will a US model NX80 work in the uk?

[O'Brien]

hi, i am trying to find an NX80 everywhere, but i can only find US models that are within my price range ($360). i would ave no problems with getting a US model, i am just worried about whether it will still function over here ok, i mean, with the different voltages, will it blow the battery of the clie? i have read the threads alot in this forum and it sounds like you all know your stuff. i am a 1st time PDA buyer btw.

and also, could anyone tell me anygood sites that are currently selling "new"/"refurbished to new" clies, that are in my price range, any replies greatly appreciated, thanx alot,
Dan

[meir87]

Should work just fine. The power adapter says it will take voltages between 100-240 volts so the most you'll have to spend is about $5 on an outlet converter (not a voltage converter) so that it will fit in to the wall.

[O'Brien]

thanx alot. there is just one thing that i would like to see implemented into the nx80, bluetooth, i have a couple of bluetooth devices, as do several of my friends, i read somewhere that there is something called a bluetooth card? does this mean that i could have bluetooth on the nx80?

thanx again for the reply, anywhere i could purchase one from (ebay and amazon are out, already looked there)
Dan

[meir87]

NP. If you want BT then you should get the euro NX73. The only way to get BT on an NX80 is via an MSBT and sony discontinued theirs so you are only left with this one (http://www.hscjpn.co.jp/hscjpn/english/030328.html#second) which hasn't been released. BTW, if you get a BTMS you will have the end of the card sticking out the side of your clie.

[O'Brien]

no, because i chose the nx80 over the tg50 (with bluetooth) becasue of the camera, and i have already got a 0.3 megapixel camera on my phone, and do you think i could get a second hand bluetooth memory stick from somewhere like ebay?
thanx for the suggestions.
Dan

[bohica]

Bluetooth Memory Sticks are like gold-dust mate. I've put a few bids in on eBay for them now and then - lost every time :D

I'm in the UK - and I chose the NX80 over the NX73 as the camera was more important to me than wireless.

You need to decided what's more important to you - because by the time you add wireless to an NX80 the cost is approaching that of a UX50 (check out the buy now prices on eBay for US imports).

You could be better off with an NX73 and a digital camera.

M.

[O'Brien]

thanx alot for the advice peeps.
oh, seeing as you live in england, how did you get your nx80, and have you had any problems with it?
there must be another way of getting bluetooth on a PDA, is there anything like a bluetooth dongle like PC's have?
im sure people could make quite a bit of money from developing something lik that for a PDA, for obvious reasons really, andway, let me know about anything please 'bohica', thanx
Dan

[phoenix3200]

The problem with using such a device is that you will need to spell words a little bit dfferently...like color instead of colour.

[bohica]

Originally posted by O'Brien
there must be another way of getting bluetooth on a PDA, is there anything like a bluetooth dongle like PC's have?


There are plenty of Bluetooth enabled PDAs :) it's just that the NX80 isn't one of them. If Bluetooth is really important to you then the NX80 isn't the right PDA.

Someone might need to correct me here - but the NZ90 has a 2Mp camera and Bluetooth, so that might be a better machine for you.

I bought my NX80 via a US vendor on eBay so I could take advantage of the excellent exchange rate - I paid £215 before p+p.

However, the risks are not being able to return a defective unit, the possibility of getting hammered on import duty (although some companies are better than others for shipping items as 'gifts') and potential delivery delays.

If you buy this way, remember to check the vendor's feedback rating. Some aren't the most reliable when it comes to prompt shipping.

Hope this helps.

[seraphim_9:11]

your PDA will work just fine in the UK - mine is from the US and I a using it in India - if it works here - chances are that it will work pretty much anywhere ... :D

[O'Brien]

thanx for all the replies, and bohica, bluetooth isnt really important to me, it would just be a bit more convenient, and i picked a good camera over bluetooth, if i would have picked the camera, i would of picked bluetooth and gone with the TG50, but after alot of thought, i picked the camera, and alos, the design of the NX80, it is so appealing to me. and in reference to your suggestion about the NZ90, there is no way that i could stretch t that price, and also, the battery life is reportedly dismal, and this is quite important to me, as i intend to use it, along side with my ipod as an mp3 player, my ipod would be more if i didnt need to take the PDA with me, and on long journeys, anyway, thanx alot with your suggestions and assurance.
Bohica, is the stylus for the NX80 really that 'unusable'? i've heard that it is really too small, and a pain to use

thanx, Dan

[bohica]

I've not heard that about the stylus - it works well enough for me, it's pretty much like any other stylii (is that right?). You could always buy a pen with a stylus tip.

