NZ90 review on Mercury News

[Marudine]

Another review. And this time is on Mercury News.

http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/business/technology/5275176.htm

The author made this statement on his review : " It's tempting because Sony is trying to bring some excitement to an electronics category that has been a laggard lately. But I can't excuse it. While the NZ90 is a great accomplishment for Sony engineers, it's not a great buy for consumers yet -- it's just a hint at the great products to come. "

Anyone ever think this is SONY's strategy ??

[starstreak]

They hit the battery problem right on the head. I agree 100% as that is what happened to my first two NZ90. I'm still leaving my current NZ90 on the charger till tomorrow, although I believe it actually stopped charging once the orange light went off.

[Marudine]

good luck starstreak ... I hope this time it works for you !!

[starstreak]

Marudine- THanks. I hope so. I can't take not being able to trust my pda to last one day. Do you have a NZ90? Hows yours doing?

[Bryan Smith]

The review is hogwash-what an idiot!!!!!
He only reviews the camera and does not even say how many shoot he took with or without the flash, what kind of lighting etc

Okay the battery level fluctuates when you use the camera but it is a camera for crying out loud and have you seen the size of the battery?

I brought a PDA with a 2 mega pixwl camera; I did not buy a 2 mega pixel camera with PDA functions and if people are looking for a long life digital camera then do not buy a PDA but if people are looking for a PDA with a 2 mega pixel camera, Wifi, bluetooth, replaceable battery etc... then this is the PDA for you.

[MrFriday]

I agree with Bryan--the review is awful. It's fair to take a shot at the battery usage of the camera, but how about talking about some of the other features (either pro or con)?

[mashoutposse]

Shouldn't he have discussed the device itself, rather than spend 80% of the article trying to troubleshoot the battery? In addition, it would have been a perfect opportunity to contact Sony before going to press.

I'm glad that he did his research on messageboards, though. At least he got the complete picture, and judged from that.

[Marudine]

Starstreak, I do not own a nz at the moment. I'm waiting for the IT exhibition in my country on 13 - 16 Mar. Probably can get some bargain ... if possible.

[starstreak]

His review wasn't too good. He should've called it a NZ90 battery review. :) I agree with him though he got the battery situation right. Lets face it, most people without doing any research will buy this thinking they can shoot pictures all day and still have a pda. He does give them a good warning.

[peterh]

He doesn't actually mention that its a replaceable battery? Or did I miss that bit.
Thats the whole point with having a spare battery.


I wouldn't even call that a review.

[davy19]

starstreak,

have you tried to call sony and see what they say? let them know you returned 2 units?

I feeel bad, but i have not charge my unit since sunday, and it still only at 70% and have taken about 20 pics a day on average.

[eric2002]

I don't understand the negative reviews (speaking of the Mercury review and others like it). He states the industry has been "laggard" lately... yet he puts down the NZ in the same breath! The NZ is the most exciting PDA out there.
-I think the sales will speak for the reviews! Everyone I know who has seen my NZ (PDA owners and non PDA owners) want one... even after I tell them the price!

[starstreak]

davy19- yup sure did. just waiting on a reply.

[starstreak]

davy19- I got a canned answer. I wrote back and waiting a response again. It was kinda dumb considering the canned answer said 95% of everything I wrote to them that I tried.

 

note: second battery charge on unit. battery still states 5:09min of useage.  at 50% brightness w/bt on.

[gunrunner]

No doubt there will be some NZ's with problems. And no doubt the problems will be battery related. As for the erratic display of battery life, when I was playing with one for a few days the battery display seemed to "predict" battery life, not tell me the present charge. When I selected high usage functions the battery life went down faster than I expected and dropped from there faster than expected. When I turned the high usage functions off, and gave the indicator time to reset, the battery life seemed to go way up, but not as far up as when I turned the high usage function on.

In one of my calls I asked about this and was told it is Sony's way of trying to give realistic battery life indication based on actual function(s) selected. It's not a bug it's a feature.

[tmil2000]

Everyone, please make sure unit is cradle all the way, I've had probs, expected battery to be charged and it wasn't in the cradle correctly (those tabs on the bottom!)

[Importluva]

That wasn't a review. That was a focused review on the NZ's main flaw. He needs to redo that and focus on other things as well-such as the awesome screen, BT, etc...

[starstreak]

You know, its amazing how much people say this screen is so good. Sure resolution is higher than my old HP 5455, but the Transflective screen it had blew my NZ90 away. For one thing, no blue hue. And I didn't have to set it at 50% brightness to conserve battery.

[catgenie]

That's a very good observation, Gunrunner. I remember when I was using the Sony Cybershot P5 digital camera, it also read out the approx. remaining time of the lithium ion battery. The remaining time in the playback mode is usually 50% more than in the camera mode, as more power would be consumed for zooming the lens, firing the flash, etc. The same goes for the NZ90 and I think this is considerably more sophisticated and useful than having just a battery meter.