Tried the UX50 on its release, but came away just OK impressed

[kkrays]

I went to the Sony Building in Ginza Tokyo on the 11th and was pleasantly surprised that the UX series was on display there. I took a couple of vidcaps of it in action just for my own recollection later on, but I'm sure you'll all seen enough of it.

It is a great device, but if first impressions count for anything, the Sharp Zaurus still beats it hands down in that department. Yes, I know that the camera and built-in wireless options of the clie are great, but when you compare the two side by side (as I did in akihabara later), the amazing bright, crisp 640x480 screen of the Zaurus wins no problem.

I'd be interested to see how things pan out in Japan with the UX series vs. the Sharp Zaurus models. There's a lot of talk (re: bashing) about the crappy resolution of Pocket PCs when compared to Clies on this forum. But if you all ever laid your eyes on the Zaurus Cxx series, then you'd see that Sony is clearly behind the times in the aspect of PDAs that play a big factor: the screen!

[Unregistered]

You make Sonicboy very angry if you say the screen of the UX is not good. He bought the UX50 and is happy - or has to be happy, I dunno. The UX50 screen is slightly bigger than the TG50 screen, just wider.... If you are an NX user, expect to be ignored by Sonicboy as he does not listen to NX users anymore...

[kkrays]

Take note: I'm not saying that it's a bad screen. Im just saying that, for me at least, since the screen is all that you stare at when you use the pda, it's a major factor. And the Zaurus Cxx screen resolution is such a huge jump from the resolution used in the UXs, that the difference in night and day.

So the UX screen is not bad per se, it just doesn't hold a candle to the Zaurus Cxx screens.

A little amusing story: I brought 3 friends of mine to akihabara (two girls and 1 guy), all non-pda fanatics like us. I showed them both the Zaurus C760 and the UX50 side by side and guess what? They came away with the lasting impression of the Zaurus only because of its amazing screen quality. They weren't that impressed with having a camera since you can hardly get a cellphone in tokyo without it having a camera anymore.

[Unregistered]

Very true!! The Zaurus has the best screen of PDAs which are currently on sale. I wonder how the Zaurus is selling.

[kkrays]

Well, it's been #1 in Japan for the past year and so. So that's why I'm interested to see how it fares vs. the UX. The UX has more features built-in, but I'm wondering if that will sway buyers away from the better screen of the Zaurus...

Trust me, there's nothing better than horizontal websurfing on a 640x480 pda screen.

What I find odd in retrospect is that a lot of clie users were posting about how "oh, so that means Netfront CAN be used horizontally" when they saw pics of the UX. But the Zaurus Cxx has been using Netfront horizontally for the past year. I guess some people don't venture beyond the world of Clies...

[aoi tsuki]

What I find odd in retrospect is that a lot of clie users were posting about how "oh, so that means Netfront CAN be used horizontally" when they saw pics of the UX. But the Zaurus Cxx has been using Netfront horizontally for the past year. I guess some people don't venture beyond the world of Clies...

The Zaurus would be in my range of consideration if it ran the Palm OS and was smaller. i'm familiar with Linux and i'm really impressed that he Zaurus runs a full version of it, but i have no interest in running it on a PDA, especially with a huge library of well-designed Palm OS apps.

But really, what did you expect on a Clie-centered site?

[Unregistered]

"But really, what did you expect on a Clie-centered site?"

for real, it is THE Clie fanboy site

[sonicboy]

Originally posted by Unregistered
You make Sonicboy very angry if you say the screen of the UX is not good.
lol, I'm famous :D

dont get me wrong, I have my gripes.. just not as many as NX users..

[thooeu]

Originally posted by kkrays
Well, it's been #1 in Japan for the past year and so. So that's why I'm interested to see how it fares vs. the UX. The UX has more features built-in, but I'm wondering if that will sway buyers away from the better screen of the Zaurus... 


First of all I agree that the C7xx Zaurus has nice screen. But I guess the OS makes it hard to sell to the "general" users. If it runs PalmOS or PPC, it will have bigger market. At the moment, it has drop into the niche market. If mobile Linux picks up, the situation may change. I am just curious what is your source when you said Zaurus has been No 1 in Japan for the past year?

Just want to point out that Zaurus has never been top since PalmOS entered the Japanese market at the end of 2000/beginning of 2001. Zaurus market share has dropped steadily over the years because of the proprietary OS that it was using before the Linux based Zaurus comes in. Even with the current Linux based Zaurus, it is also hard to penetrate the PalmOS and PPC market. But I do admit that Sharp has good hardware design as well. Unfortunately, there are many other factors that determine the popularity of a PDA other than the screen. 

