I miss seeing new Sony Clies!!!!

[yOyOYoo]

I haven't posted here in a while, but I (like many others here) used to buy every new sony clie that came out. I had the N710, N760, T615, NR70v, NX70v, NX80, TG50, UX50, TH55.... and all I wanted was the next UX series, the one that was supposed to have a bigger screen but the same awesome keyboard.... and then we all found out that Sony decided to stop making CLIEs, and then we lost cliesource.

I haven't upgraded a new palm since then, I've just been using the TG50, for it's pocketability, and buttons for gaming, and keyboard. I got rid of the UX50 because it had a whiny screen and the screen was always tilted.

Anyways, it's really a shame we don't have any new CLIEs. I really miss the awesome designs, the quality construction, the use of all metals, alluminum, and magnesium. The convenience of jog dials, bluetooth, wifi, and just the whole over all "SONY STYLE"

Yes the old sony clies do still work fine, but look at the new Palms, they have amazing screens! Yet everything else about them is just so plain, there's nothing exciting about them. The new TX, it's so plain, and it's encased in PLASTIC!

I still marvel over my little TG50 and old UX50, those were amazing machinese back in their day, and still today. I love the "home" button and back button, and everything just feels so right in your hands. I use my T3, and it just feels so clumsy.

anyways, yes this post is useless. I wish sony would make some new exciting CLIE models, with brighter screens and jogdials, and keyboards, and all metal quality construction..... where's the creativity?... sigh...

[intellidryad]

Yeah, most of us from Cliesource miss the good ol' days.

Talk about the excitment that came with every new release!

And by the way, Sony doesn't seem as cool anymore. The Clie line was once the "coolest" line in Sony's lineup. No, the PSP isn't good when you compare it to a Clie, just see how the built-in browser (which is non other then Netfront) sufers in the PSP. The PSP music player only looks good, that's all. And I'm not that into gaming. (Unless GT4 for PSP, which seems like vapor ware, comes out... :D )

[CroCo]

Intellidryad, saying the PSP isn´t cool if you are not into gaming is like saying old granny smith apples don´t taste good if you don´t really like apples. Of course, you got a point, that the non-game features are not as functional as in dedicated devices, but that is the problem with all these multifunction-all-in-oneders, they gotta compromise. Touchscreen could have made a difference though.

BACK to the topic. I also miss the excitement of new devices. Even though I couldn´t afford most of them, tried only some in shops, it was still kind of fun to see what´s possible. On the other hand, I actually think that PDA development will not do much bigger innovation cycles in the near future- you can see that also in PPCs. Dell is leaving the field after busting out new devices and pushing some limits in some ways but now it´s just stepping up the hardware level...in the end, most customers stick to the more conservative designs and might even be overwhealmed by too much functionality. (there was even an editorial about less is more here on 1src).

But still, I wait for rumors and new devices with a thrill that cannot really be explained.

[Legodude522]

I love seeing new Sharp Zauruses and new Palms.

Ok, maybe the Clies were new and exciting every month. I was never really on the Clie seen for my hatred of Memory Sticks.

There is always Apple to created excitement.

[peterjb31]

Clies were nice, the only reason I never really got one was because of their insistence on using closed format (I know closed is the wrong word but I am half asleep ex memory stick). However I was tempted when I saw the device supporting compact flash and memory stick. Even considered it instead of a lifedrive - still would if anyone knows what the maximum capacity compact flash it can take.

[LanMan]

IMHO, the Sony Clie era was the pinnacle of the Palm PDA development. Nothing has really been innovative since Sony has left the scene. Sure, Handspring made the Treo convergence thing happen. Palm made the LifeDrive HD, and NVFS things happen. But where are the really cool designs? Maybe we'll see a revival with the Linux systems.

[CroCo]

And clies were ahead of their time. The TX- palmones counterpart to the TH55euro- came out how many years later?!... . Just sad, isn´t it.
I guess Sony realized that with the UX40 and TH55 they made the nearly perfect device duo- one with keyboard the other full screen. How could they top that? OK, the OLED screen.... .

[CroCo]

just a note to the defense of palmOne. palmOne is a quite small company compared to Sony. And Sonys development capacities (processors, audio, screen techniques etc) had to dwarfen any competitor. So for a pure PDA company palmOne is not too bad actually.

