the Dual memory slots-Compact Flash and Secure Digital.
Aside from the features mentioned above, I also am impressed with the form factor.Although it is not quite as slim as the 4XXX series iPAQs it is still among the smallest and sleekest PDAs that I have seen.

Complaints:
This does not run PPC 2003 2nd edition : (
PIM info disappears if batteries go dead.iPAQ FileStore utility does not prevent this...
I had a CASIO that kept all PIM info and settings even after a week with a dead battery (vacation).

Overall This is by far my favorite PDA yet!

My Favorite Toy
After months of research, I finally purchased an Ipaq 2215, which I dearly love.I used to have a Palm m515, which I still love (and which my husband now loves), but I wanted to get an MP3 player as well, and it was just easier to have an all in one unit.(That's what I told my husband when I tried to explain the price!)

The MP3 player works great, and it's neat to have the CF & SD slots because CF is so much cheaper.The speaker is surprisingly good, though headphones sound much better.The remote control feature is nifty, but rarely used.I write a lot of stories, so I bought a thumbpad, and it works really well and I'm almost as fast with the thumbpad as I am with a real keyboard.I'm tempted to get a real keyboard, but so far haven't needed one.

Word to Go 6 (for the Palm OS) is better than PocketWord, but PW isn't bad.It doesn't save page numbers or footers, which drives me crazy, but it does have the word completion feature that I like.You can download truetype fonts, but you can't insert a page break.When you exit out of a document and go back in, it starts you at the top again.Doc to Go 6 remembers where you left off.This can be annoying when you have a 100 page document to edit, then want to go into another document to check your notes, then continue your next great American novel.

There is a lot of space on the hard drive, though it's RAM, so you lose the info if the battery dies completely.At least that's what the book I bought says - haven't tested it yet.

I don't know if others have a problem with this, but the last document I work on does not sync when I hook up the unit to my PC.It actually takes it out of the Pocket_PC folder on my desktop.I have to go back into it, type in a space, delete the space, exit, and then it syncs.I'm sure there's an easier way, but I don't know it, so I have to do it each time.

Anyway, this is a great toy.I'm sure some people can use it for work if they really want to, but it's too much fun to just save for work.

Convenient
I purchased this a week ago and since that time it has not left my side.I put all of my personal and work information on here and it's seamless.This device has everything I need, and it also has a nice remote control gadget that I use to control my DVD, VCR, TV and TiVo.Overall this this has been incredibly useful for me, I am glad I purchased this. ... Read more

Product Description

The PalmOne Zire 72 Special Edition Handheld Organizer works as hard as it plays. The built-in 1.2 megapixel camera and MP3 allows you to take pictures, capture photos and video clips (expansion card required), and listen to your favorite tunes—all while you're on the go. Or, create and edit Word- and Excel-compatible files, synchronize with Outlook and get organized (compatible with Windows only). You can also get wireless e-mail and Internet access with built-in Bluetooth (Requires a compatible Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone and an ISP, both sold separately). Features a high-resolution 320x320 color screen, expansion slot and voice memo recording. Imported. ... Read more

Features

• Expansion slot that supports MMC, SD, and SDIO memory cards
• Palm Desktop Software for Windows and Mac and Software Essentials CD included
• Bright, 320x320 transflective TFT color display supports more than 65,000 colors
• 312 MHz Intel PXA270 processor, Palm OS v5.2.8, 32 MB RAM (24 MB actual storage)
• Integrated 1.2 MP digital camera that also shoots video

Reviews (16)

Zire 72 Not Worth It
Although the Zire 72 has fairly decent screen resolution, other features (or lack thereof) make it not worth the price.The battery life is terrible.After only 10 to 12 months of occaisional use, the battery in my Zire will not hold a charge for more than 10 to 20 minutes, and PalmOne wants $125 (plus shipping)to replace it.The blue paint began flaking off within days after I bought it.I just scraped it all off with my fingernail and the rough, brushed steel look was OK.

My first color Palm OS handheld!
All I can say is that PalmOne has really impressed me with their Zire 72 Special Edition!Perhaps I'm so taken by this PDA because I upgraded from a Handspring Visor Deluxe.I would give this PDA 5 stars if it included 802.11x wireless networking instead of the Bluetooth support. That costs one star!

Overall, I would definitely recommend this PDA to anyone interested in buying a new one.It's FAST, the color 320x320 screen is awesome -- very crisp text on this brilliantly lit color screen!I have yet to try the mp3 side of the handheld.That really isn't something important to me, though for many it is, and I have read reviews that say the sound quality is quite poor.Don't just take my word for it though -- do some research using Google.com to find reviews.

I like the Palm Zire 72s
Great little toy!

Pro:
Super blazing fast
Bluetooth works really well; sync via bluetooth is slow, but everything else is fine
I love the camera; great little addition
The screen is VERY vibrant and full and bright
Bundled software is great; lots of 3rd party stuff available, too, of course
Extra button for voice memos
Comes with a decent little case
USB cable allows it to trickle charge
Palm desktop makes adding and removing data easy, like media and contacts and stuff, including easy-to-use import/export utilities

So-so:
Battery life is simply sufficient; however, what do you expect with all that it does?
I'd like a better stylus
Screen makes a faint buzzing sound

Cons:
Well, the OS does some quirky "background" stuff when alarms are set or when the auto-off-and-lock feature is activated, etc.
Background image disappears when reset is performed
Seems like I have to reset more often than I did with my IIIxe; but that might be some 3rd party stuff I have installed

All in all, I've loved it.It's been great!

Bad Palm warranty
Overall its not a bad product, it does do a lot. The different language programs to read different types of languages has not caught up with it.

Nonetheless its good with letters. However, mine stopped recharging after the initial charge to start using it. Apparently it can often be damaging to carry it too close to certain kinds of cell phones. I don't undertand since it has a blue tooth function, what do they expect? Anyways I CALLLED PALM, and they wanted to CHARGE ME $40 TO "EXCHANGE" it with a new one, which I do not think is fair at all. I recommend purchasing some sort of insurance that would cover it so that you don't get ripped of by the "EXCHANGE" costs of replacing it.

Not a bad device
This is my first PDA in a few years and although I haven't really cross-shopped the Zire 72 with other PDAs in its price range, I am extremely happy with just about everything it does.The screen bright and the colors are nice and clear. The speaker is loud enough to be heard clearly at an arms lenth away.It probably could be heard even better if you were in a completely quiet room. Probably the best feature is the notes with alarm.Nothing beats scribbling a quick note and then having an alarm go off to show you what you wrote. ... Read more

Product Description

built-in digital camera (1.2-megapixel effective recording) * integrated Wi-Fi (802.11b) and Bluetooth wireless network capability * 3.5" LCD with Portrait and Landscape viewing modes * universal A/V remote control capability (using included HP Nevo software) * warranty: 1 year * ... Read more

Features

• Built-in 1.3 MP camera, 1280 x 960 resolution, 4x digital zoom, video record and playback
• 152 MB user available memory
• Integrated WLAN 802.11b, Bluetooth IrDA and USB
• Microsoft Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition software
• Samsung S3C 2440 processor

Reviews (16)

(Almost) perfect although a bit pricey
I would give this iPaq five stars were it at least $50 cheaper. Seems to get in line with the competition it would have to be $100 cheaper. But price aside this is a wonderful PDA. I've had a range of PDAs from the first Palm Pilot, Apple Newtons, Philips Nino, Psion Series 5, Sony Clie, and more, and this is overall the best one yet. It's a very small and light package full of features. I love having wifi and bluetooth built-in and it works fine with our AT&T wifi at home and at a local coffee-shop. Battery life is amazing. I've easily watched two feature length movies without running out of battery, and I can easily go a few days of normal use without a recharge.

Is all good? Well, no... the case that comes with the iPaq is pretty much useless. You're going to have to spend more money on a decent case. I got a Krusell Multidapt case. The screen seems to scratch very easily but that's common among these devices and you need screen protectors anyway. The HP software is not the greatest and you're going to want to get some other software to do some things.

Overall, a very good PDA, albeit a bit pricey.

Excellent pda
Excellent pda. Love the wifi feature that allows me to sync with my mainframe computer and other digital devices. The large IPAQ memory is a plus and the camera comes in handy when you need to take pictures unexpectedly. It does not freeze up like my previous generation pocket pc. Absolutely love it.

amazing!!
This is an absolutely amazing pda!I love it.The processor (400mHz) is faster than half of my school computers.Taking and editing pictures on the go is a breeze!video capture is astounding.152 mb of memory!The wireless is better than my laptop!battery live is good enough for 3+ days of heavy use.landscape mode is great for viewing webpages.What more can I say?I am actually typing this on my pda right now!I love it!

I love this thing -- so what if the camera sucks
This toy is a blast. I love it, even at the outrageous $499 price tag. It's fast, bright and well-designed. I've had countless pocketPC's over the years and am quite pleased with the design, battery life, performance and form factor of this one. It goes with me everywhere. Just two complaints. First, the camera really is a joke, in that pictures are pretty low quality and it handles moderate lighting levels poorly. But, then, who really buys a PDA for a camera? It's nice having camera capabilities, even if they're not the best. Second, I've had just a wee bit of trouble with the wireless network streaming capabilities of the NevoMedia -- it doesn't work except for photos -- but I'm still happy with HP's hardware.

wonderful pocket pc
this pocket pc has it all, with plenty features and software. it has alot of things you need, and alot of things you dont, but we all use pda's for different reason, and its important to have something for everyone. i wish everyone would stop complaing about the camera, i mean what do you expect with a 1.2 camera. it is perfect for what it was designed for, quick snap shots! if you are looking for a do it all pocket pc, then this pda is for you. ... Read more

Product Description

With 8MB of memory and intuitive software, this Palm Zire 21 Handheld frees up brain space and time by tracking all of the small details for you. It stays on top of your schedule with reminders and alarms for appointments, and puts thousands of contacts at your fingertips. While you're out, you can check things off your to-do list as you go, take notes on the Graffiti 2 writing area, check for upcoming birthdays and anniversaries, track your automobile maintenance, manage bills and finances, calculate tips or taxes, store passwords and more. The handheld synchronizes with Outlook so you can use the calendar, contacts, tasks and notes you already have. It has room to grow, too, which means you'll be able to add personalized software, such as an exercise log or shopping list manager, as you need it. The included software essentials CD features a customizable calculator, games, Palm Reader for reading eBooks (sold separately), Handmark Mobile DB date tracker and Money finance manager. Kit includes protective flip cover, stylus, read-this-first document, rechargeable battery and charging cable, and USB HotSync cable for synchronizing the Palm's data with a desktop PC. Uses Palm OS 5.2.1 and Texas Instruments OMAP 311 ARM processor. Compatible with Windows 98/2000/Me/XP or Mac OS 9.1 or OS X 10.1.2 to 10.2.6. 4-2/5Lx2-9/10Wx2/3D. ... Read more

Features

• Synchronizes with Outlook
• What’s in the box: Handheld device; Palm Desktop software including Note Pad and Expense; Software Essentials CD with Handmark Mobile DB and PDA Money; pre-installed basic applications such as Address Book, Date Book, etc.
• Keep all your important information--from appointments to addresses to notes--at your fingertips
• 8 MB of memory, bonus software, and a fast processor
• Play games on the go or read an eBook

Reviews (70)

Bad Palm Pilot
Like the others, I bought this Palm since my old Palm V died. Lured by the low price and name 'Palm', I figured this would be ok just for the basics. After a few months (just after the meager 90 day warranty expired) my Palm died. Kaput. Nothing. After doing some 'soft' and 'hard' resets, still nothing. I will not buy anything from Palm again. Waste of money and time...

