Hotsync = $600.00 paper-weight...

[reactor18]

In a moment of ultimate evil (or gross luck depending how you look at this), I am now a brand, new NX80 owner.

Don't get me wrong. When the NX80 was released, I was envious. It had a better camera (CCD!), more memory, better battery life (who wouldn't lust after more battery life?!?) and hardware buttons on the screen side. But I was an NX70 owner and a HAPPY one at that. I took my NX70 everywhere and was even in the process of making a documentary with it as my chosen 'video-corder' of choice for interviews. But my relationship ended at 6:37 this evening.

Today, after I got home from work, I dropped my NX70v into it's cradle and hot synced it. An hour later, I took the Clie from the cradle to look up a phone number and discovered, much to my horror, that the darn thing was DEAD. Not, oh-you-have-to-reset-me dead, or even darn-you-have-to-hard-reset-me dead... I'm talking DEAD dead, as in I-sure-hoped-my-data-was-backed-up DEAD. I tryed ever trick in the book... with no luck. Completely freaked out, I rushed over to Best Buy, hoping that they could revive it. Three technicians looked, poked and prodded... with no results. Thank goodness for the extended warranty...

The NX80 is now charging where my trusty NX70 once sat. It is heavier, a different color and that pop-out compact flash door doesn't inspire too much confidence in it's durability (of the door, not the unit). I miss the old design already. The NX80 looks more 'industrial', which normally I prefer, but in this case, I think MORE thought was put into the design of the NX70, which I think, has a more finished look with less edges and more curves.

But I do look forward to putting the NX80 through its paces and using Decuma and the extra memory and I hope the camera kicks as much butt as the other did.

It's just that I never really got to tell my NX70 how I felt about it before it diied. I didn't even get to say good-bye.

[skorpiankh]

Soory to hear that but a very similar situation happened to my NX60 and I am now the proud owner of an NX80. I have to say that I am impressed with the unit but Grafitti 2 is a bit of a pain to and old Palm user like myself. Good luck with the new unit:)

[n2ifp]

Boo-Hoo, what a sad story, poor thing, please give it a decent burial. However you used your BB warranty, I don't care. I will say that shortly, you will forget all about the poor old NX70. Yes, the CF door maybe delicate, too soon to tell. The rest of the unit I think you will eventually get to love as much as your dearly departed NX70.

Please, Enjoy your new toy, sorry, I mean Clie ;)

[reactor18]

Er... how different IS the new graffitti? (Still charging...) Do you think it is better or worse?

[Nismo350Z]

reactor18: just curious, when it "died", do you mean that the screen is "dead" or the whole unit is "dead" cos normally for TFT screen, there is a life expectancy for it depending on how long it is being used i.e total no of hrs etc.

[reactor18]

Well, the screen definately did not light up. When the unit was in the cradle, the battery-charging light DID light up, but that was all. I triied inserting a memory stick, but there was no reaction. Usually the memory stick 'accessing light' comes on briefly, even when the Clie is turned off. I did use my Clie ALOT, as in every day use... listening to music, reading books, taking pictures and video. I can't imagine the screen would die suddenly. It was making a wierd 'popping' sound, after the sync, which would not stop.

Admittedly (argh... spelling), is has been acting weird, but not I'm-gonna-die, weird. What it would do is play dead untill a soft reset (I have seen this same behavior in other posts, so I didn't think it was a serious thing). I expected to eventually replace it but... not like this.

[Unregistered]

I see. From your description, it seems that the screen is "dead", i.e reached life expectancy. May I know how long i.e no of years you have been using this CLIE?

[Nismo350Z]

tat is me replying for the above post.

[reactor18]

Years?!? Try 6 MONTHS. It was practically BRAND-NEW, and even though I didn't use a case, I took good care of it, never dropped or bumped it.

I have never heard of the screen 'wearing out,' well not unless the PDA was REALLY old or had been abused in some way. I had always thought the screen was one of the more durable aspects of the PDA. What is the life expectancy the newer Clie screens?

[Atomic Chicken]

reactor18,

Having never owned an NX70, I cannot appreciate the pain you are going through. Being an NX80 owner, however, I CAN be envious of you for the most excellent adventure you are about to embark upon!

First off - the bad. Coming from a Clie SJ30, I was shocked to discover that the graffiti system had been changed, to something called "Graffiti 2". Some of the letters (4 to be exact) had changed, and capitals were now done by writing in the middle of the graffiti area. At first, I completely hated this - and spent a LOT of time trying to find a way to turn this off, or a hack to restore the old letters, or something else to fix it. I finally gave up and just decided to learn the new graffiti. To my surprise, I had it down completely in about 2 hours, and I am now fluent in both types (I still use my SJ30, after all!). I have grown to actually appreciate some of the changes in Graffiti 2 - ESPECIALLY the writing in the middle of the graffiti area for capitalization. I think for a beginner, graffiti 2 will be easier to learn also, as the "T", "K" and "I" are all written just like you would write the actual letters instead of shorthand squiggles. Can't really say at this point that I really prefer one graffiti type over the other, I just think that graffiti 2 will be easier for new users to pick up.

Now - the good. The NX80 is ROCK stable, I have been using mine for almost 2 weeks now and have not had to reset it EVER. It has a TRULY excellent battery, the battery life in this thing seems almost nuclear powered! The screen is so bright and crisp, it simply beats every other Clie handheld I have ever seen. The high resolution camera is not the best, but it is quite adequate for spur of the moment photographs. Much better than the NX70 camera, without a doubt. The NX80 metal case is quite solid, and even the CF slot door (which I also initially thought looked a bit flimsy) has held up VERY well to repeated use with my WiFi card. I would feel very comfortable at this point keeping the WiFi card in the unit and carrying it around, except that my belt pouch is too short :(

Give the NX80 a chance - I think you will be pleasantly surprised at how nice a piece of engineering it is. Small condolences for your lost NX70, I know, but in these times of grief every little bit of positive input helps!

Best regards,
Bawko

[freddy1221]

I have just a curiosity. The law suit that Xerox started against Palm for using the Graffity, does that affect only the US market?
I am asking this because I got a Japanese NX80V and besides the Japanese Decuma, the Graffity that it has is the old one and not G2.
Regards,

[reactor18]

Thanx Atomic Chicken (your 'handle' always makes me smile), as much as I loved my NX70, I think your right. I already notice how much better it fits in my hand and since I was able to restore my data from the 'killer' hot-sync (I cheated and didn't let the Clie charge completely the first time), I feel much more friendly towards the newest member of the family since I didn't lose any data (which is nothing short of a MIRICLE).

The screen seems to be brighter (as if it wasn't bright enough with NX70!) and more colorful... or it could be that I'm so releaved to be able to restore my data, that I'm hallucinating.

I haven't messed around with Decuma or G2 yet... *sigh* I just have to get used to it!