Disposable Clie

[Tekken]

It is just depressing that as soon as one buys a Clie it is obsolete. I wonder why companys do that. Do they actually think that people can just keep buying a $600 or more Clie every three months? They MUST have a deal with Ebay or credit card companies.

If they want to do that, why can't they at least build a trade-in program for people who want to exchange every three months? Or people can lease Clie from local stores. Or even disposable Clie!

Reading the other thread just make me sick that after a few weeks our beloved NX will be obsolete. I feel like money is all they want. They want to squeeze out as much money out of us as possible. It is like drugs.

Do something, Sony.

Tekken

[oyakov]

Who are you tryimg to talk sence to? Drugdealer, please change your policy? The answer is in your question. "They want to squeeze out as much money out of us as possible". But, luckly, there are not so many stupid people left out there. More and more people realize what Sony is doing to them, and more and more will hate Sony. I'm one of them.

[jamester]

Obselete probably means different things to different people. If you mean obselete in the sense that because there is something newer (and presumably, but not necessarily) better out there, and you just *have* to dump what you have to get it, then yeah, I can see your point.

But the flip side of the coin is that none of these PDA's are truly being made obselete - they still do what they were created to do, they still have all the features one bought them with, and quite a few are still great machines.

I'm still very happy with my T665C, despite the fact that it's price is dropping lower and lower as more new machines come out, and despite the fact that I can't have OS5.

These things don't matter to me as much as the fact that I've got what I consider to be a great PDA. It does exactly what I want it to, and I'm happy with it - and in that sense, Sony isn't really tempting me to shell out $300-$600 every three months.

My sister still uses my very first Palm Professional - on a daily basis. She was offered a chance to swap up to a Palm V but actually turned it down - the Palm Pro does exactly what she wants a PDA to do.

So remember that just because Sony comes out with something new, doesn't mean we all have to drop our "obselete" machines and jump through hoops to get the new one. Nothing really breaks on our "obselete" PDA's. :)

J

[blueflame]

it seems tht the idea of a palm is to be a palm, not a mini computer, that is the point of a palm, if you want to compare a palm to a pocket PC then get a tablet pc, becaue that is what makes Pocket pcs stupid they are trying to be something else. if you want a small computer, get a tablet PC if you want a palm, get a palm, (organizer) that is what palm is supposed to be and they are great for being just that, not being something else

[Tekken]

"Obselete probably means different things to different people. If you mean obselete in the sense that because there is something newer (and presumably, but not necessarily) better out there, and you just *have* to dump what you have to get it, then yeah, I can see your point. "

That is exactly what I feel. Not because I don't think what I have is enough but at the rate that they are going, soon mine will not even be supported! And they DO tempt people to buy...buy..and buy.

I like what blueflame said about Palm being palm. Especially with the new NZ it is becoming a miniPC. I think they are trying to intergrate too many things into one. I might live to see a PDA that can make a toast! :)

Tekken

[bhroam]

After being a long time Palm fan, I went and got the original CLIE S300. While being a surpurb device for its time, I saw very little support for it come out of sony or anyone else in the palm community. I fled from it to an M505 and was happy....

My wife purchased a T615 and got to see up close and personal what a wonderful device it is. I was tempted and eventually purchased my NX-60. I love it except for one thing...

Lack of support from anyone... especally Sony. While Palm and the Palm community are dropping SDIO and other palm paraferials, Sony gets one... not only that, Think Outside even dropped support for the NX line because Sony quietly changed the connector on them.

I guess I got caught up in the hype... I feel rather stupid for getting caught up in it again... I once again have a surpurb device with no paraferial support... not even for the well supported CF slot on it... because Sony won't relase the SDK for it.

Welp, back to loving my NX-60... I highly doubt I'll stick with the CLIE line getting burned twice (i'll be it by my own enthusiam).

[DonWon]

I for one would like to give kudos to Sony.

Instead of sulking at not having the latest and greatest, you should be happy with what Sony has brought to the PDA segment.

By pumping out a new PDA every 3 months, Sony has given us a hires screen, a mp3 player, a camera, and a thumboard.