Total junk
I had the same bad experience as others- was looking for a simple PDA and got the Zire but after using it less than a dozen times it just broke. Poof. Nothing.

Same problems!
My palm just died, for the second time in less than a month! I've had mine for nearly 2 years, had never hot sync'ed it, and threw my organizer out when I got my palm. It was good for the first 2 years, and then phht! I wasn't looking for anything flashy, I wanted something very basic. All I needed was a basic organizer and phone book. Now I don't have either, and with no help from support. My problems seem like the same ones everyone else seems to be having, but I do agree--I'm very wary of buying anything from palm again.

Worthless junk: died after a few months of light use.
It was ok when it's working. The display is a little dim and can be hard to read. It died after a few months (just out of warranty). Now I have a DELL Axim X50, but still like the Palm
operating system better. Just wish Palm could make more reliable
hardware.

Just... missing too much.
I've bought this Handheld when it was still $100, and i seriously felt that i was losing interest in its possiblities. I had a Palm M100, that the Zire21 is truely a great improvement from but doesn't stand out to all the other handhelds.

What i was really dissapointed in was there was NO backlight. The M100 had backlight, and it was a hassle to change batteries. But now you can "recharge" it! And still they didn't implement it.

I think the best thing about the Zire is the processor, which is(not accurately )120 mhz, making the handheld not lag even if clogged up with as much data as possible.

For a handheld of $100 i didn't expect color, just a decent grayscale, and it was good. Downside was the resolution. In this case, the bigger the better.

The reason i bought the zire was to have a quick palm to flash out when i'm at work, school, or have to write something down in a jiffy. Thing is, maybe i don't know my own strenght but it seemed that there were already scratches on the screen's surface.Which made it sometimes harder to see.

I would recommend this palm for anyone who need a little jump start on palm handhelds or students who need an inexpencive organizer. Hey, it worked for me, well.. heheh.. uhh.. for while. ... Read more

Product Description

The sleek, less-than-5-oz. HP iPAQ h4155 Pocket PC offers optimized performance that will keep you productive, both while you're on the move and when you've reached your destinations. Integrated WLAN 802.11b, Bluetooth and a Secure Digital (SDIO) slot round out this model's powerful features. ... Read more

Features

• VPN software provides enhanced security for wireless connection
• Removable/rechargeable Lithium-Ion battery for continuous power
• Slim, sleek, and affordable
• Integrated Bluetooth for wireless communication with other Bluetooth devices
• Secure Digital slot for greater storage and expansion

Reviews (46)

breaks easily/customer support is a joke
display screen cracks easily.to make matters worse, don't spend the extra money to buy the protective case because the closure magnets on it also cause the screen to crack.when you call customer service, they charge at least $175 to repair and are very rude.

breaks easily, can't be repaired cheaply
I purchased an HP IPAQ 4155 several months ago and was initially impressed with its functionality and power.However, the touch-screen fractured shortly thereafter, rendering it useless.I don't recall placing any stress on the screen or striking it, but it fractured while sitting in my pocket in its 'protective' case.Very fragile.The replacement touch screen cost $85 (I was just replacing the touch screen, not the LCD itself)!My trouble was only beginning.I am a trained computer technician, but I could not even OPEN up the damn unit to replace the touch screen without the case breaking into pieces.What a rip-off.They purposefully designed the unit so that you have to buy a new one if anything breaks, or send it in to HP so they can charge you an arm and a leg.I will not buy another HP product.

Screen Breaks and it will.
All the good reviews are from people that have just purchased this item. Wait till the screen breaks by its self.

I have owned 5 ipaqs, starting with the Aero and going all the way to 4155.

One day I looked at my ipaq and it had a crack on the screen about 1 inch long. I knew immediately that the crack will grow and it did.





The unit has never been dropped or mishandeled. Its does not even have a scratch on it. I am a person that uses a super fine tip fiber tip for my regular writing and never exert any pressure on the pen, letalone the stylus.

The crack came by its self and now the repair costs are in excess of 180 $.

After reading all the people that have broken their ipaq screens I am thinking of filing a class action law suit against HP. They should provide free screen replacements to their customers. (something similar to what compaq had to do to replace all floppy drives for their customers)

I will try to setup a blog page where we can get together and suethe company.

[...]

Melted screen
As other reviewers I was very excited about this little toy, until (as happened with other reviewers too) the screen melted yesterday. Now I am stuck without the PDA and with a headache of fixing it. HP should spend more on engineering and quality parts, less on marketing.

Get a Palm.
When I got up today I found my iPAQ 4155 with a melted screen. Sometime in the night sitting on it's base it just died. Called support and was told that it was a common thing to have happen. Then I was told that it would be $175.00 to fix it. I'm now going out and getting a Palm. I wish I would have saved my money.

... Read more

Product Description

Designed with convenience in mind, TJ27 CLI� Handheld lets you take snap-shots anywhere as well as keep your hectic business and personal life organized. PEG-TJ27 features a high-resolution color screen (320 x 320 pixels) that displays images and fonts in fine detail. It comes with Palm OS 5.2 and 32MB internal memory so you can add more applications as needed. Enjoy virtually unlimited storage for additional applications and data using Memory Stick media and Memory Stick PRO media - access information on-the-fly with the easy-to-use Jog Dial navigator. ... Read more

Features

• Internal lithium-ion polymer rechargeable battery
• Palm OS version 5.2, i.MXL application processor, 32 MB RAM
• Built-in 310K Pixels CMOS Camera with 2x Digital Zoom (JPEG, 640 x 480 resolution)
• High resolution TFT Color Display (320 x 320 dots, 65,536 colors)
• Integrated Memory Stick slot (compatible with optional Memory Stick Pro media)

Reviews (27)

Everything I expected and MORE
I purchased the TJ27 on May 20th expecting a small, nonflashy, down to earth PDA with the ability for me to be connected all the time at work and home (I bought the WiFi memory stick for a steal, $20). When I got it, I charged it up, popped in the wifi card, and loaded netfront, and was WOWED. This is a SNAPPY machine. It excells at PIM functions better than the _new_ PalmOne units!

Looking back, the TJ37 was more appealing, but I cant justify the 60$ more to get it instead of the TJ27 + WiFi stick. This palm looks great, functions perfectly, and I'm certainly not ashamed to pull it out infront of someone with a brand new (read: $450+) Tungsten T5. My only wish is that Sony had continued the Clie line.

All in all, I am impressed with this unit. Battery life is excellent (5 hours wifi on, 7+ hours wifi off), and the unit preforms well under all circumstances. if you are contimplating buying one of these or similar model, go with the TJ27 or TJ37, as the TJ25 and TJ35 had a VERY severe backlight defect.

It's the best you can get for its price
I bought my Sony CLIE TJ27 back in August from a local Staples. I was looking at a Zire, but another person that was looking at the Sony TJ27 said that for about $30 more dollars I could get this one, which is much better. So I bought it for $160. From all the features it had, it was a steal.

I've had a GameBoy in the past so I know how easy it is to scratch screens on PDAs. So I bought some plastic cover sheets with it. They fit perfectly and the screen is in perfect condition. The Stylus it comes with is very, very comfortable and the whole handheld is just downright sexy. I also purchased a 250 MB memory stick for it, which was over half the price I paid for the actual handheld. I shouldn't have bought one so big, because the included CLIE Viewer is a real pain when you have tons and tons of pics.

The built in camera is one of the first things I became fond with. I now have thousands of pictures, most of which I would consider priceless, and I still have over 200 MB left of my 250 MB card. The pictures look fairly well on the handheld but have poor quality when viewed on a computer. But still, this isn't for the professional photographer, this is for the average guy that just wants to save his best memories in picture form. One thing that I don't like about the camera, however, is that it eats up the battery severely. When using the camera, it's "open lense, snap, shut lense". Otherwise you'll find yourself charging it twice a day.

It comes with a built in attractive CLIE Launcher, but since I'm an old guy, I'm used to the old generic Palm style launcher, so I stick to that. It also comes with the standard Palm software. The screen is absolutely amazing. Very clear, high resolution, and lots of colors. The processor is quite fast, as well.

I've also read about a few incidences where the screen has broke... even just from falling a couple of feet onto a carpet. I've put my CLIE through a LOT of abuse. I've dropped it many times. Just recently I tripped over the power cord and it fell four feet from my desk onto a concrete floor. No scratches, and it works just as good. I've also dropped on many other occaisions. My assumption is that in the incidences that the screen broke, there was nothing protecting it. I've had the plastic cover screen on it since the day I bought it. So the plastic probably provides additional reinforcement. I also use the "flap" that it comes with, so I think that has also saved me a couple times.


All in all, this is a great palm that I'd highly recommend to anyone that is on a low budget, but wants a great bargain. Although, there is one thing that I strongly dislike about the TJ27 and this is why I rate it four stars instead of five. When I turn it off and put it in my pocket, one of the "shortcut" buttons always somehow manages to get pressed, and then it turns on for two minutes until it shuts itself off. I believe that it's the flap pressing against the "Memo" button on the far right. But when this happens, it wastes about 15% of my battery.