Getting use to the thumb-keyboard takes a while, but I find it excellent once mastered.

If you live in London, it might be worth heading up to Tottenham Court Road and having a go on an NX73 to get a feel for the unit.

I've run the spectrum of PDAs - my Clie was an replacement from my Psion 5mx, and I can honestly say the NX80 is one of my faves.

[O'Brien]

oh, ok, good. another load off my mind.
yeah, i have my doubts about the keyboard, people say it is good, excellent, ok, rubbish, and even unusable, so it'll have to be pot luck.
i live in oxford so i'll try in somewhere like dixons, they have a good selection of sony clie's.
looks like were in a race of who can get the most posts at the moment, lol, how have u found the camera, good for things like pictures with your freinds, or still only good enough for a casual type camera you get on phones?
and one last question, really sorry to be bombarding you with them, do you have to save the pictures onto a memory stick, and can you save them to the clie's memory, from what i've read about it, it is confusing to say the least.
Dan

[bohica]

It depends on what you want to do with the pics. The camera is adequate for a lo-res unit as long as the light's good - but you need to hold bloody still in bad light otherwise it blurs like crazy.

Honestly, though, 1.3Mp isn't much - it's fine for small prints, websites etc. I use it when I don't have a camera on me, otherwise I use a Sony DSC-P12 camera (5Mp). It's still miles better than most phone cameras.

And it does save to the internal memory - I just removed my MS to try. I would recommend extra storage though, the NX80's RAM is limited, so at the very least pick up a cheap MS (Expansys.com do 128MB for £34.45 - you can use it to watch vids on then as well.

Don't worry about the questions - glad I can help.

[O'Brien]

yeah, that is the thing with digital photography.
i know 1.3 isnt much, but its bloody good for a PDA camera, second best on the market isnt bad. how much does 128mb hold, roughly, sorry, i did it again, lol, wots the vid quality like, u tried it?
is it easy to transfer them onto the mem stick? it does store it on the PDA. Thanx for answering all these questions.
Dan

[bohica]

Hi mate,

I agree 1.3Mp is good for a PDA. For video, however, it's terrible as it records at 160x160 - I assume that this more down to the processor's ability to handle encoding rather than the camera.

Video playback (converted DVDs etc) is very good thanks to the excellent quality of the screen the Sony's support for Mpeg-4 encoding.

A 128Mb MS can just about hold a full film at low quality - so it's not particularly useful. I use a 512Mb compact flash card for films - that holds a full-length movie at excellent quality.

I use a multi-card reader to transfer my files (I think it cost me £6) and that does the job perfectly.

In terms of general storage of files and photos a 128Mb MS is more than adequate - that's hundreds of pictures. Or, my case, dozens and dozens of Spectrum and Atari ST games.

[anitanium]

the nx80 is an incredible device
i'm so proud that i own one

internet browsing is the best, as well as the camera, and the mini flash light
that thing is so bright it could blind someone

and i would recommend a high capacity memory stick
128 is barely enough for me and my music
i have two sticks, one for a movie, the other for pictures, video etc..

and clievideo.com is working on (or it said to be working on) a new version of vivid for NX devices
hopefully 320x480 or even BETTER, 640x480 recording will be possible
and with cliepets MCA2, hi quality sound will be possible as well

i want to be a beta tester when that comes!

[O'Brien]

yeah, i know the video recrding is very poor, but, i think it would be quite fun to make comical sketches etc. other than that, i do not think i will use it.

oh good, i am gald the video playback is good, how much roughly is a compact flash card? (512mb) and whats the availibility in the uk?

where did you get the multi-card reader from, which brand is it, so i know to look out for it whenever i am in oxford or something.

i think i would use a relatively small mem stick for mp3's, maybe 64 or 128mb because i use mp3pro music files, and they are half the siz

[O'Brien]

yeah, i know the video recrding is very poor, but, i think it would be quite fun to make comical sketches etc. other than that, i do not think i will use it.

oh good, i am gald the video playback is good, how much roughly is a compact flash card? (512mb) and whats the availibility in the uk?

where did you get the multi-card reader from, which brand is it, so i know to look out for it whenever i am in oxford or something.

i think i would use a relatively small mem stick for mp3's, maybe 64 or 128mb because i use mp3pro music files, and they are half the size of normal mp3, with no loss of sound whatsoever. :D

thanx to both of you (anitanium and bohica) for the info, i'll try not to ask anymore questions, i am just getting excited about all the cool information of what this thing can do!

