I’m thinking of buying me a PDA next month. I’m a first-time buyer, but I’m not unfamiliar with them… I don’t need or want a high-end device, because I know I will hardly ever use those high-endfeatures. OTOH, neither do I want to buy a low-end thingy. So it has to be a middle-of-the-road PDA, costing about $150.
After looking up several online stores, I’ve shortlisted this. The price is about right, it has plenty memory, and does just about everything I’d want my PDA to do… and then some. I wish it came with a USB cradle, but that’s only nitpicking… everything else seems to be about right for me.
So has anyone used this model, or knows someone who has it… what about experiences with Sony PDAs, reliability-wise?
I have that one, and it suits my needs well so far. I just wanted something I could store contact information and account info on, play a game or two on, and use to make and keep lists of various sorts. I wanted something mightier than the low-end Zire but the high end stuff didn’t appeal to me because I didn’t want wireless websurfing or a digital camera. Color was a bonus but not necessary so long as there was decent backlighting. Compatibility with Macs was essential. I got what I wanted in the SJ22.
Pretty much exactly what I’m looking for too, AudreyK!
May I ask, how long have you had it? Any reliability issues so far? How’s the battery life, especially with the backlight on?
I’ve had it for about a month and a half now. Got it when Fry’s opened two miles down the road.
No reliability issues (or any other issues) to speak of yet, but to be honest I don’t use it much. I played a couple games of Bookworm on it for an hour the other night and today I made a list of stuff to get at Costco-- that’s the heaviest use it has seen. The Bookworm session sucked the power down from about 83% to about 70-something%. (Backlighting was on the whole time.) Supposedly the charge will last about a week if you leave the Clie unused and not plugged in; I think I’ve left it alone for about that long and the power only went down to about 35%. Charging, by the way, is pretty quick-- I’d say four hours, or about as long as my rechargeable batteries or cell phone take.
Other than that, I can’t really say much about the battery life, since it frequently gets plugged into the charger.
I have an older and perhaps higher end model, the PEG-T650C. The screen is fantastic - it’s a reflective color LCD with backlight, or something like that. What it means is that I can read it comfortably in full sunlight as well as total darkness, and anything in between. It also has high resolution (320x320).
I hate the tiny up/down toggle switch but I can live with it. Functionally I have no complaints - it has plenty of memory (16 meg) and runs all Palm software. It turned out to be a bit of an overkill, since I never found a use for the MemoryStick slot or the MP3 playback function.
Before you buy one, be sure you play with the things for a while. A few months ago, I was looking to replace my ailing Palm IIIx and one or more Clie models were on my list, but when I actually picked one up, I discovered that they were made for people with hands quite smaller than mine. Primarily, I had trouble holding onto the stylus, which in my paws, seemed like a short piece of spaghetti.
I wound up buying a Palm Zire 71 after being told it has the same screen as the premium-priced Tungsten models and doesn’t come loaded down with things I’d never use like Bluetooth wireless.
I have used Clie metal styli before and I’m pretty comfortable using 'em, so no issues there…
Regarding the size of the PDA itself, I don’t have much choice… though I am ordering the PDA, it will be delivered to a friend in Boston who will bring it to me next month. So no chance of checking first whether the Clie fits in my hand or not. But again, having used a Clie before (different model though), even if my model is a bit smaller, I don’t think I will have too much trouble.
Also, a major reason for my having chosen the Sony is that it fulfills almost perfectly my expetations vis-a-vis functionality and price. Plus, Sony has a large presence in India, so servicing my PDA will be a lot easier than say a Palm or Handspring.