Pretty to look at....
One of the things that originally attracted me to the Clie was its sleek styling and compact design, especially since I carry it everywhere I go.However, after the disappointing technical/customer service I've received from Sony (ignoring my e-mails) and the difficulty in finding a replacement stylus for this product, I would not recommend buying this handheld.Even if Sony is discontinuing its handheld line, they should have some sense of loyalty to their customers and continue to support their product.After going to four electronics stores and visting the Amazon and Sonystyle websites, I am still without a replacement stylus (extends & retracts) for this product.If customer service and ease in obtaining replacement parts is a consideration in your purchase of a handheld, don't waste your money on Sony.

back light does not work
13 months ago ago I bought a Sony clie tj-35
The back light doesn't work and I am told it from their tech support website it is going to cost me $124.00 to fix it.
I am going to buy a palm tungsten E.I feel I've been ripped off.

Product great; service lacking
If I were reviewing the unit alone, I would give it five stars. However, one must consider the whole package, including service and support, and here there are problems. When my Clie firstarrived, the battery had a serious problem: it would drain from full to zero in less than 24 hours, whether I turned the unit on or not. So I was all excited to get the Clie, only to find that it was unusable. I sent it in and waited. After being without the thing for almost three weeks, it came back from the Sony service department with the same exact problem! To call this frustrating is an understatement. So I called and emailed and called again, getting various stupid suggestions (one Sony tech insisted that I was leaving the unit turned on 24/7--I am no Einstein but for cripes' sake I'm not THAT stupid!). So I sent it in AGAIN. And waited AGAIN. This time the gurus at Sony decided there really was a problem and--at my insistence--they replaced the Clie. Now it is working great and I love it. So buy the unit, but be ready for some battles if you need service! ... Read more

Product Description

The PEG-UX40 Personal Entertainment Communicator features built-in Bluetooth technology in a compact and lightweight design. Powered by Palm OS 5, the UX40 is powerful, portable, and easy to use!By pairing the UX40 with other Bluetooth enabled devices you can transfer data between CLI� handhelds, HotSync with a PC, or connect to the Internet via cell phone.The built-in 310, 000 pixel digital camera supports up to VGA (640x480) resolution, and is perfect for taking quick snapshots and transmitting over one of the wireless connections. You can also record and play back video (MPEG4, 30 fps, 160x112)!The new wide-screen design features a high-resolution 480x320 display. The wider display allows more web pages to be readable, improving your Internet experience. The screen lifts to expose the keyboard, or swivels to hide the keyboard and use as a touch screen. Plus, more room is available for the built in keyboard, allowing for more space between each key.The UX40 also features Dedicated Internal Media Memory (29 MB) for storing multimedia content. The Automatic Data Back-up feature helps protect your information by moving data in RAM memory to non-volatile memory when a low battery state is detected. ... Read more

Features

• What's in the box: CLIE handheld, Charger Cradle, USB HotSync Cable, Retractable Stylus, AC Adapter, Hand Strap, Installation CD-ROM, Instruction manuals
• A new concept in handhelds: an extremely portable personal entertainment communicator
• 6 onces, including stylus
• Integrated Bluetooth interface
• High-resolution TFT Color Display (480 x 320 dots, 65,536 colors)

Reviews (3)

Best PDA I've Owned
I've owned way too many PDAs, and have come to several conclusions:

1 Palm OS excells,
2. HP iPaqs are a disaster,and
3. SONY exceeded my expectations.

Unless you need Wi-Fi, it's not worth it.

This is by far the most feature filled unit that is on the market. It's size and features will address just about any need you may have.

Keyboard is comfortable, and bundled software is great to show off the features.You'll be hard pressed to get over the novelty of this wonderful machine.You won't be sorry.

Best PDA out there (not including UX50)
I have had several PDAs, and this is by far the best.I got it mainly for the built-in keyboard and high-res screen, but it is the total package.I sold my Dell Axim which was quite good to get the UX40 and I don't miss it at all.

Pros:
- Super compact
- Loaded with features
- Bluetooth built-in
- Great screen
- Keyboard is very convenient
- Multimedia
- Fast
- Super cool and well made

Cons:
- Battery life not great, but OK
- Kind of pricey
- Camera good only for low res pics

- Landscape screen only (not a big deal to me)

Buy it - you know you want it.

Love at first glance, but then...
I love it the first time I saw it, using the excelent services of Amazon.com I have it in my hands in couple of days.
I changed from a nice Hp 1945 Pocket PC to Sony UX-40, but I'm not sure if was a wise idea:

1. The screen is too small to have a comfortable sight
2. Keyboard is nice in size but I don't like the feeling of the keys.
3. It's not cheap, and the software provided is very limited, if you want to use the other software provided, you have to pay.
4. Quality of photos is low

5. You have to carry the cradle if you want to charge it in your car with the proper adapter.

Very nice looking device but maybe is oriented to a younger market (but the price is not oriented to it)

I will give it a couple of weeks, if not convinced, maybe my wife can give me back the Ipaq 1945 ... Read more

Product Description

The modern design of the newest SJ-Series CLI� handheld feels as good as it looks. The smooth, translucent cover protects the screen from dust and scratches, and flips easily out of the way for operation.The 66 MHz processor, high-resolution color screen, and built-in MP3 player are ideal for the latest multimedia applications. Get organized, listen to music, and play games, all with one stylish handheld. You can even view and edit Microsoft Word and Excel files using Documents to Go - Standard Edition by DataViz, Inc.The Memory Stick media expansion slot provides virtually unlimited storage capability for your favorite applications. Plus, the Jog Dial navigator makes it easy to access most of your stored information using only one hand.The SJ33 comes with a variety of full-version and trial-version software so you can get maximum use and enjoyment out of your new CLI� handheld, plus the Palm OS software is compatible with hundreds of 3rd-party software applications available for download. ... Read more

Features

• DragonBall Super VZ 66 MHz processor running Palm OS software version 4.1
• TFT color display with back lights, 320 x 320 pixels, 16-bit color
• 16 MB internal memory
• Built-in MP3 Audio Player
• What's in the box: CLIÉ handheld, USB HotSync cable, AC adapter, Stylus, Headphones and volume controller

Reviews (32)

Best Palm I have ever owned
I am a long time palm user. First the Palm IIIC, then the Palm m500, then the Sony Clie SJ-22 and now the Sony Clie SJ-33.
I have been using this SJ-33 since May of 2004 when I got it on a closeout sale for $149. It was the best deal on electronics I have ever received. I love the fact that I can sync outlook, word and excel documents. It helps with my work as an engineer greatly. The other thing that is great about this little handheld is that the Dragonball processor has more than enough juice to play movies. Little known fact about this handheld is that you can burn dvd's (using PocketDVD) and then convert them to .pdb format using Kinoma Producer 3 to watch full length movies on this palm. As far as I know it is the only pre Palm OS5 device that has the horsepower to do this. Granted, you have to buy PocketDVD and Kinoma Producer, and I recommend a 256Meg memory card to hold one movie but even with these costs you get the functionality of a much newer machine. The battery life is excellent, especially compared to my old IIIc and m505. I have a seperate memory stick that I use to listen to MP3's on this palm, that functionality is great as well. I take it to the gym in the morning and I either listen to MP3's or I watch a Seinfeld episode or 2 while I am on the stair master. There is enough battery life to watch two entire movies on one charge (with the brightness set to the middle). I already know that I will be using this PDA until it breaks and goes into the trash can.

Pros:
-Excellent multimedia capabilities
-Jog dial, if you have never had one, you need one!
-long battery life, and it is replaceable
-very rugged construction, I have dropped it from waist level several times and aside from some scratches, no internal damage

Cons:
-You have to buy third party software to get full functionality
-Sony support is dwindling since they have exited the US-PDA market
-I wish the memory card slot would 'lock', when I have accidentally dropped it on the ground the memory card literally launches out of the slot, going several feet away

Sony support nonexistant
If sony could get a zero, I would give them a zero.Sony has no concept of giving their customers any after purchase support.The battery on this clie has never held a decent charge.Due to my work, I am not able to leave it plugged in all day; so I tried to find a car charger. No one had one not even sony and their support never emailed me back.I decided to replace the battery and once again no one had a replacement, and sony was non responsive.I guess by halting support of their clies sony believes that everyone will have to buy a psp.NOT ME!

Excellent PDA for an affordable cost
This is my 2nd PDA. I had a Casio PV-S1600. So I was used to monochrome screen and no snazzy apps.
This palm OS based color CLIE just blasted me away.
The palm 4 os based software are easily available online. The PDA serves all my purpose ... entertainment or work. The built in mp3 player is great.
I give it a thumbs up!

Cons:
A faster proccessor and RAM needed... (yes im greedy)
No cradle available with package
Built in Speaker not loud enough

Lousy product support from Sony
We bought several units for office staff.Liked the unit's functionality, but several units had re-charging issues.Could not get satisfactory help from Sony, wanted nearly $500 to "fix" one unit, claiming that it had evidence of moisture damage to the mother board.At that time, it was less than two weeks out of the box, and never exposed to moisture.There was no one from Sony to talk to, despite their fancy voice interactive service line.Called numerous times.Best I got was a commitment that the service team that dealt with it would call me back within 24 hours.... nothing doing.Eventually returned the unit to me - without repair done.

Good but flimsy
I was happy with the features and screen of this PDA, although its plastic construction felt flimsy compared to my old Palm V.Unfortunately, I have had to return this CLIE for repair/replacement.The innards of the memory stick slot broke loose.SONY warranty service answered my call promptly, and quickly sent me a pre-addressed FedEx carton for return of the unit. ... Read more

Product Description

PEG-TJ37 delivers wireless freedom, rich productivity and multimedia features. With built-in wireless LAN (802.11b), you can access the Internet wirelessly at home, the office, and public hotspots where the Wi-Fi network is available. Take a picture with the built-in digital camera, make a free-hand note, and email the files to your office. TJ37 also offers natural handwriting recognition by Decuma Input. TJ37 makes your office portable - with Picsel Viewer you can review Mircosoft documents and PDF files. Enjoy MP3 music with TJ37 on your flight home from your business trip. TJ37 has all of your business and personal data needs covered. ... Read more

Features

• Palm OS version 5.2, i.MXL application processor, 32 MB RAM
• Built-in 310K Pixels CMOS Camera with 2x Digital Zoom (JPEG, 640 x 480 resolution), audio player, and video player
• High resolution TFT Color Display (320 x 320 dots, 65,536 colors)
• Integrated Memory Stick slot (compatible with optional Memory Stick Pro media)
• Internal lithium-ion polymer rechargeable battery

Reviews (25)

Great PDA for PDA functions
People are asking too much for a PDA to be a PDA. If you want to get an all-in-one device, then get a smartphone/black-berry kind of thing. This is a PDA and it worked well for me. The only thing that doesn't come with it is the voice recorder (but you can alway make some notes). I got it for about $155 brand new in the box, and I think it's worth for the price.
Sony screen resolution is alway the best. Internet connection is great. Yes, you need an extra memory stick (but it's cheaper now with 512MB MS-Pro for about $55 online). Sony stops making PDAs. Therefore, these PDA will be "collectable" Sony brand PDAs soon.