More importantly, by doing this, they have given other handheld companies the competition they sorely needed to pick up their slack.

So kudos to Sony and their innovation.

[Tekken]

I guess so, Wonton. I guess for the sake of competition, we will have to put up with upgrading...

On the bright side though, because of the new models, people could buy the next-in-line or used-to-be-top products much cheaper. I just recently bought a nice mid-high end level digital camcorder. Maybe I just have to do that, keep upgrading to the used-to-be-top models!


Tekken

[Eric S]

I don't hate Sony. I think they bring important competition into the PalmOS world, and they make a solid product. I respect their ability to go where no (or few) PalmOS PDAs have gone.

I don't respect the lack of support they give to any PDA that's already out the door. Everything Palm made since the Palm III that has the OS in Flash is upgradable to OS 4.1. Heck, even HandEras are upgradable to 3.5 for free (not enough Flash to go to 4.0).

To give you an idea of how little I trust Sony to support anything already out the door, I'm still of the opinion that having to upgrade the OS is the biggest obstacle to getting MS-Pro to work with Clies older than the NX.

On the other hand, Sony encourages us to constantly upgrade, but that doesn't mean we have to. If their products were truely donkey droppings, then we wouldn't be tempted to buy them, let alone replace them with more of the same.

I don't know if my next PDA will be a Clie or not. There's the strong possibility that it will be, because as much as I dislike some things they do, there are other things that they just get right. It might not, because now at least one other manufacturer has combined the two features I'm most interested in (OS5 and VG) in a formfactor that doesn't include two of my least favorite features of the NX series (keyboard and Memory Stick).

[Donkeystyle]

You're right Eric, it is not bad to lose your spot on the cutting edge, but to lose support is. If we get screwed on OS upgrades and peripheral support, then the NX DOES become obsolete. Not because it is not the latest and greatest, but because it is no longer supported after a quarter.

[n2ifp]

Sony is in business for one thing, and that is to make money. If everyone keeps snapping up everything Sony is cranking out, why should they stop? If you were making big money, would you stop because of a handful of complainers? We are our own worst enemies:).

[Donkeystyle]

Like i said, they can crank them out as fast as they want, just dont stop support!

[cbulock]

Originally posted by n2ifp
Sony is in business for one thing, and that is to make money. If everyone keeps snapping up everything Sony is cranking out, why should they stop? If you were making big money, would you stop because of a handful of complainers? We are our own worst enemies:).

You have a real good point. The people who don't like "having" to buy a new Clie every three months are the one who keep buying new Clies. As long as people upgrade all the time, they will keep supplying the upgrades. I don't know if some of you realize it, but your old Clie will still function exactly the same as it did when you bought it. You don't have to buy a new one.

[xXx]

I agree, I jiust bought a new NX60 and I feel like it iwll be obselete in a few months, i don tlike that at all

[deadlyfoez]

Oh god people. Think about it. When a new device comes out, and you go out and get it. Then you're all stressing about when the updated software will come out. Then you have to wait a while, while other who kept their so called "obsolete" pda keep getting better and better software. And they don't have to wait for it cause it's already there.

Sony made a flop with the nz90. It will sell, but many others will still be buying the NX's. The NZ90 is too big. And I know that I'm not the only one that hates the size, so why would you buy something your not happy with if you already got something thats great.

I was thinkin about getting the NZ. Although the changable battery and the 2mp cam is quite tasty, the added size for the cf, bluetooth, flash, and added size and weight are all things I have no use for.

So what does that mean. I'm not gonna blow my money on something that is nothing special.

Sony is not putting a gun to your head and telling you to buy this thing. If you are going to buy it, don't complain about it. We don't care to hear people crying of what painful things you are doing to themself.

There is still way more great software to come out for our NX's. Keep in mind that the NZ90's os, processor, memory, jogdial, keyboard, CF, and screen are all the same digitally. So almost every piece of software that works for the NZ will work for the NX

[ballistic]

I bought the NX70V even though I knew something better would come along in the Clie line. The NZ, however, is not a better PDA for me. My upgrade cycle of Palm devices is the original Palm Pilot, then a Palm IIIx, and now my NX70V. I'm not about to get caught up in the upgrade craze of getting the latest and greatest.