The following link shows the latest statistics I can find.

target=_blank>http://pcweb.mycom.co.jp/news/2003/07/24/06.html (http://pcweb.mycom.co.jp/news/2003/07/24/06.html)

SigmarionIII is a Windows CE .Net based handheld. 

It is not necessary UX will outsell the Zaurus C7xx because UX lacks something very important in the Japanese market - CF slot. Fixed fee, unlimited access wireless CF cards provided by the various mobile operators are more popular than wi-fi and there is hardly any bluetooth mobile phone in Japan. I think NX80V will still be the device of choice. But Japanese users like compact devices like the UX. We'll see how the Japanese consumers vote with their Yen...

[gunmetal]

By coincidence I happen to still have my NX-70 sitting right here next to my brand new Zaurus SL-C760 that was just delivered last week by Conics.net. The NX is already sold and I'm moving everything over to the Zaurus. I haven't seen a UX yet but I really think it should compete well with the Zaurus. They're almost completely different machines for different purposes that happen to share a similar form factor. I love my Z so far but could see why some people would prefer the UX. The screen on the Z is impressive. It's as bright and clear as any lcd screen I've ever seen and definitely the best on any pda. 640x480 is great! The UX, however is easier to read in bright sun. It's possible on the Sharp but more difficult. The Zaurus PIM stuff is also pretty primitive. I've had to convert mine to english (I'm in the U.S.) and you're unable to even sort your contacts by name!

Zaurus Pros:

Fantastic screen with great resolution
Web browsing is very close to the pc experience
Linux flexibility (ssh, ftp, apache, mount windows shares, great networking)
Very nice form factor with CF and SD slots + nice keyboard
Portrait + Landscape usability
64mb RAM, 128 Flash storage internally!
More a computer than a PDA.
Open source so I finally own a PDA that can be updated!!!

Cons:
If you're looking for English you have to convert it. Even Dynamism's conversion isn't perfect
Much smaller software base and a lot of isn't perfect
I still can't get IRDA to work
Interface is still a few generations behind Palm OS for simplicity.
Power brings complexity
No built-in networking

I'd love to see a Zaurus 760 running Palm OS, that would be almost perfect for my use. For now I'm keeping the Z but I might be tempted by OS 6 clies by the time they arrive. The Zaurus is great if you're willing to invest some time and effort to make it what you want, the Clies will always be attractive to people who just want something a little (lot!) more polished and works out of the box. Personally I prefer the Zaurus for browsing, e-mail, data entry, and general computer use. I prefer the Clie for PIM, notes management, e-books, games, and software availability.

[askjay]

After reading some preview of the Zaurus 760 I was temped to get one, but I have my NX73V.
So I hope the next generation of Zaurus include built-in networking (BT & WiFi), the camara will be a nice extra.
I found out from my friend that you can get a 750C for $400!!!!
I wouldn't consider the UX if I can get a Zaurus 750 for $400 here.

*PS: Gunmetal, you can run a PalmOS emulator on the Zaurus, dun know how's the performance but it's good to have the option*

[jaimejr66]

Zaurus market is so small here in North America, that its just not worth investing in one.

[Ftrooper93]

Now I'd like to know more about the palm emulation on the Zaurus. That might be interesting

[gunmetal]

There are at least two palm emulators out there for the Zaurus that I've tried. Neither is usable for real work. They're extremely slow and only support older roms. It's more for demonstration than actual use.

Better apps are coming. Opie is available in an official 1.0 release that I haven't installed yet. OpenZaurus is listed as experimental for the 7x0 series but is coming along nicely which would also give a complete english environment if needed. As it is the conversion is not that difficult and I'd say my Z is 98% English. You mostly just lose the help files and some of the wizards that remain in Japanese. Definitely manageable though. FWIW I paid $680 delivered to San Francisco. You should be able to get a SL-C750 at least a $100 cheaper than that. Prices in Japan obviously are much cheaper still.

[ugokanain]

Had already thought of checking out the Zaurus, before buying a NX80. The 80 has several advantages (mp3, audio recorder, camera, lots of options for software), however the Zaurus has its own (linux, it is open, hardware and screen). It certainly won't be a simple choice.

My biggest concern was getting a pda that I could use during my trip though China, and for learning Japanese. Seems that the Zaurus has some options, though the Palm has better options. At least it still is in the run...Things will certainly be interesting on my shopping day :)

[sonicboy]

the edict is crap, you have to punch an onscreen keyboard and you get the same c r a p p y font back at you..

I gotta try this sony jap/eng dictionary that came with.. it looks good and I will be able too copy and pas shiftJIS

linux will own us all but its gonna take time and in the mean time I wanna learn japanese motto motto

[sonicboy]

the kanji recognition on the other hand.. now that is some cool stuff..

need OS 5 programmers into japanese