We've got the NZ90, questions?

[pdagal]

Yeehah! I just picked up my NZ90. Note this was a self-purchase, not a review unit, so I'll have this unit for a while :).

I just took a few photos of it for size comparison with other PDAs and my own hand. You can view them at http://www.pdabuyersguide.com/feature/sony_NZ90.htm (at the bottom of the article). I'll be writing up a review in the next few days which will replace the pre-release info currently in that review.

First impressions: Sorry, don't flame me, but yes it is large. It fits in my sweat pants pocket, but no way will it fit into dress pants pockets (you guys are lucky, you can wear cargo pants and Dockers :D ). The top area, where the camera is located, is really thick compared to the rest of the unit. While the rest of the unit can still pass for a PDA despite its size, the camera area is a honker in terms of thickness.

It is very well built and solid. It's nice to see a Clie with a "real" lens and not a pin dot lens.

The keyboard is head and shoulders above the NX and NR series. No more membrane keyboard, this one has true "chicklet" keys that are quite nice to type on, and don't require the pressure or use of fingernails that the NX and NR did.

This thing comes with more cables than any notebook PC!

I'll post sample images taken with the camera after it charges up. It's overcast here today, so indoor pix will be first, followed by daylight photos hopefully tomorrow. I'm a semi-pro photographer, so this should be fun!

If you have any questions, please post them here. I've also opened up a new topic on our board. I read cliesource.com several times a day, so I'll be sure to see your posts here too.

[oneeyesquare]

Nice pics!!! Thanx for the quick posting!! The size comparisions are great, not a whole lot bigger than the DellPPC. Really looking forward to getting mine!!!

[starstreak]

augh. THis ain't fair. I have to return my broken HP5455 to compusa but in Hawaii, they don't have the Sony yet. Wahh

[pdagal]

I just added another photo of the NX90 in my hand. I'm holding it by the camera area, since that's thickest.

Originally posted by oneeyesquare
Nice pics!!! Thanx for the quick posting!! The size comparisions are great, not a whole lot bigger than the DellPPC. Really looking forward to getting mine!!!

[starstreak]

how would you take a picture? Can you show a pic on how it would be held? The lens doesn't rotate right?

[pdagal]

The lens does not rotate. I'm bummed because I enjoyed taking stealth pix with the NX70V, and that was easier given camera rotation.

To use the camera you must place the NZ in tablet mode. This way the screen faces you and the camera faces away from you and (hopefully) at your subject.

You cannot put the unit in the V position and take pix, because the camera is blocked in that position. It seems tablet mode is the only way.

Originally posted by starstreak
how would you take a picture? Can you show a pic on how it would be held? The lens doesn't rotate right?

[LITTLESIX]

Originally posted by pdagal
The lens does not rotate. I'm bummed because I enjoyed taking stealth pix with the NX70V, and that was easier given camera rotation.

To use the camera you must place the NZ in tablet mode. This way the screen faces you and the camera faces away from you and (hopefully) at your subject.

You cannot put the unit in the V position and take pix, because the camera is blocked in that position. It seems tablet mode is the only way.



PDAGal: Can I impose? Can you post a pic of it in "V" mode? I thought that position would have worked and I can't connect it in my head why it won't.

I'm guessing that extending the screen into the "V" pulls the lens down too far? (back in towards the keyboard)

thanks in advance

[OcellNuri]

If you open the unit in clamshell form, the lens points towards you. This lets you take pictures towards yourself. If you twist the screen and fold it shut into tablet mode, the camera is at the back of the unit and the screen is facing you, allowing you to take pictures away from you. While I didn't get to try the camera app while I was playing with the unit (battery was low) I did get to flip it around several times. I didn't see anything blocking the lens in either clamshell or tablet positions.

[pdagal]

I'll be happy to post a pic, but in the meanwhile let me explain.
When the unit is in V position, it's as if you opened it up say 45 degrees from closed clamshell mode (normal way of opening up a closed NZ or NX). At this position, the camera lens, is facing down into the body. When the unit is fully opened, the camera actually faces out the backside, rather than facing into the body. That's how you take pix (with screen swiveled into tablet mode).

The screen can't be opened entirely flat (it stops about 5 degrees short). As you'd expect, it thus can't be hyper-extended to create an inverted V, if that makes any sense. If you could hyper-extended it and V it in the other direction, then you would be able to take pix. As someone else posted, I do wonder what that self-timer is for-- about the only way I can think of to take an unattended picture is to rest the NZ on it's side with the clamshell fully open.

On another topic, the CF model drivers that Pelacca translated do work with the NZ. I tried it and it loads just the same as on the NX, and my Ambicom CF modem works.

On yet another topic, out of the box, the NZ has 10.5 megs of RAM free, not 11 as stated elsewhere (guess they rounded up).



Originally posted by LITTLESIX


PDAGal: Can I impose? Can you post a pic of it in "V" mode? I thought that position would have worked and I can't connect it in my head why it won't.

I'm guessing that extending the screen into the "V" pulls the lens down too far? (back in towards the keyboard)

thanks in advance

[LITTLESIX]

thanks, pdagal. That didn't make a lick of sense - lol!

It's not your description at all - it's my brain. Totally fried from too much work. I'm sure when you post a pic, it'll all come together.

Appreciate the answer - dm

edit: whoops on the name - sorry!

[davy19]

Can you post pics taken from the NZ90?

With and without flash?

thanks

[pdagal]

attached image is of the NZ that Littlesix asked for. As you can see, the unit isn't even closed yet to a 45 degree V, and the camera is already rotating down to face the body of the unit. If the NZ were closed to a 45 degree V, the camera would entirely face into the body.

[pdagal]

Hmmm... my jpg attachments aren't appearing in my post above. Any tips on how to get this to work?

[OcellNuri]

You have to wait for the mods to approve the picture.

[Marudine]

pdagal, can you try to take a short video and link it via the A/V port to a TV to see whether does it work in this config. There were some previous posts trying to confirm this. Thanks.

[pdagal]

It doesn't play videos on the TV, only still images :(. What a bummer. The only app that interfaces with the TV is Clie Album, which is only for still pictures.

Originally posted by Marudine
pdagal, can you try to take a short video and link it via the A/V port to a TV to see whether does it work in this config. There were some previous posts trying to confirm this. Thanks.

[fc2003]

Did you try the Felica Reader and Blue Tooth? Easy setup and user friendly?

[mashoutposse]

Felica Reader is only on the Japanese model.

[ikkoku]

Originally posted by pdagal
It doesn't play videos on the TV, only still images :(. What a bummer. The only app that interfaces with the TV is Clie Album, which is only for still pictures.



This may just be a software issue.... Some developer may be able to take advantage of the video out.

[pdagal]

Whew, now I need to get some sleep :p. I covered everything I could think of, and the stuff you folks asked about. I'll be updating the battery life info after I live with it longer.

There are 3 sample photos taken at 1200 x 1600. If you click on them you can view the unaltered full size images. These images are around 430k each, so please right click on them and save them to your computer if you want to view them repeatedly. You'd be surprised at how our bandwidth bill can go up a few hundred dollars/month when we post large files. Thanks in avance :).
http://www.pdabuyersguide.com/feature/sony_NZ90.htm

[ikkoku]

Great Review!