up and downs, recommendations, etc

[khad_o]

hi all,

i'd like to get a tj37. i've enough knowledge from sony website/shop and they say its comparable to palm zire72. could any of you proud owners of tj37 tell me the pros and cons of this device. what you use it for, your recommendations (in your experience) and what are the essential apps that you use? its getting harder to find any clie these days. its getting so scarse. hope i can stil find one in couple months time.


p/s oh and hows the battery life? how long does it last depending on usage? thanks

:D

[mdlsimpson]

I have had the TJ37 since April.... I originally bought the TH55 and the TJ37 at the same time.... decided to keep the 37 because of the better button arrangement compared to the TH55.... (but the screen on the 55 and its battery life were both fabulous!!!)
The device is a great one! There are only two flaws in my estimation... 1) The screen is slightly dimmer than the competition's screens (may not be an issue depending on where you use the device and the available and amount in lighting) and 2) Battery Life is probably the worst I have every experienced on a color PDA. I'm a pretty heavy user during the course of a day at work and I am at 30-40% battery left at days end. It is such that I start limiting my PDA usage for fear that I won't make it thru the day. Don't get me wrong - a more moderate user will probably be fine but in my situation, the lighting at work is so bright that I have to keep the backlight cranked up all the way to make it acceptable to my eyes... At home, I can keep the backlight on minimum and it is fine.. and it will last much much longer at that setting... so your mileage may vary based on your usage needs.... All of that being said, I still feel the TJ37 is a great PDA and one of the best I have experienced! :)

[daver]

I totally agree with everything that mdlsimpson said. But, there's this one little thing that you can do about battery life: space out your usage of the Clie to about 2-3 hours with 20-30 minute breaks in between.

Reason:

While using the 37, the battery seems to drain pretty darn fast. After about 2-3 hours of non-stop usage, my battery goes down to about 50-60%. Then after about a half hour rest, my battery jumps back up to 80% and remains at 80 or in the 70-80% range. I think there's something with the battery that allows it to (as crazy as it sounds) recharge itself while not in use.
When i'm on school campus, I use the Wifi for a total of probably 45 minutes to an hour each weekday. Usually after I disconnect, my battery's at 30-40% (from like 90%). Then, when I turn on my Clie after a 30 minute break, it's back up to like 75%. I don't know what causes this (maybe left over electrical current built up from charging the battery?), but it makes getting thru the day a lot easier without worrying about my battery. On top of that, I got a cheap battery extender for $15 (S&H included) from eBay. Also, someone recently posted (in a few threads) about his own design for an extended battery. If you decide to get the TJ37 ( which i highly recommend) and the battery life is too short for you, you could definitely try out and extended battery or programs like Lightspeed to underclock your device. People say it really works, but I've never used it so I can't say much about it.

daver

[wrong20]

I'm always surprised to see so many people posting about the poor battery life of the TJ37. I am a heavy user, but I use it for text based applications (not heavy on the processor usage). I also use it for short stents of time to look up information or put something into the date book. I use the wifi daily to check e'mail several times a day (using a pop account). I can usually go 3-4 days per charge. I think the thing that so many people are running up against is that they want their PDA to be a laptop (using wifi for hours, playing games for hours, playing mp3 for hours... etc.)... the PDA's batteries were designed to be used for short bouts of time with a break between usage. In short, if you use your PDA like a PDA, the battery holds up nicely. If you use it like a multimedia, websurfing, laptop like device, it will eat the batteries up.

[daver]

I think the thing that so many people are running up against is that they want their PDA to be a laptop (using wifi for hours, playing games for hours, playing mp3 for hours... etc.)... the PDA's batteries were designed to be used for short bouts of time with a break between usage. In short, if you use your PDA like a PDA, the battery holds up nicely. If you use it like a multimedia, websurfing, laptop like device, it will eat the batteries up.

wrong20:

Actually, I use my TJ37 just as you said - word processing and checking my e-mail. It's just that I have so many damn projects, I need to constantly check my e-mail (Clie Mail), and check for updates to my prof's pages (using Netfront bookmarks to check the webpage for updated assignments). I've never tried MP3 or games before, but I'd imagine they run very smoothly with a 200 MHz processor!

khad_o:

I forgot to mention that I charge my TJ37 every 3 days, give or take a day depending on usage each day. Before I began using my TJ37 heavily, I used to be able to go about 5 days before having to charge it. So it looks like wrong20 and I both recharge at about the same time, meaning that battery life is pretty good, if you use the TJ like a PDA, and not a laptop.

Battery life is, IMO, entirely dependent on what types of applications you have on your PDA. If you don't play games and listen to music, then you'll get pretty good battery life out of your PDA.

daver

[khad_o]

wow..3 days is a lifetime for me :). i'd be lucky if my UX could last a day! but like all of you said it all depends on usage. try to limit my usage every now and then. sometimes just cant be bothered, i take my charger with me. anyway thanks for the reply guys. really appreciate it. does docs2go work great on UX? i plan to buy it for my GF.

what are your app recommendations? i'd prefer maybe a few simple games. more focused on datebook, todoList, things like that. would you recommend agendus or do you guys have a favourite? appreciate the input :D

[phlyphish]

Also, be sure and check out the system software update at sonystyle.com. It fixes some battery issues that are a problem for certain types of usage.

Overall, I'd rate the battery performance on my TJ37 at least good as my T615 and T665. These units all have the lithium ion type batteries that perform better when they're kept charged as much as possible. Unlike the ni-cad or NMH batteries, they don't build a memory. So I keep mine plugged in and charging whenever possible. I'm not over-zealous about it, but if it's not in use and can be plugged in conveniently, it is.