Sony is the only hardware manufacturer that is bringing true innovation to the Palm platform. I can't blame them for releasing a constant flow of new devices that offer better features and capabilities. They have made a few mistakes by offering little to no support for older(?) devices, and the whole MS/MS Pro capacity/compatibility fiasco.

You don't need to upgrade for the sake of upgrading. Find a device that you like, invest in some good accessories and software, then enjoy it.

[mashoutposse]

Tip for those who regularly succumb to the upgrade bug: Buy your model of choice, then stop reading PDA hardware news.

As stated previously, your CLIE will work the same, whether Sony comes out with an NX80V or not (and they most certainly will). So don't stress yourself by keeping your eye out for that future model.

Consider this: Before the Tungsten T, Palm's top of the line model was inferior to CLIEs that Sony **discontinued** nearly a year before. If Palm users can 'ignore' the latest Clies and not feel wronged by Palm Inc., why can't Clie users do the same and cut Sony some slack as well?

The way I see it, there is absolutely NO reason for Sony (or any company) to make February 2003 customers buy October 2002 technology when that company is perfectly able to come out with something new for these people. As long as Sony supports all units, then it's all good.

[david_chang40]

Personally I don't think that the NZ is in anyway superior to the NX. The point of technology is to make things better, faster, smaller, and cheaper. The NZ is not faster, bigger, and more expensive. For the 10 % of the people that will actually use the built in bluetooth for something useful, I don't think that the NZ is better than the NX. If anything, it is a step backward, except for the camera of course.

[mashoutposse]

You may not know it, but the camera is a HUGE step forward.

A test... Ask yourself this: Before the announcement of the NZ, if someone asked you to predict when the next Clie will have a 2MP digicam, what would have been your response?

BTW, you're lying to yourself if you said early 2003, or even 2003 in general.

[iJITSU]

It's been written already in this thread. Sony wants to generate new sales by releasing innovative new products. They will draw new customers in and also catch upgrade fanatics. When a new PDA is released it does not render previous pda's obsolete. The truth? You want to have the latest and greatest, not last month's pda, you can't keep up with Sony's schedule and that creates frustration. If you didn't have the need for the latest/greatest you wouldn't be frustrated. Unfortunately, I'm one of those individuals who wants the most recent, coolest pda.

[tubbycub]

it seems tht the idea of a palm is to be a palm, not a mini computer, that is the point of a palm, if you want to compare a palm to a pocket PC then get a tablet pc, becaue that is what makes Pocket pcs stupid they are trying to be something else. if you want a small computer, get a tablet PC if you want a palm, get a palm, (organizer) that is what palm is supposed to be and they are great for being just that, not being something else


Well said! *APPLAUSE!!!*

[clie_wannabe]

what would then be the best time frame between upgrades?

most of my friends comment that my ONE year between upgrades (either a notebook computer, or a PDA) is just too short... they say that i upgrade more often than a company (well around every two to three years)....

[cbulock]

Mashoutposse, you nailed it right on the spot. I love being able to know that when I am ready to upgrade to a new Clie, I will be able to purchase a device that has the latest technology and is state of the art. Not something that has been out for a while. I guess thats the reason why I switched from a Palm to a Clie in the first place.

[jdog1188]

Referring to one of the first few posts posted... I emailed a comment email to Circuit City and they said that they do not support the trade-up/trade-in deal. Does anyone know if that would be for all Circuit City stores in the US, or just for certain ones? Jdog

[Rick 098]

I like the fact that sony makes modelks so fast,because then you end up with great PDA's because eachn new model has something oledr ones dont. When its time to upgrade, you have lots to choose from.

I actually want palmOS to become more like a mini-pc.WITHOUT being bug-ridden and hard to use like the dreaded ppc.(ppc-blea.)

[Trick]

Companies trying to suck money out of us? noooooo they would never do that :P. Of course that's what they're doing.