Clie is the palm to go with
I read through many reviews on amazon before buying so I thought I would give my opinion on some of the issues.The two biggest complaints I saw were about the stylus being too small and the battery being too delicate.I was a little worries about the stylus because I write a lot (actually wore out my last palm's writing surface), but I figured I would carry my own stylus.This was not necessary because the Clie stylus is great!I have no idea what the complaints were based on.It is a retractable stylus, meaning it is small when you remove it but it extends to the length of a normal, comfortable stylus.In fact, the design is very smart :)As for the battery, mine works great -- although I've only had the Clie a few weeks.however, I imagine that some people who were complaining about battery failure did not take care of the battery.Every lithium battery is delicate.The best way to preserve the life of your batter is to calibrate it once every 3 months.This means completely draining the battery down to 0 before charging it up again.if you don't do this your battery life will become less and less over time.In conclusion, this is the best Palm I've ever used.It is snappy, runs 3rd party apps very well, has an easy to use launcher, nice graphics, camera takes nice pictures, wireless works great (although it supports limited encryption types), all in all a great purchase :)

Extended Warranty is worthless on this unit
I purchased the Sony Clie PEG-TJ37 because it had the features I was looking for at a reasonable price. I did't want to learn a new operating system. The unit worked perfect for the first six months. I did experince some problems with the built-in software but was able to upload patches to fix the wireless connectivity problems. The camera was excellent. Being able to take digital pictures and then send them via the internet wirelessly was such a comfort. I never used the mp3 player. All other funtions as for as hot sync's of software was a snap. The problems I had were due tothe flimsy cover to protect the screen. It lost one of the rubber hinges and didn't offer much protection. I purchased the 2 year extended warranty from Sony. That also was a big mistake. My unit would not cut off and the screen was cracked due to an accidental drop. The warranty was to have covered this, but I found out later that it didn't cover the cracked screen. I am very hesitant about buying another PDA from Sony for this reason. I will never pay for an extended warranty again. I have been asked to pay 147.00 to repair the unit even after purchasing the extended coverage which i refuse to pay. Hopefully I can find another unit and if I do pay for any insurance I wll make sure that what is told me by the salesman is also written and underlined in the contract before buying.

Good features, bad construction, ugly customer support
I purchased the PEG-TJ37 because it had an excellent suite of features.I was disapointed to find out that some of those features didn't work unless you threw down another 100 bucks for a reasonably sized memory stick.I was happy with the WiFi feature, which was the main reason i got it.I also thought the camera was great.Many people thought of it as a gimmicky extra feature, but it works better than any cell phone camera that i had used, and it seems more fitting for a pda to have a camera.It was especially useful for capturing signs or pages in books at the library, and i could see potential for it in a lab environment to get quick snapshots of results.Sony could have done more to legitimize it's integration into a pda, like including optical character recognition software to allow you
to take pix of text and incorporate it into memos.

My disillusionment with this product began with the poor battery life.That coupled with the switches tendency to be turned on in my pocket was a disaster.I went for a run of losing data everyday due to the battery being completely drained.Luckily
i did go ahead and purchase a memory stick so i was able to back up the clie and restore the data from anywhere, once i managed to get it charged.

Within a month of owning the clie i noticed a screw was missing,
now at 4 months all but one have fallen out.

3 months after i got it, the camera button stopped working.

at 4 months the digitizer on the screen broke while it was in my pocket.

This made the device useless so i called customer service to get it fixed.I was given the same run around as others on this sight, "the screen isn't covered no matter how gentle you were
with it, pay us $140 and we'll fix it."That is more than half of it's current value.

You know, I could have looked up the warranty before i purchased
this product and seen that screens weren't covered.I probably would have purchased it anyway, not knowing just how darn fragile
the clie was.Maybe I was naive to think that Sony would make a quality product and that if they messed up they would stand behind the product anyway.But they made a poor product and have failed to stand behind it.This is my third pda and the first that essentially fell apart.My first was a Palm m100 which i replaced because i needed something better, but it stood up to 3 years of use and still works.My second was a Visor pro, which also proved to be very durable, lasting about 2 1/2 years before the buttons started to malfunction.And now here i am 4 months after purchasing the most expensive of my pda's and it's a paper weight.

Decent PDA, but extras left me wanting.
The Sony TJ37 is my fourth PDA since 1998, when I jumped on the bandwagon with the first Palm III (since then: IIIxe, Clie SJ30, and now Clie TJ37). Back when I first had the Palm III, I wrote a memo to myself entitled, "When this technology will be worth it" The items I wanted in this palm-sized device were:

1) A full-fledged desktop computer with unrestricted internet access
2) A radio
3) A TV
4) A telephone
5) A weather station (therm., baro.)
6) GPS device
7) Almanac

The TJ37 offers none of those. It does have 802.11b support, which comes in handy if you're at a hotspot. The bundled browser is a passable solution for on-the-go email checking, although it doesn't work with certain websites, like Gmail). Other bundled software is appreciated, but not the boon to the PDA industry it should be. PicselViewer is the only stand-out among the new Sony-specific applications (a multi-format document viewer). I still found myself going back and installing apps that go above and beyond the limited offerings of programs for DateBook and the like.

The biggest selling point for me was the inclusion of MP3 support (via the slick-looking AeroPlayer) and the digital camera, both of which excited that part of my brain that's excited about convergence of technologies. But, as with all Swiss-Army-Knife-style gadgets, the add-ons were underwhelming in their functionality.

AeroPlayer is limited to how much Memory Stick storage you have available (an empty 64 MB stick will get you less than a full album's worth of songs) and the anemic battery life while playing the music.

The camera is likewise underwhelming, performing particularly poorly in low light situations. Exposure time is automatic, with no user control available, so unless you have a steady hand, you'll find yourself with grainy, blurry, yellow-hued pictures more often than not. Pictures in settings with more ambient light fare somewhat better, though the low resolution makes this camera far from a replacement for the dedicated digital cameras on the market now (even the cheapest ones have resolutions four times higher than the Clie's highest resolution setting. Still, the camera is good to have in a pinch.

The TJ37 was my first exposure to Palm OS5, and I found the OS unable to meet the hype of its rollout. It includes a new Grafitti handwriting-recognition algorithm that more closely resembles normal handwriting. The downside of this only occurs to folks who have become used to the old style of Grafitti. I found myself unable to create captial letters, T's, I's, L's and K's properly until I forced myself to relearn the system. But that falls under the category of annoyance more than debilitating feature.

In terms of form factor, it's almost exactly the same as my previous Clie, the SJ30. The JogDial has been moved to a position of prominence between the four hard-wired buttons below the silkscreen area, a change I appreciated very much. Flanking the JogDial on either side are a pair of navigation buttons that would be extremely helpful if they'd been used by more applications. Perhaps the best feature in the case is the addition of a "hold" position to the power button. This prevents the Clie's power being sucked dry by a accidental pressing in a pocket or purse. The new stylus design did not bother me as much as it has some other reviewers, and indeed I appreciated the engineering it took to get a full-sized (if telescoping) stylus in to the case. The drawback is tha tif you lose it, you're pretty much out of luck, as it's a stylus design common to no other PDA.

All in all, the TJ37 seemed to promise much, but the overall execution left it wanting. The new features, while appreciated, were carried out in the lackluster manner that befits a line of products that Sony is phasing out of America. ... Read more

Product Description

Marketing description is not available. Please refer to the manufacturer web site for any updated marketing information. ... Read more

Features

• Rechargeable lithium-ion battery provides 5 hours audio listening, 2 hours video playback
• Includes USB cable, audio cables, software, a carrying case, rechargeable battery, charger/adapter, and earbud headphones
• Measures 3.7 x 3.1 x 0.7 inches (W x H x D)
• Plays MPEG-4 audio/video, MP3, MPG, A/VI, MP4, DAT, WMV, ASF; records MPEG-4 in real time (using included transcoder software)
• Stores up to 110 minutes of video internally; offers SD Card slot for additional storage and photo viewing right out of your SD camera

Reviews (5)

An essential device if you want to digitise home videos
Gives a new life to family movies
Reviewer: Gavin Wilson from Thames Ditton, Surrey United Kingdom
It's fascinating to contrast my experience of this device with the reviews of others. This in itself is testament to the flexibility of the machine.

My situation is that I had several Video8 cassettes gathering dust. They contained priceless material -- films of my children growing up -- but I hadn't got around to watching them for a while. I was also aware that the non-digital format was outdated, and that viewing the films would become increasingly more difficult over time, as the tape ages and manufacturers stop making compatible players.

But with this device, you just plug the camcorder in, press 'play' on the camcorder and 'record', and you're transfering all your analogue material across into digital format. (They come across as .ASF files which Windows Media Player recognises.) Brilliant!

Rather than copy a whole Video8 tape across as one huge file, I tend to break it up into five-minute segments, simply by pressing the 'stop' button, then re-starting.

Anyone with old analogue video material should get one of this type of device. Judging by the other reviews here, the PVP4040 seems as good a device as any.

I have it for a year and it just got good!
I bought this a year ago, and was very disapointed.It had very few features, was hard to use, and SD cars cost so much, it was worthless.Now, there is a firmware update you can get through yahoo groups, that adds all the features of the expensive units, and SD cards are reasonable.I love my new year old toy.You can record video with a timer, and on a 512mb SD card hold 6 hours of video.Everything you need is in the box.Very satisfied.Life is good when the stuff you already own gets better..........

Where to get the latest firmware update!
Goto this Yahoo Group below to get the lastest goodies about this PVP404 unit. Like the hard to find firmware updates.. Join the group and stick around!

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GoVideoPVP4040/

CONS: the battery life needs to be improved, but folks are already on the case locating cheaper battery alternatives to the Govideo OEM battery..

F.

very nifty at new price
firstly there is substitute firmware around, not hard to find, that really makes this unit work fantastic.

secondly the prices of these are half of what you see here so look around.

I am confused at the previous review because I easily get 2 hours on the onboard lilon battery (not to mention the ac and dc adapters). the killer app is that it takes standard sd card flash mememory and one gig cards are now south of ninety bucks. since the pvp4040 can be bought for one hundred bucks that means less than two hundred bucks get's you a very cool device able to hold over almost four hours of mpeg4 video on "fine" (native 480x240) resolution.

it converts easily to mpeg4 with its own decoders (quite cool and simple) and you can record off of your pcr,or as I do off your pc using any dvd you own or any tv program you captuer if you have a capture card like an ATI. I keep 20 full length 90 minute two hour films converted to mpeg4 at 240x480 on my hard drive. they take less than $5 worth of hard drive space and I can stick two of them on an sd card in about one minute (actually my nine-year old can).

my kid loves this unit for the car. it goes anywhere in your pocket and is a lot hardier then portable an easily broken portable dvd players.

Not good enough...
Most people should pass on this device.

It is probably about 1 or 2 years behind the current portable a/v technology; the screen quality is barely adequate for video or picture playback; the interface is awkward to use; the battery life is short (maybe 45 minutes for video playback and picture viewing); and finally, it is difficult to encode video clips for this device.

Cool concept, small form factor, nice design, but it does not work very well. ... Read more

Features

• Mobile companion for choosing, evaluating, managing, and enjoying wine
• Up-to-date reviews, ratings, and details for 10,000+ wines worldwide
• Comprehensive wine glossary with over 1,400 terms and definitions
• Gain further wine knowledge with an in-depth Wine 101 course
• Interactive vintage chart with wine maturity and harvest-quality ratings

Reviews (2)

Nonexistant support,missing wines, and tecnical glitches
I purchased this software (2004 version) for an HP Windows-based PDA in Decemeber.Upon installation, I was alerted to the fact that the software was written for an ealier version of the Windows PDA software, and that certain aspects of the software may not function correctly.Sure enough, there were some technical glitches- not too serious, but enough to be annoying.

Emails to LandWare tech support went (and have still gone) unanswered.

In order to try and remedy the glitches, the 2005 upgrade was purchased directly from the LandWare web site.This failed to fix the problems, and the same error message was received upon installation about it being programmed for an earlier windows version.

In addition, the library of wines is incomplete and does not include listings from the actual Wine Enthusiast magazines printed up until the 2005 version was released.This is contrary to Landware's claim of up-to-date listings and reviews.

I just have to reiterate how downright disgustingly terrible LandWare's customer support is.If it were better, it might excuse some of the software shortcomings.

Great Content but Beware Copy Protection and Support
CONTENT - 5 STARS

The Wine Enthusiast's PDA Guide 2004 Edition is an incredibly useful program and very appropriate for a PDA. If you are new to wines, it will guide you through the learning process and help you avoid disappointing purchases. If you like to explore new vintners and new vintages, it's a great tool to take with you when shopping at the local wine merchant. And if you're out at dinner and you're overwhelmed by the wine list, this is exactly what you need to cut through the clutter and pick the perfect beverage.

The reviews are numerous (over 10,000), but brief and to the point. It will easily group wines by variety, price, rating, style and region. You can even use it to maintain your personal tasting notes and cellar inventory.

TECHNICAL - 2 STARS

The Guide has some nice technical features. You can beam information to other PDA users and even store the program on a removable memory card. But because of the small memory footprint it occupies, you may not have to take advantage of that feature. The installation is straightforward.

HOWEVER, the poorly designed copy protection scheme can be a real problem. And unfortunately, the documentation is silent on this. When you install the program from the CD or purchase an activation code after downloading the Guide from LandWare, the program links the Guide, the activation code and the owner's name as listed on your PDA. This is not a problem unless you modify the PDA owner's name. In my case I simply added my middle initial. Any change, even in case, will invalidate the install and cause the program to deny entrance and ask you to purchase a new license. So rather than linking the copy protection to a serial number on the CPU or some other element of the PDA hardware, LandWare chose to link it to a user-changeable field and didn't bother to warn you not to change that field. This is very poor design, not something a technologist would have created. Maybe marketing designed it?

SUPPORT - 0 STARS

I contacted LandWare for assistance and was told the following:

1) The software is licensed to a specific user for one PDA. Aside from the fact this is contrary to their license agreement (installation on one PDA at a time and create one backup copy), my Axim 3i, like most PDAs, is not multi-user capable unless you count handing it from person to person.

2) Initially, they were unwilling to help me because I had not sent in my warranty card. The fact that one had not been included in the sealed CD case I received from Amazon and that there is no way to register online did not seem to matter.

3) Because I had purchased the Guide from a third party (Amazon), and not downloaded it from their site, I would have to fax them a Xerox of my CD and the authorization number before they would try to help me gain access to the Guide and the data I had already entered, even though I had the authorization number and CD I had originally used to install.

4) I suggested in a very nice way that I understood why they had copy protection and that for future releases perhaps they should consider linking the copy protection to something inside the PDA like a serial number or configuration that doesn't change. And if that was not workable, that they at least warn people not to modify the username field on their PDA. I received a curt response that I can best characterize as "Shut up and sit down. We own it and this is the way we do it."

In the end I did a hard reset and reloaded my applications to get the Guide to properly reinstall. And of course I lost all of my tasting comments and cellar data from the Guide.

BOTTOM LINE AVERAGE - 2 STARS

It's great content, but LandWare stumbles on poorly designed copy protection and weak support. The Wine Enthusiast is a great magazine and I am very excited to see them produce this product. I just wish that had chosen someone else to produce and support it.

Caveat Emptor. Know what you are buying and the risks involved. ... Read more

Product Description

Suunto N3 Smart Computer Watch. The Suunto N3 Wristop computer Smart Watch will change the way you interpret your world by bringing internet content to your wrist. The N3 makes useful items like weather, stock quotes, news, and sports instantly accessible. It keeps you connected to friends, coworkers, and family through instant messenger (MSN Messenger) and calendar (Microsoft Outlook) programs. The N3 only receives informationso you won't be able to immediately reply to messages. It is, quite simply, a revolutionary step forward in mobile internet technology. So how does it work? The Suunto N3 is a MSN Direct device, so youll need a paid subscription to the service (www.msndirect.com). MSN Direct has service areas throughout the 50 United States, District of Columbia, and Canada. It currently reaches close to 120 metropolitan areas. Simply plug the N3 into your computers USB port, log on to MSN Direct, and customize the data that is continually sent to your new watch. The watch is simple to set up, learn, and easy to use. Of course, the N3 has all your favorite sports watch features as well: a stopwatch, lap and split times, an interval timer, programmable alarms, time, and date. ... Read more

Features

• Rugged body, water resistant to 100m
• Stocks, news, personal messages, and more--delivered wirelessly to your watch
• One of the first devices to use MSN Direct, a wireless subscription service
• Automatically updates to the correct local time when you travel
• Customizable data channels and watch faces

Reviews (12)

Good product. - Thick
Pros:
humongous, clear face - stunning
pretty watch
easy user interface
waterproof, bangproof, everything proof
many timer features
MSN Direct - like nothing else

Cons:
$60 per year, unless you just want to keep time for $300
$300 for the watch
THICK - I thought there was a mistake on the amazon review. This seriously is half an inch thick.
No hourly weather

Great product. It is still amazing to me. The backlight is strong, and I get the sports scores while riding my bike! It is easy to use for a "gadget". Note: this is much better than the Fossil/Fossil-Abacus watches. It can take a beating, and recieve messages. Graphics are clear and common. It is a great watch (I believe, because this is my first watch). Just note: this thing is really thick. Every picture seems to hide it, but not this one: shermans.gotdns.com/SuuntoN3.jpg. Think this watch over - it is different. However, it is very good.

Excellent Watch
This is an awesome watch.Forget the naysayers.Just buy it.

overrated, again microsoft in over it's head
I feel gyped after having used this a few months. It has a few neat features and keeps perfect time but it's ugly, heavy and has no two way anything and to have to pay MSN on top of this is obscene

Great but...
I've had my Suunto for about 2 months, and I really like it.

Pros:
-Battery lasts a long time, probably can go 7-10 days without a recharge.When traveling, can recharge from your laptop with a USB port as long as you have the cable.
-Love having Outlook pushed to my watch, don't have to whip out the PDA to see where I need to be next.The watch will count down the amount of time to your next appointment (or how late you are!).
-Correct time as long as you're in the MSN direct service area.
-Sports content is betting better, given the late start time for NBA playoffs, I can pop out of bed in the AM and check out the scores and the box scores.
-Excellent customer support from MSNdirect.I've e-mailed tech support and always gotten a response - one that works - within a couple of hours.

Cons:
-Will MSN direct survive or will you be left with a $300 watch that functions like a $20 watch?
-Some features a little buggy - I've had to reset the watch to receive content and correct time information when traveling.
-The only watch that will cost you $60 every year that you own it.You could buy a lot of watches for that money.

Bottom line: great for gadget-freaks, the obsessive compulsive (always have the correct atomic-clock time), those with busy calendars.For me, taking a stealth peak at my watch versus pulling out a PDA or cell phone is less disruptive/obtrusive in many meeting settings.

Cool product which might not survive
Really a neat, smart product, especially if you love new electronic toys. What I am concerned about is not the watch but Microsoft, which with its notorious arrogance might kill it before it has the chance to grow and glow
Their customer support is everything but support. The "first line" technician is very polite, but cannot help beyond taking your info and refering you to a "specialist", which if you are lucky, will call you in 4-5 (business) days.
Microsoft is not very good in keeping their promises either; they say the sport channal is"around the corner" and even use it in their ads, but it has been just around the corner for the last three months. They also promise "new watch face every month", well I own the watch for 3 month now and got just one new face when I subscribed.
So it's in Microsoft power to keep this watch ticking... ... Read more

Product Description

This slim and sleek, feature-and super-value-packed Pocket PC is small enough to fit in your pocket or purse yet substantial enough to keep your life in order. It includes multimedia, Bluetooth (wireless ready with SDIO WLAN 802.11b card), and plenty of room to expand and accessorize!Be productive wherever you are with popular applications, including Microsoft Office (Pocket Outlook, Word, and Excel), varied features, and large storage capability. The HP iPAQ h1945 fit in your purse or pocket: at 2.75" wide and 4.37 oz., it's easy to keep with you. Access the Internet, e-mail, and corporate data at home, at work, or on the go with the optional SDIO WLAN 802.11b card. Print documents, e-mail attachments, and pictures straight from your HP iPAQ h1945 to a local printer (printing software included). Be entertained by your favorite multimedia, right at your fingertips. Enjoy brilliant color and image sharpness courtesy of the transflective TFT LCD (64,000 colors). Be ergonomically correct with the touch-sensitive display for stylus, built-in speaker and microphone, four programmable launch buttons, and more. Do more as your needs grow by expanding via the integrated SD slot. ... Read more

Features

• A thin, light, and affordable Pocket PC
• Includes mobile versions of Microsoft Office: Pocket Outlook, Word, and Excel
• Integrated Bluetooth for wireless communication with other Bluetooth devices
• Great multimedia features
• What's in the box: iPaQ 1945, USB synchronization cable, AC Adapter, battery, charger adapter, audio adapter, iPAQ Pocket PC companion CD

Reviews (75)

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DO NOT BUY IPAQS!
Product is overpriced for its chintzy characteristics. Looks really nice, but as they say,"looks can be deceiving".I bet 90 percent of the iPaqs out there that have been purchased from 2003 through the present date are either completely useless or are in some need of repair and 99 percent of those broken are most likely not the fault of the purchaser.Hp/Compaq has a HUGE problem with screens (as you can read from the other hundreds of negative postings on Amazon alone).Mine was very well taken care of and lasted about as long as everyone else's has (5-6 months).I even purchased the extended warranty plan, in which you have no way of proving that you did not drop the unit. SOL! My suggestion: file a complaint with your local attorney general.That'll scare HP! (oh wait, they dont care because they are overseas in another country).

Love the unit but super fragile.
When I started using the HP1945 it was the ultimate timesaver for me, especially the Outlook Contacts. I loved the design and the way it worked. After one week of use, the screen cracked just from being in my shirt pocket, and the unit was useless. I was lucky and able to return it as defective to the store I bought it from, and get a refund. I will be searching for a similar, but sturdier PDA.

Good if no problems, terrible customer service
I bought my IPAQ 1945 in Feb of 2004 and after six months of great use the screen started flickering.I sent it in and was told that "You have spilled water on it and it will cost $190 to replace the screen."(a rude way to put it even if true). I knew it was not true but apparently had no recourse.Either pay up or do without.Now after going six month's without a PDA I'm getting ready to buy another and I just can't make myself get another HP.

Good, but never great; the fatally flawed Clinton of PDA's
The HP1945 is a very good idea, with some serious problems. I've just ordered my third one. The first one lasted a month, the screen cracked, and after arm-twisting, HP replaced it. The second one lasted 14 months. This one is out of warranty, so I didn't bother with HP. It appears that the power supply went and fried the circuit board. (At least the blazingly hot spot on the casing and the near-instantaneous power drain of the lithium cell makes me suspect that.)

So why am I ordering a third one. a) I'm an idiot, b) I'm an optimist, or c) The 1945 just happens to do exactly what you need a PDA to do, perfectly, with no extra baggage?

[sigh] I'm afraid it's all three. This liitle machine is compact, versatile, efficient, and does exactly what I need it to do. Then it breaks far to soon, and really ticks me off.

experience with iPAQ 1945 model
Regarding the iPAQ 1945:

FWIW:I have been using this iPAQ model with Outlook 2002 and Microsoft ActiveSync with a Windows XP Professional machine for quite some time now (1 year? if forget).Sync'ing is not a problem (reported elsewhere), either with the direct cable or using Bluetooth.Considering how big a pain windows can be in general, there is probably something else going on with the reported problem of windows sync'ing and the iPAQ 1945.I have never had a problem with that feature.

For the price, the device has been a pretty good piece of equipment and I have become addicted to the basic capabilities it provides. If I shopped around some more, I am sure there would be more powerful devices available, but this one is a good price and capability combination. ... Read more

Product Description

The Palm Zire handheld is designed from the ground up for everyday personal use. On the move, at school or at work, it makes the dream of paperless life a reality. Feel like you don't have enough time to catch up with everything? The chances are you're not in control of your schedule. Unlike a paper organizer, the Zire handheld gives you the whole picture: appointments and people, tasks and notes, and ties them all together. Nothing could be more natural than entering information into the Zire handheld. Unlike a PC, which forces you to use a keyboard, or a mobile phone, which demands dexterous thumbs, the Zire handheld is much more civilized. If you know how to write in capital letters, you know how to use the Zire handheld. In just a few minutes, you will have mastered Graffiti, Palm's unique - and very intuitive - handwriting language. How easy is it? Well, like A-B-C. What's more, what would happen if you lost your paper agenda? With a Zire handheld, you can keep a copy of all your information on your PC. ... Read more

Features

• What's in the box: Zire Handheld w/ Rechargeable Battery, Charging Cable, USB HotSync Cable, Getting Started Manual, CD-ROM with Palm Desktop Software, Stylus, Protective Flip Cover
• Palm organization and style at an affordable price
• Easy to learn and use--even if you've never used a handheld before
• Mini-USB connector allows easy transfer and backup to computer
• Keeps addresses, appointments, and important information safe and secure

Reviews (153)

Unreliable
I need a palm to have my calander and address book on hand at all times. This model proved to be extremely inefficient. The lack of backlighting meant that often I could not see what was on the screen and it's memory would empty from one moment to the next. I would be stuck with no calander or address book. I contacted the company by email and the only advice they had was to keep the Palm seperate from my cell phone. This I did, to no avail, the Palm continues to discharge it's memory.
I have now discharged the Palm into the rubbish bin and will not purchase another!

Wonderful Item
I don't know what people expect when they buy this item, but for me, it was to keep addresses, phone numbers and download my outlook calendar.If that is all you expect, then this is perfect.For those people who live and die by the palm gadgets, then get yourself one of those expensive palms. Zire is cheap and convenient enough to take it anywhere you want and you don't get upset when you bang it around a bit.I had it for about a year and zero complaints.Also, the battery lasts extremely long for my purpose.So, if you are a simple guy like me, then this is perfect for you.If you are expecting a small computer, then you need to spend some money.Hope this helps.

Decent product - horrible support!
I bought this Palm as a cheap contact manager - that's what I got - I knew what I was getting into. However, a word regarding Palm support...

After a couple months - the screen went completely black and I needed to call tech support. What a nightmare. It's obvious to anyone that Palm has exported its help desk overseas (India most likely). The five different support engineers I talked to ALL had very thick accents, could not understand simple English sentences, could not make logical decisions (they follow a very formal script) and made the whole experience VERY frustrating, time consuming and expensive (they don't have a toll-free number anymore). The point is simple - sooner or later you're probably going to call tech support for help - and in my opinion, the "help" desk at Palm is horrible!

great entry level PDA
the Palm Zire is probably the best entry level PDA available. i've had mine for a while and its great, holds my schedule, contacts, my notes, a few small games, and is my alarm clock and it has great battery life. since its not realy fancy you don't get a big back lit color screen, or voice recording, or a gaming machine. But its great. the only thing i didn't like was the flip cover it comes with. but guess what... spend like 12$ to get a nicer one and its realy the best thing you can have.

at work I regulalry use a PocketPC with a barcode scanner and I hate it, its slow, bulky, won't recognize my writing well, and is prone to porblems

Excellent product, for some.
Ok people, consider this phrase, ENTRY LEVEL PDA. The Palm Zire is an entry level PDA. I'm still in highschool, and it works great for what I need. It has all the basic features I need, an address book, datebook, and a calculator, plus a lot of other features. Plus I can download additional programs from the Palm website for free! Some other reviews on this site complain about the amount of memory. Sure, if your going to store five hundred addresses and tasks and put a million programs on it, its gonna be to little. But if you only need it for school or for light use, then its perfect. Also, the fact that it is cheap helps too. (I got mine used for under thirty bucks.) I currently have Pong, Battleship, a school planner, a joke book, an animation program, a sketch program, an Asteroids game, a database program, a diary, a Merlin game, a miniature version of Word, and a solitare game on my Zire, and that only used two thirds of the memory (with all the included programs on the Zire too). The included cover isn't that great, but it is better than nothing, and what do you expect for something that was included for free? All in all, this is a great product for anyone who just needs a decent, affordable PDA.

Update: I've now had this handheld for a couple of months and still no problems. And I'm the second owner, and still no problems. I'm currently looking to upgrade to something with color and a backlight, possibly the Zire 31, but I'll definetly be keeping my good buddy the Zire. ... Read more

Product Description

ViewSonic's Pocket PC V37 is one of the thinnest, lightest and most powerful Pocket PCs in its class with features like Microsoft .NET Compact Framework. The Pocket PC V37 is the right tool for developers looking to create applications based on the Pocket PC platform. With the Visual Solutions software that comes bundled with your system, you can quickly develop applications specific to your business needs for implementation on the Pocket PC V37. And with the latest, greatest 400 MHz Intel Xscale processor and advanced operating system from Microsoft, it provides you with powerful access to important information while away from your PC. Get the handheld developers' powerhouse� the ViewSonic Pocket PC V37. ... Read more

Features

• A thin, light powerful pocket PC
• 400MHz Intel Xscale processor
• Read and respond to e-mail while on the go
• Includes the Microsoft .NET Compact Framework tools
• Ultra-thin design weighing about four ounces

Reviews (7)

V37 made me go back to paper dayrunner
I used to have an Ipaq and loved it - My job handed out the ViewSonic V37's and only allowed them to be connected to computers/networks.

The V37 locks up, from turn on to actual use is 30+ seconds, not real fun when your trying to use it to manage your schedule, book an appt, or just look at your calendar for the day.

I found it slow, unresponsive and have given it back.I would rather use a paper planner - viewsonic killed my love of the pocket pc.My next purchase will be a pda/phone/all in one type.Money is no option - quality and performance counts and I did not like the V37.Sell it for scrap.......

Can't Upgrade Operating System
There are data syncing issues with this model and other strange behaviors. Unfortunately Viewsonic is no longer offering an upgrade to Pocket PC 2003 which should fix some of these issues. Here is the response from their technical support: "The PPC 2003 upgrade CD for the Pocket PC V37 is no longer in production.". I personally would not purchase anything that can't be upgraded! Buyer beware! The screen resolution is not that great either.

Viewsonic PPC After one year
I've owned two IPAQs, and several PALMs. This is the best little gadget I ever had. The screen is so bright that even battery-saving settings are clear. Battery life is good, almost 4 hours continuous. Having a Flash Memory and an SD card I record music, books and games. You can listen to headphones and read a book at the same time for hours!

Viewsonic - battery not that bad, very good PDA vs iPaqs
Regarding the previous review concerning battery anomalies - they can be fixed.However, all PDA's have problems with dumping memory when the battery runs out.You will learn how long your PDA lasts given your personal use, and how often you must overnight-charge it (or use a travel charger).

I've had many Pocket PC's - this is the fastest, lightest, easiest to use that I have tried.Much better than many of the iPaqs.

More info at the Yahoo group:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ViewSonic/

Great machine, bad quality control
I got the Viewsonic V37 as part of the Visual Studio .NET giveaway. Things seemed to be fine for the first couple of weeks, except the power display, which would never show less than 100% battery, even when run down to 0.

The next symptom was the machine would not turn off until it burned out the battery or had a hard reset. As this was not acceptable, I wrote to Viewsonic on their web. As I was writing, the machine did a death roll and the only sign there was any life was the indicator light blinking on and off.

It took a few days to dig up the PRN number to get to send it back. Since the return address was bouncing my mail, I had to start the process over again.

Friday, I got the PocketPC back with a note that the system board was replaced. I noticed the power display still did not work, so I figured it was either a common Viewsonic problem, or I had another lemon.

Today, the following Wednesday, the machine only displays a picture of the Viewsonic birds. Soft reset, birds. Hard reset, birds with a "wait for 30 seconds" message and then just birds.

I have a hard time recommending a device that has such poor quality control. I am going to give them one more chance. As it costs quite a few bucks to ship and insure, I am not going to do it more than one more time.

Just for comparison:
I have an older PocketPC that has been through hell. I set it on top of the car one day and drove off. I remember when it flew off the back. I picked it up with a slight mark to remind me of my carelessness. Still works perfectly to this day. Contrast this to the Viewsonic which has given me a couple of weeks TOTAL of enjoyment and more than a month of no service (including time spent at the service facility). ... Read more

Product Description

Reliability. Performance. Technology. Leadership. The Toshiba name means all this and more. Toshiba builds upon this heritage by delivering the industry's most innovative, high-quality solutions. ... Read more

Features

• Analog resistance sensitive touch panel
• Integrated Wi-Fi
• Intel processor at a phenomenal 400 MHz
• 128 MB SDRAM
• Secure Digital and CompactFlash Card slots

Reviews (11)

e-805 Toshiba PDA
The toggle switch on my new e805 broke the second time I moved it from WiFi to off.I sent the unit in under warrenty.Toshiba warrenty department said the mother board must be replaced to fix the toggle switch and is not covered under warrenty.They charged $125.00 to repair unit.I've bought a lot of Toshiba products, this will be the last.
Guy A. Edwards
Sturgis
South Dakota

Works Fine !
I purchased the e805 dispite the bad reviews here and let me tell you mine works fine. I use it with navagation software and find it works way better than I expected.(travroute) E-mail works fine as does connecting to wireless internet services. I have had no problems with the screen. Not to mention I got lucky and paid $499.00 from COMPUSA. 2 THUMBS UP...Anyone interested in navagation software should give TRAVROUTE a try.

A very unhappy camper
I placed one of the earliest orders for this unit. The unit is fine, as far as that goes.
Feb 2, 2004
Now I am having problems with the device (see appended comments below)

March 18, 2004
More problems: the unit is now inoperable (see appended comments)

Additional Comments as of 2004-02-08:
1) The touch screen is now starting to malfunction. When I first turn the unit on I am getting many clicks (as if I am tapping the screen, which I am not). Also, later, if I even touch the case at the upper/right corner (not even near the actual display) the unit clicks (as if I am tapping the screen). Also upper sides of case sometimes.
2) Status of Toshiba Order for critical supplies (screen overlays and replacement styli):
Shipping is Waiting to Pack Order (from Toshiba account status)
In other words, they still don't have the items. About March 10, 2004 the screen overlays FINALLY arrived. Not a bad turnaround for something critical - two months. However, the unit is now inoperable, the screen does not respond. Did a total system reset, was operable for awhile. Then, screen clicking like a geiger counter it has stopped responding again.

Had to return mine, screen doesn't respond
When I first took it out of the box, it didn't, but I thought that was because the battery needed to be charged. I did finally get it setup and working. It was beautiful. Then the screen started acting weird, I'd tap the scroll bar and the today screen would pop back up, or I'd tape the "next" button and a different program would flash and then go away and then back to the today screen. Sometimes I'd turn it on and the screen wouldn't respond, then all of a sudden it did again. It was getting so bad that I hard reset and still couldn't get the screen to respond. I tried calling Toshiba, who only offers 90 days tech support, and they said they'd have someone call me back. A week later, I called them again and a week later I called a third time. Finally, I couldn't get the unit to respond at all, so I called J&R (where I purchased it via Amazon link) and they told me to send it back. They'd check it out and IF they found a problem they'd exchange it and refund my shipping fee. A lot of hassle for a very expensive machine, Toshiba is awful. I hope J&R comes through, as they agreed. They were nice on the phone, I think they will.
I did get my new, replacement from J&R. I was charged for it and I'm still waiting for them to credit me for the one I returned to them. The new one works MUCH better! It's a pleasure to use. I've only let the battery run down once; it stays pretty good, 4 or 5 days with normal use. This screen works the way it should. It responds well and it's really quick. I restored from a backup on my CF card and was up and running in seconds. I really love it. I like the CF and SD card slots and the fast processor. I like it much better than the iPAQ 5455 I had.

unreliable!
i got my unit and as soon as i took it out of the box, i found that the screen would not respond to the stylus.so, i could not use it past the initialization stage!this unit has all sorts of problems that you can read about on forums, such as:

- screen taps not responding
- noise coming from the unit
- batteries not holding charge

although i was aware of bad experiences some people had, i really wanted the vga screen and thought i would try it out anyway...

turned out to be a big waste of time, since i had to wait about 3 weeks for this thing to get off back order!

i have purchased all kinds of technology items and have never had anything with such a major defect upon opening it; this is just unacceptable. ... Read more

Product Description

Escape the real world. Build your own world! On hold or in line, make time fly building your own city with the world renowned SimCity™. Or choose to get lost in everything from pinball to mah-jongg, poker to billiards, Richochet to Atum, chess to backgammon. Twelve highly popular, high quality games optimized for Palm OS® Handhelds with a software Expansion Slot. Just plug 'n PLAY!

• SimCity™ by Atelier, the classic award-winning city-planning simulation by Electronic Arts™
• 9-Ball by Landware, wizard pinball with all the bells 'n whistles, flippers 'n bumpers 'n tilt
• Shanghai by Landware, the classic Activision Mah-Jongg game, a maddening favorite worldwide
• Vegas VIP Casino by Hexacto, were you can move winnings between Blackjack, Video Poker & Slots
• Billiards by Megasoft2000, astonishingly real table action
• Ricochet by Astraware, the high-adrenaline generation of Breakout, the game that started it all
• Atum™ by The Game Kitchen Ltd., the addictive molecular puzzle for intense subatomic escapism
• ChromaGames by Whitehorse®, ever-challenging standards: Chess, Checkers & Backgammon

Features

• Compatible with Tungsten Series, Zire 71, m500 Series, m130, m125, i705
• Palm's update to the top-selling Games Card!
• Contains 12 awesome games, including SimCity Classic, Shanghai by Landware
• VIP Casino by Hexacto, Ricochet by Astraware, Billiards by Megasoft 2000
• Chroma Pack by Whitehorse Games, Atum by The Games Kitchen and 9-Ball by Landware

Reviews (4)

512MB Cruzer Micro Drive
I bought this 512MB Micro drive here for price and his rating. True to his word, I received the drive in record time and it functions great. I would recommend this seller to everyone. I look forward to future purchases. Thanks!

Some good titles
It's a pretty good card. All of the titles are fairly easy to learn how to play.

Really Fun Bunch of Games!
I love a lot of the games on this card...I didn't expect to be hooked...but I am...I thought Atum was dorky when I saw it but I've spent many a late night connecting the little molecules...Checkers is fun but the Zire 71 I've been using it on chokes in any level higher than level 1 - it takes the computer awhile to compute its move in levels 2-5. I've enjoyed Mah Jong although the tiles are a little hard to read and some look alike and I've read elsewhere it isn't real Mah Jong, but I don't know the difference. :-) The casino games I've played briefly but they aren't as much fun. Pool is nice but you quickly learn to beat the Palm, even on more difficult levels. And of course, SimCity is cool and it is pretty expansive. I've never played it on a regular computer before, but it was really detailed (in my opinion) and was pretty fast....All in all, I think the card will keep you happily occupied during long waits at the bank, post office, and airports...

Lots of Fun and a Good Deal, Too!
One of my favorite computer games is Shanghai: Second Dynasty. The version on this card is obviously derived form that version of Shanghai. It really looks beautiful with the green embossed tiger and dragon background. I miss the cool music and the fortune cookie, but you can't have everything. I would try putting together some nice Chinese music on mp3's to play in the background, if mp3's didn't use so much RAM. (As an aside, I appreciate that Activision and Landware don't call it Mah Jong. This is NOT Mah Jong! Stop calling this type of game Mah Jong!!! Mah Jong is completely different.) I tried SimCity and it seems to be fairly close to the full computer version, but I haven't really used it very much, yet. The Atum game is very addictive. It can also be very frustrating when it gives you a long string of the same atum. I have had a bit of difficulty using the backgammon game. It doesn't seem to work in a very intuitive way. The checkers is fine - if checkers is your thing - it works pretty much like I expected. I can't say how smart it is, since I'm not an expert. The chess is pretty basic. I bought a more specialized separate chess game that has a lot more features, but it cost half the price of this whole card. I'm not much for slot machines, poker or blackjack, so I won't comment on those. Ricochet is a very cool looking brick breaking game. It is very nicely done. The only thing I don't like is that the background is almost as dark colored as the bricks, so sometimes the bricks are hard to see and I'm using a Tungsten T that has a pretty nice screen. 9-Ball is a fairly decent pinball game. Pinball is the one type of game that just doesn't work well on a Palm. I've tried all the versions I can find and 9-ball is one of the best. But, that's not saying much. I guess the computing power required for really good pinball is still too much for Palm machines. Strangely, though, the Billiards game does work well. Surprisingly well! And it actually has good sound effects! Not bad! Okay. So, all together that's 12 games. Several really good ones, a couple so-so. I guess it's not such a bad deal. What I realy like is that it doesn't use up my precious RAM. Figuring in the value of a small SD card, the Palm Game Essentials Card is actually a pretty good deal! ... Read more

Features

• Built-in QWERTY-layout wide-pitch keyboard with backlight
• What's in the box: Clie handheld, Charger Cradle, USB HotSync Cable, Retractable Stylus, AC Adapter,Hand Strap, Installation CD-ROM, Instruction manuals
• A new concept in handhelds: an extremely portable personal entertainment communicator
• 6 oz. with stylus
• Integrated wireless LAN (802.11b) and Bluetooth interface

Reviews (30)

Very nice and beautiful clamshell look but some cons
PROS
1. It is a very nice look .
2. has very good features like a camera and can also rotate.
3. It also has both bluetooth and WIFI that is a good for people on the
go.
4. It now has a low price than 2 years ago.
5. will atract and impress many people

CONS
1. bad battery life (can buy extra battery . 3X longer also sold at amazon
very cheap.
2. limited applications

I think this is a very good p.e.o. and you shoud buy it if you like attention or really need it

Love mine, but there are some problems
I bought my UX-50 off eBay for about half the going rate of a refurbished new unit. Since I paid so little, I really don't have much to complain about. However, if I had paid $500 for a new-refurbished unit - or $800 for a brand-new unit when the UX-50s were first released - I probably would not have given a 4-star review.

Here are the positives:
- I don't understand why so many people complain about the UX-50 only having a "landscape" screen option. I got used to using the landscape screen in no time. There are third-party programs you can download to convert some applications to portrait mode if you want, but I really didn't feel the need. Granted, the landscape screen means there's a lot of wasted space on the touchscreen, but I didn't have any problems using the screen as-is. I also think the screen size is AWESOME considering the features packed into this little gadget.
- The functionality is, without a doubt, amazing. The UX-50 can replace your keychain digital camera, digital voice recorder, PDA, MP3 player AND you can check your e-mail with it! They managed to pack a lot of features into this little PDA.
- Sound on the MP3 player is great. I have a Sony VAIO laptop that has a built-in Memory Stick port so it's really easy for me to put a ton of music onto my 512 MB stick and have music wherever I go. I have a Nomad MP3 player but I rarely use it because the UX-50's MP3 player is so easy to use.
- The camera is great and takes good pictures in enough light. The zoom feature is neat.
- The PDA functionality is exactly what you'd expect - it works well. The UX-50 has enough internal memory for you to load lots of programs into it.

Negatives:
- It took me a lot of tinkering and research to get the 802.11B wireless feature to work. Apparently there was some kind of problem with the wireless connection software in most UX-50s, and if yours has the problem you have to download a special program, called Mobile Manager, to get it to work correctly. Not that Sony tells you this - I had to research it for myself on user bulletin boards. After a LOT of tweaking my wireless works - sometimes. The mobile browser, NetFront, won't load graphics-heavy pages and is quick to give "insufficient memory" and timeout errors. Unfortunately there's no way to upgrade NetFront 3.0, which came with the UX-50, to NetFront 3.1.
- Battery life truly does suck. I solved this by purchasing a third-party manufactured case and car kit off of eBay - the case has a USB port integrated, so now I can plug the USB sync cable into the case's port and charge my Clie. The car kit consists of a USB cable and an adapter that fits my car's cigarette lighter. Now I can charge wherever I go, which helps greatly with the battery life issue. And I don't have to use the stupid "charging sled" to do it. Which brings me to my next point...
- I would really like to know why Sony made a PDA that you can't charge with a USB cable. It seems ridiculous to me. Before I found the USB-port case I had to lug the stupid charger and sled around with me. The charger is bulky and the sled makes the UX-50 too thick to fit in a pocket or small purse. As it is, now I can't plug the UX-50 in and let it charge while I sync it throughout my workday, which is always what I've done with other PDAs. This was a really dumb design idea.
- The only other negative thing is that some parts of the UX-50 feel flimsy - I often feel like I am going to break the screen off rotating it back and forth, and the USB sync port has a small cover that feels like it could rip off at any time.

Overall, though, this is a great productivity tool and very nifty to carry around. It has a considerable "cool factor" and there's great functionality to boot. The negatives are bummers, but this thing is basically a mini laptop computer with a camera built in, so I don't expect everything to be perfect. I'm just bummed Sony's no longer going to be selling PDAs in the U.S. - hopefully they will change their minds before my UX-50 dies or becomes obsolete.

Attack of the Chimera PDA
Wow, what a device. I was impressed with this PDA on steriods from the moment I pulled it out of the box. Normally I am dissapointed when I purchase a new gadget. It either doesn't work as advertised or it is so convoluted that I excile it to the land of misfit toys. This PDA though comes through on all of its promised features. With a respectable digital photo, video and audio capability combined with 802.11 wireless, bluetooth, Infra Red as well as USB data interface capability, what more could a PDA require. To be fair and balanced, The UX-50 does have a few issues that detract from its status as PDA nirvana. One is its fragility. I feel like I am holding a delicate piece of bone china everytime I use it. Additionally, I am very dissapointed in Sony and their decision to get out of the PDA business, and just when they seemed to get it.

Good but not great
It seems like most of the software built-in or bundled with the Clie is either limited or requires a paid upgrade for full functionality.

Playing MP3's is a headache, transferring music, is only possible with the pro or magicgate versions of memory sticks, unless you use a third party player.

Printing, is not readily supported from most applications either, unless you transfer the file to a desktop.

Another complaint I have is not being able to transfer, print, or otherwise use Clie Memo files (handwritten notes) on anything but another Clie.I use a lot of handwritten notes in my work, and aside from being able to read them back on the screen, the information cannot be stored, shared or printed.

Using Bluetooth for Syncing works well, but file transfer isnt always possible.

The Browser that ships with the UX50 is out of date and impossible to update (version 3.0) while it does work, 3.1 offers a lot better functionality and viewability.Checking web based e-mail is not supported by the current browser either.

The ux50 is not a bad PDA, but don't expect it to work well out of the box.there are a lot of third-party programs out there to work out a lot of the "bugs" but be prepared to pay more for them.

My advice to someone looking for a pda is to check out the PEG -TH55(also from sony)Its got most of the same features (minus the keyboard)and a much larger viewable screen area

Nice toy.. definitely not worth the $
Bought a UX50 used off eBay. Have had it for about a month. I would pay 400$ max for a used one. Now that Sony has stopped the entire Clie line, you should find them cheap off the internet.

PROS:
- Nice keyboard
- Love the fact that you can listen to music at the same time performing other functions like browsing, email etc (probably an OS5 feature not restricted to this model only)
- The wireless works like a charm right out of the box.
- Great resolution.

CONS:
- Had to soft boot at least 3-4 times already.
- Most apps require portrait mode which the UX50 does not natively support.
- Battery life - 3hrs max if you use the wireless.
- Need an additional memory stick (128MB - 40$)
- Crappy camera - 0.3MP!!! cmon Sony!
- Native doc support restricted to read only.
- Need the docking station to charge, no direct connection to PDA.

Must have software:
- you can enable the landscape mode for most apps using Code Diver. This is a MUST if you want to use the UX50.

(shareware + 10$. Remember to use the latest beta and not the handango version)
- Also I strongly recommend buying Documents to Go and Contacts to Go (add another 75$ to the tag)

Overall, you can end up spending about 1000$ to make this thing really usable, not worth it. But if you dont mind getting a used one cheap off eBay, this is definitely a nice toy. ... Read more

Product Description

The PEG-TJ25 CLIE handheld provides everything you need to stay organized and entertained. The high-resolution color screen shows images in full details and color with amazing clarity. The super-slim aluminum body is less than 1/2" thick and discreetly slides into your pocket or purse. Expand the memory capacity with the optional Memory Stick PRO media to store and transfer digital files. Plus, the unique Center Jog Dial Navigator Wheel and arrows enable four-way directional movements for easy access to your applications and information. The PEG-TJ25 comes bundled with a variety of entertainment and productivity applications to fit both your needs and your lifestyle. ... Read more

Features

• High resolution color display produces over 65,000 colors for amazing clarity
• Super-slim aluminum body discreetly slides into your pocket or purse
• Center Jog Dial Navigator wheel and arrows enable four-way directional movements for easy access to your applications and information
• Store and transfer digital files with optional Memory Stick PRO media
• Stay organized and entertained--at home or on the road

Reviews (12)

Great PDA if the backlight doesn't burn out
I've had my PDA for about a year and never had a major problem however one month after the extended warantee expired my backlight burned out.The color screen is useless without it.This is a chronic problem with the sony Clie's.They offer very little support for this problem if your expensive pda burns out.A know design flaw that cost as much as the pda to fix.Don't buy a sony Clie if you can't afford to replace the unit after a year.

Unreliable junk
This is one of the worst products of any kind that I have ever bought in my entire life. My first one lost power after a month, even though it was charged and never came back on. They tried a new battery, but the gizmo was dead. So, I got the replacement. Heck, there can be a bad apple in every barrel.

The new one had a great deal of difficulty keeping the backlight on. For no apparent reason, it would just not be on when the unit was turned on. Usually holding the power on switch up would start it up. That was until the final day, when it wouldn't come on, dumped all my data and died. This was when it was only three months old. The only thing that restrained me from driving my car over it so that it would be really dead, was the thought that I needed to return it.

In addition, if you should be so foolish as to buy this thing, if it happens inadvertently turn on in your purse or if it rings an alarm for a meeting and you don't hear it, it will stay on until the battery dies.

You've been warned..................

Nasriah
It is one of the best out of sony products that you can get.

Wonderful addition to my life
I had to retire a palm zire 21 after 2 months because it would reset itself almost every other day. I sent it to the palm guys and it came back in worse condition that before. After reading the reviews on Amazon...I decided to call it quits while I was ahead and search for another PDA. (I had a palm Vx prior to that for 2 years).

WOW! What a jewel the Sony Clie is! It has much more memory than my other two models and for a work at home mom that's using her PDA to keep track of life, recipes, and wants all names and addresses at her fingertips, IN COLOR, this was a WONDERFUL purchase!

For the price (mine was $139), I cannot complain. It is much faster than my other palm pilots, the battery life is great, I don't really care that much about included applications, although the outlook "handler" does a great job (or seems to), and I think Sony really thought out the organization of the main screen on this PDA. A+

Very Solid PDA
I picked up my TJ25 a few weeks ago, and I was immediately impressed with the clarity of the screen, the snappiness of the interface, and the connectiblity with Outlook 2k3.

After using it for these few weeks, I have had no problems yet.The battery life is excellent, although i never let it get below half-drained, and it is nice and small, so it can fit in my coat pocket easily.

Very good product from Sony, and, as always, great service from Amazon. ... Read more