Dan

[bohica]

The card reader I bought is this one http://tinyurl.com/2snr9 - which is £6.99 on Amazon.

You can pick up a 256MB CF card for under £25 on eBay, a 512MB for around £50 and a one gig card for just over £100. Remember that brands such as SanDisk storage products have a reputation for being a little flaky - I've certainly found their SD cards to be a little unreliable.

Don't worry about asking questions :) PDAs can be an expensive business, so it helps to be as certain as possible before going ahead with a purchase.

Oh - personally, I like as much memory as possible when it comes to MP3 files, I couldn't imagine anything less than 256MB on a PDA (or my 40Gb iPod ;)).

[O'Brien]

looks good, i will keep a keen eye out till, but i will probably end up getting it off amazon anyway, :D

wow, that is pretty good, i don't think i will get the 1gb one, i would be too scared to get it out of its box encase i break it, so small, yet it can hold so much data :eek: ...... :D

yeah, that was my other reason, but i like to be as close to 100% sure what im getting, especially over the internet.

yeah, i agree with you on the mp3 front, you can't beat the ipod, my sensitivity on the buttons has been annoying to say the least at times it just stops working all together other that the scroll wheel. but i think it (nx80) would be nice just to show a friend a new album i got on it, thats probably all i would use it for, other than light/casual use.

has your battery been good, again, like the stylus, it has had a range of opinions? what about watching a film on it, does that drain the battery quite a bit?

Dan

ps. i still feel a bit guilty about all these questions :rolleyes:

[bohica]

Watching vids is possibly the highest intensity battery usage you can expose your NX80 to.

Personally, my stays docked when I'm not using it. I have a retractable USB cable from PDAir.com (it's a great bit of kit - I never use the cradle now) - so my NX80 charges off of that. I leave it connected to my laptop at work during and sync with my home machine every few days.

I don't think I've ever had the battery drop below 40%.

If you're planning on travelling and using it for films - I suggest buying an external battery pack. These use normal AA batteries (so replaceable) to charge the PDA and are pretty small. This way battery life isn't a problem.

Oh - and because of its size, and the bulk of my iPod, I tend to only have both on me when I'm wearing a jack or have a bag. Otherwise I stick to one or the other when travelling. That said, I still use my old Panasonic MP3 player - I can't remember which model it is, but it's the size of a matchbox, takes one AAA battery and takes 256Mb SD cards (of which I have several) - so it's still, despite being several years old, a very nifty bit of kit.

[O'Brien]

ok, but i am sure i will not have time to watch a whole film on it, except for on long coach journeys to the airport etc, so i'll consider buying an external battery pack, until then, i am sure the original battery will suffice. yeah, those retractable USB cables do look quite good, practical and cheap too.

yeah, the 40gb ipod are quite thick, but its nice to know you have the memory there to serve you a lifetime :D

i tend to leave things on charge every night, my phone and ipod for starters, i have a spaghetti juntions of cables under my table, and 4 charging docks just showing up on the table, so everone things i am a tidy person, how wrong they are... :)

anyway, thank you very much for all the information you have provided me with, i will now try and get an nx80 asap, and if you have any other information you think i would find interesting, don't hesitaste to reply something on this thread, and finally, a did a reply without any questions!

thanx, Dan

[anitanium]

if you are worried about getting a 1gig Memory Stick, then get a 1gig Compact Flash for half the price

you hold just as much, and can use maybe a 128MB or 256MB memory stick for other things, like movies or important data

i think 1gig is a bit excessive, and 512 is more than enough
but to all their own

and i'm not sure if mp3pro is the same as mp3 in terms of data format
(clie might not be able to read it)

[O'Brien]

i think mp3pro is the same file format because windows still recognizes as 'mp3 file', and also, it still plays on my ipod and the manual states nothing about mp3pro.

i am worried about getting 1gig of either, i think i will get a 512CF card, and a 128 or 256 memory stick for pictures and music.

thanx to everyone who has given me information about my next purchase;)

Dan