[LanMan]

Don't get me wrong. I really like Palm and will only switch to the Dark Side kicking & screaming. The Treo is nice , but I want a full screen and don't feel that I am really for convergence. The LD is pretty close to what I need, but I don't feel like it's quite there yet. The TX has the form factor that I want, but where is the recorder? Plus a camera is a plus. Now is there a unit fits the bill? Hmmm, oh yeah, the Sony Clie TH55! - signed TH55 Nutcase member

[jwm]

I miss 'em too!

There's been plenty of debate around whether Sony were actually innovators, or more of adaptors or value added hardware pushers, but call them what you will, the Clie range was certainly different from anything else out there at the time. Even the VZ was the first device (ever?) to use an OLED screen. Not much else out right now with one of those on.

Come on Sony, get back into the game....

...yeah, I think I know the answer to that :(

[Cyker]

Bah, Palm just suck.

The best part of Palm was the core group, who either left or got fired and later went on to become Handspring.
At the moment, Palm are just PPC-wannabes.

If they were designing hardware for a PPC, I bet they'd make a really good one.

What they need to do is sort out their software guys.
IMHO everything started going wrong on the OS side when they decided to split the company, but they put it back together too late and with too many important bits lobotomised. It'll be a hard struggle for them...

If they had more market share, I'd suggest they may as well pull an Apple and re-write the OS completely, optimising it for extensibility and portability with future tech in mind, and supporting PalmOS stuff via an in-line emulator of some sort.

Let's face it - The emulation would probably an improvement in speed and stability. It certainly can't be any worse than the current godsawful 'native' implementation. :(

I think that without Sony, Palm are suffering - They have nobody to give them a good kick to get them to do anything good :p :D

[Orrorin]

The easy answer is 2gb with either memory stick or compact flash.

However, if you want to mess around a little bit, threre ARE fat32 drivers that will allow access to any capacity media you find :)

[smoothjordan]

Bah, Palm just suck.

The best part of Palm was the core group, who either left or got fired and later went on to become Handspring.
At the moment, Palm are just PPC-wannabes.

If they were designing hardware for a PPC, I bet they'd make a really good one.

What they need to do is sort out their software guys.
IMHO everything started going wrong on the OS side when they decided to split the company, but they put it back together too late and with too many important bits lobotomised. It'll be a hard struggle for them...

If they had more market share, I'd suggest they may as well pull an Apple and re-write the OS completely, optimising it for extensibility and portability with future tech in mind, and supporting PalmOS stuff via an in-line emulator of some sort.

Let's face it - The emulation would probably an improvement in speed and stability. It certainly can't be any worse than the current godsawful 'native' implementation. :(

I think that without Sony, Palm are suffering - They have nobody to give them a good kick to get them to do anything good :p :D

What's funny is Palm's stock keeps getting higher and higher... Looks like they don't need your kick :p

I do miss the 2001 - 2003 era where PDA"s with cool features were being released left and right, how garnet was supposed to be an intermediary to cobolt, and how sony had 500+ dollar pda's... Ahh the day of the traditional pda is over, smartphones are in... that's bad news for us gadget geeks who want a new pda every 6 - 12 months

[yOyOYoo]

comeon sony, make us a palm phone!

I just orderd a treo 650 on ebay, Its getting to be a pain to carry my RAZR and my TG50, and I find myself leaving the TG50 at home. But ugh the Treo650 is so freakin ugly and has no style.

If sony could just make a slim palm powered clie phone, that would be amazing. Maybe make it made out of aluminum.... ooo one can only dream. Palm has no creativity. I can't believe 3 years after the treo 600, the next treo 700p is going to look exactly the same as the original treo 600. COMEON, after 3 years, no slimming of the treo, no removal of the fat antenna, ugh just gets me so upset!

[salesrep]

comeon sony, make us a palm phone!

I just orderd a treo 650 on ebay, Its getting to be a pain to carry my RAZR and my TG50, and I find myself leaving the TG50 at home.

I was using a TG50 for my backup, and it was a nice handheld, but my TH55/E works SO much better with my RAZR than did my TG50. And it's lighter. . .HUGE screen. . .more memory. . .plus WiFi. . .need I say more? And since I've been using the Mobile HiSpeed software for the V3 drivers, I have all the functionality I used to have (mostly) with my old T3/Siemens S56 combo!

Life is good as a TH55 Nutcase Member! :cool: