methnen
11-17-2003, 07:22 PM
Spent the weekend playing with my new TJ-35 and thought I would post my comments for those thinking about buying one. And for those who just might be interested.
Where am I coming from?
My previous Clie was an SJ-33 which I was very happy with. It was just starting to look really beaten up and I was wanting to try some of the apps that won't run in OS 4. My dream Clie would probably be something similar to the SJ-33 but with bluetooth and all metal construction instead of plastic. Virtual Graffiti would be nice but not neccesary. Previous to the SJ-33 I had a Palm m130 that was a total piece of junk and just died after about a month of use.
What about the build quality and proportions?
The first thing I noticed when I started using TJ-35 is that is really thin. The SJ-33 was a little on the thick side but of course the result was incredible battery life. The TJ-35 though thin does not feel cheap. It has some heft to it and the aluminum is nicely textured similar to my 12" PowerBook G4. It is also wider but not uncomfortably so and I don't have large hands. The screen and graffiti area is exactly the same size as the SJ-33 so I was able to use the same Screen Protector that I had used with my SJ-33. (The one from Brando). It gives a nice texture to the screen that improves my graffiti recognition considerably. I find the unprotected Clie screen to be a little too slick.
What about the memory stick pro slot?
I purchased a 256MB Memory Stick Pro to go along with my new TJ-35 it has worked well so far. I have noticed a small speed improvement over my old memory stick but nothing to get too excited about. The higher capacity is quite nice though.
What about the jog dial and rocker buttons?
I really never used the jog dial on my SJ-33 and I use it constantly on my TJ-35. It is perfect for reading my iSilo copies of Asimov's Science Fiction, and Ananlog. The only problem with the new jog dial is when using it for games. Most of the games I play are text based or stylus based and so the buttons are rarely used. However, I noticed that when playing the other games that the jog dial often doesn't comunicate a scroll up as a click up even for those games that I was able to set the keys. But small price to pay for a jog dial I actually use. The rocker buttons have not posed a problem. Even in games they worked just fine. And are actually much easier for me to click than the recessed buttons on the SJ-33. They also worked well in all of the games that required them.
Speaking of games how do they work?
Aggression: Works Great
Alchemy!: Works Great
Battleship: Works Great
Bejeweled: Works Great
Billiards: Works Great
Book Worm: Mostly Works (There are a number of very anoying graphical glitches that keep showing up. I will be reporting these to Astraware.)
Kickoo's Breakout: Works Great
Dynomite: Works Great
Gizmo Ultra: So far works great. Sound emulation stutters on some games.
Insaniquarium: Works Great
Mega Bowling: Works Great
Medieval Heroes: Works Great
Mummy Maze: Works Great
NesEm: So far works. Some sound emulation stutters but mostly quite good. It will be great to play some of those old Final Fantasy games.
Scrabble: Works Great
Seven Seas!: Works Great
Socobon 3.1: Works Great
TakTik: Works Great
TextTwist: Works Great
Warefare Incorporated: Works but has serious speed problems. Which is funny because my SJ-33 handled this game perfectly. I suspect it contains some code that was highly optomized for the dragonball processor and the emulation layer in OS 5 isn't handling it well. As this is a newer game i will writing to Handmark and letting them know it needs fixed for OS 5 machines.
I have some other games but haven't had the time to try them yet.
Ok enough games how about real software?
Butterfly: Works good. I love the thicker more smooth look of OS 5. And Butterfly allowed to get things looking just like they did on my SJ-33.
CardBackup: Worked great except I'm running a beta version that was sent to my by the author. Apparently the current release has some issues with OS 5 machines. That said the beta performed its scheduled backup flawlessly at 2:30 this morning.
IconMananger: Works Great
Fonts4UX: Works wonderfully. I love having the choice using different fonts. The Clie one makes your eyes tired way to quickly when reading large amounts of text. I definately recommend this one.
CIC Jot: Works Great
CIC Word Complete: Works Great
PowerRUN: Works Great only I wish he would get some hi-res artwork for the dialogues and icon. It looks really dated now that everything else I have is written with hi-res screens in mind.
wavAlarms: Kind of works. It's really quirky and I will be talking to the author about it. It works sometimes doesn't others.
Zlauncher: Works great.
BibleReader+(Olive Tree Software): The hi-res beta works better in OS 5 than it did in OS 4. But come one people. It has been in beta for over a year!!! I wouldn't even use this one except they are the only company to offer the NAB translation with all of the books including the Apocrypha.
Devotions: Works Great
iSilo 4: Works Great. Especially wonderful when combined with Fonts4UX.
MegaClock: Works Great. Only my registratio code won't work anymore.
MSDict: Works Great. (However, I HATE this company's registration scheme it is a royal pain in the butt.)
MyBible: Works Great. Larridian needs to publish a NAB database and I will switch to them completely. As it is their NIV translation is very nice to have as well.
SplashID, SplashMoney, and SplashPhoto: Work Great
MegaCalc: Works Great
Agendus: Works Great
What about the programs that came with it?
PicselViewer: Very flashy but not terribly easy to use. I probably would delete if I could.
AeroPlayer: Works Great. I don't really listen to Mp3's on my Clie though. I have an iPod for that.
CLIE Memo: I actually really like it. I think it might replace BugMe for my uses. I never used the alarm features in BugMe and the drawing is much more fluid in CLIE Memo.
CLIE Viewer: Works Great. But another one I would delete if I could.
Decuma: I like it. I'm not completely sold yet but that is just because I have gotten very used to using Jot instead. I'll certainly play with it some more.
What about Syncing with my PowerBook?
I had already purchased Mark Space's "The Missing Sync" and it work beautifully with the TJ-35 as it did with the SJ-33. No complaints nad having DataImport work with your mac is worth the money regardless of the other features that Missing Sync provides.
What about the Battery Life?
It's not as good as my SJ-33's battery life was. And I really liked how long I could go between charges. But thats something I can live with in exchange for the added speed and nicer looking interface of OS 5.
What about the speed?
It is definately faster. With the exception of Warefare Incorporated everything I have used has a noticably snappier response to my input. I'm liking the extra speed. And of course the SJ-33 could just manage emulating a black and white gameboy game. The SJ-35 handles the Nintendo and GameGear games quite well from all appearances. Any glitches I noticed were due to emulation problems not with the speed of the TJ-35.
What about the horribly dark screen?!!!
Well, coming from an SJ-33 I really didn't notice a difference until setting them side by side in a dark room. The SJ-33 was slightly, and I mean, SLIGHTLY brighter. However, the SJ-33 has a bluish tint to the white and the TJ-35 colors are all very uniform. I have no problem with the brightness of the screen. Others may. This is something you will have to examine yourself if you feel it is very important to you.
What about the terrible stylus?
Yeah it isn't great. It feels a little funny in your hand and it doesn't lock into place as you pull it out. You have to lock it into place after pulling it out. It shouldn't be a two step process to use a stylus. That said I found myself getting use to the stylus very quickly. And it stopped feeling weird after about a day. On top of that I also often use my Sensa Stylus and it complements the TJ-35 well being a brushed aluminum pen.
What about the cover?
I like the cover much more than I thought I would. It looks much nicer in real life than in the photos I had seen. It folds out of the way when you are using the the TJ-35 and it hasn't come off accidently, yet... I would probably like something more substantial to protect it though. I will be looking at hard cases when they are released.
Final comments:
I ordered a cradle for it but have not recieved it yet. Amazon has it on backorder. I'll let you guys know what I think of it once it arrives. My sync charger I bought from Belkin works great. And is my favorite accessory I have ever purchased for my Clie. It is a perfect companion for my PowerBook.
Oh!, and as I said in another thread, "I use my hand strap! You should too. It has saved my two Clie's too many times to count."
Wow, this ended up a little longer than I had intended. :)
Jamie
Where am I coming from?
My previous Clie was an SJ-33 which I was very happy with. It was just starting to look really beaten up and I was wanting to try some of the apps that won't run in OS 4. My dream Clie would probably be something similar to the SJ-33 but with bluetooth and all metal construction instead of plastic. Virtual Graffiti would be nice but not neccesary. Previous to the SJ-33 I had a Palm m130 that was a total piece of junk and just died after about a month of use.
What about the build quality and proportions?
The first thing I noticed when I started using TJ-35 is that is really thin. The SJ-33 was a little on the thick side but of course the result was incredible battery life. The TJ-35 though thin does not feel cheap. It has some heft to it and the aluminum is nicely textured similar to my 12" PowerBook G4. It is also wider but not uncomfortably so and I don't have large hands. The screen and graffiti area is exactly the same size as the SJ-33 so I was able to use the same Screen Protector that I had used with my SJ-33. (The one from Brando). It gives a nice texture to the screen that improves my graffiti recognition considerably. I find the unprotected Clie screen to be a little too slick.
What about the memory stick pro slot?
I purchased a 256MB Memory Stick Pro to go along with my new TJ-35 it has worked well so far. I have noticed a small speed improvement over my old memory stick but nothing to get too excited about. The higher capacity is quite nice though.
What about the jog dial and rocker buttons?
I really never used the jog dial on my SJ-33 and I use it constantly on my TJ-35. It is perfect for reading my iSilo copies of Asimov's Science Fiction, and Ananlog. The only problem with the new jog dial is when using it for games. Most of the games I play are text based or stylus based and so the buttons are rarely used. However, I noticed that when playing the other games that the jog dial often doesn't comunicate a scroll up as a click up even for those games that I was able to set the keys. But small price to pay for a jog dial I actually use. The rocker buttons have not posed a problem. Even in games they worked just fine. And are actually much easier for me to click than the recessed buttons on the SJ-33. They also worked well in all of the games that required them.
Speaking of games how do they work?
Aggression: Works Great
Alchemy!: Works Great
Battleship: Works Great
Bejeweled: Works Great
Billiards: Works Great
Book Worm: Mostly Works (There are a number of very anoying graphical glitches that keep showing up. I will be reporting these to Astraware.)
Kickoo's Breakout: Works Great
Dynomite: Works Great
Gizmo Ultra: So far works great. Sound emulation stutters on some games.
Insaniquarium: Works Great
Mega Bowling: Works Great
Medieval Heroes: Works Great
Mummy Maze: Works Great
NesEm: So far works. Some sound emulation stutters but mostly quite good. It will be great to play some of those old Final Fantasy games.
Scrabble: Works Great
Seven Seas!: Works Great
Socobon 3.1: Works Great
TakTik: Works Great
TextTwist: Works Great
Warefare Incorporated: Works but has serious speed problems. Which is funny because my SJ-33 handled this game perfectly. I suspect it contains some code that was highly optomized for the dragonball processor and the emulation layer in OS 5 isn't handling it well. As this is a newer game i will writing to Handmark and letting them know it needs fixed for OS 5 machines.
I have some other games but haven't had the time to try them yet.
Ok enough games how about real software?
Butterfly: Works good. I love the thicker more smooth look of OS 5. And Butterfly allowed to get things looking just like they did on my SJ-33.
CardBackup: Worked great except I'm running a beta version that was sent to my by the author. Apparently the current release has some issues with OS 5 machines. That said the beta performed its scheduled backup flawlessly at 2:30 this morning.
IconMananger: Works Great
Fonts4UX: Works wonderfully. I love having the choice using different fonts. The Clie one makes your eyes tired way to quickly when reading large amounts of text. I definately recommend this one.
CIC Jot: Works Great
CIC Word Complete: Works Great
PowerRUN: Works Great only I wish he would get some hi-res artwork for the dialogues and icon. It looks really dated now that everything else I have is written with hi-res screens in mind.
wavAlarms: Kind of works. It's really quirky and I will be talking to the author about it. It works sometimes doesn't others.
Zlauncher: Works great.
BibleReader+(Olive Tree Software): The hi-res beta works better in OS 5 than it did in OS 4. But come one people. It has been in beta for over a year!!! I wouldn't even use this one except they are the only company to offer the NAB translation with all of the books including the Apocrypha.
Devotions: Works Great
iSilo 4: Works Great. Especially wonderful when combined with Fonts4UX.
MegaClock: Works Great. Only my registratio code won't work anymore.
MSDict: Works Great. (However, I HATE this company's registration scheme it is a royal pain in the butt.)
MyBible: Works Great. Larridian needs to publish a NAB database and I will switch to them completely. As it is their NIV translation is very nice to have as well.
SplashID, SplashMoney, and SplashPhoto: Work Great
MegaCalc: Works Great
Agendus: Works Great
What about the programs that came with it?
PicselViewer: Very flashy but not terribly easy to use. I probably would delete if I could.
AeroPlayer: Works Great. I don't really listen to Mp3's on my Clie though. I have an iPod for that.
CLIE Memo: I actually really like it. I think it might replace BugMe for my uses. I never used the alarm features in BugMe and the drawing is much more fluid in CLIE Memo.
CLIE Viewer: Works Great. But another one I would delete if I could.
Decuma: I like it. I'm not completely sold yet but that is just because I have gotten very used to using Jot instead. I'll certainly play with it some more.
What about Syncing with my PowerBook?
I had already purchased Mark Space's "The Missing Sync" and it work beautifully with the TJ-35 as it did with the SJ-33. No complaints nad having DataImport work with your mac is worth the money regardless of the other features that Missing Sync provides.
What about the Battery Life?
It's not as good as my SJ-33's battery life was. And I really liked how long I could go between charges. But thats something I can live with in exchange for the added speed and nicer looking interface of OS 5.
What about the speed?
It is definately faster. With the exception of Warefare Incorporated everything I have used has a noticably snappier response to my input. I'm liking the extra speed. And of course the SJ-33 could just manage emulating a black and white gameboy game. The SJ-35 handles the Nintendo and GameGear games quite well from all appearances. Any glitches I noticed were due to emulation problems not with the speed of the TJ-35.
What about the horribly dark screen?!!!
Well, coming from an SJ-33 I really didn't notice a difference until setting them side by side in a dark room. The SJ-33 was slightly, and I mean, SLIGHTLY brighter. However, the SJ-33 has a bluish tint to the white and the TJ-35 colors are all very uniform. I have no problem with the brightness of the screen. Others may. This is something you will have to examine yourself if you feel it is very important to you.
What about the terrible stylus?
Yeah it isn't great. It feels a little funny in your hand and it doesn't lock into place as you pull it out. You have to lock it into place after pulling it out. It shouldn't be a two step process to use a stylus. That said I found myself getting use to the stylus very quickly. And it stopped feeling weird after about a day. On top of that I also often use my Sensa Stylus and it complements the TJ-35 well being a brushed aluminum pen.
What about the cover?
I like the cover much more than I thought I would. It looks much nicer in real life than in the photos I had seen. It folds out of the way when you are using the the TJ-35 and it hasn't come off accidently, yet... I would probably like something more substantial to protect it though. I will be looking at hard cases when they are released.
Final comments:
I ordered a cradle for it but have not recieved it yet. Amazon has it on backorder. I'll let you guys know what I think of it once it arrives. My sync charger I bought from Belkin works great. And is my favorite accessory I have ever purchased for my Clie. It is a perfect companion for my PowerBook.
Oh!, and as I said in another thread, "I use my hand strap! You should too. It has saved my two Clie's too many times to count."
Wow, this ended up a little longer than I had intended. :)
Jamie