CliePet
10-03-2004, 01:26 PM
CliePet's VZ90 Review - day 1
Here's my review of the new VZ90.
I'll include some technical points as well as some features that may not have been discussed so far.
This is for English speaker, so I will generally ignore the Japanese language features.
Executive summary:
Really cool and expensive PDA, which is not a regular PDA.
The screen is simply amazing.
Many of the best things from past CLIE models rolled into one, but a few important things removed.
From the TH55: amazing battery life done better (they claim 40+ hours of music)
From the NZ90: ultra-bright screen done better (OLED brilliance)
From the UX50: landscape mode screen done better (brighter, portrait rotate)
From the UX50/TH55: lots of memory, including 'Internal Media' (BIGGER)
From the NX/NZ series: Compact Flash slot done better (no hacks, FASTER)
From older models: Audio remote control
From various models: built in WiFi (works as well as UX50/TH55)
From Tapwave Zodiac: stereo speakers built in
From PalmOne T3 and Tapwave Zodiac: rotatable screen (landscape and limited portrait)
From Tapwave Zodiac: hardware graphics assist, including fast portrait/landscape
Things removed: no camera, no microphone, less portable.
--------------
Ordering:
This is not a budget budget friendly PDA !
I ordered mine from www.japan-direct.com, offered at $999 + s/h.
http://www.japan-direct.com/products.asp?type_id=18
Also being offered by Dynamism $1099 and other import companies.
This is a high end electronics toy in Japan that is already obscenely expensive
($860 in Japan, import price usually adds 25% or so)
--------------
The OLED Screen
Two Words : "Phe Nominal"
Hopefully you've seen the photos from other threads in this forum.
They give a rough indication of the differences, but aren't the same as seeing the screen in person.
Before the VZ90, the ultra-bright NZ90 screen (and some say the NX80) was top of the heap as far as screen goes -- but not anymore!
IMHO, the NZ90 screen blows away all those other PDAs
Now, the VZ90 OLED screen blows away the NZ90 screen !
I'll try to take photos and/or short video clips to illustrate the night and day difference - but seeing in person is believing.
The black color scheme helps to accentuate the amazing contrast ratio.
Suggestion: if you can, copy the Dolphin.MPG video to a memory stick and play it on the VZ90 and any other CLIE you have.
A crowd pleasing difference between the VZ90 and any other model.
TECH NOTE: The Dolphin.MPG is a common sample with older model CLIEs. This is a >1000kbps video that runs at 30fps (MPEG1)
TECH NOTE: the display depth is only 16 bit color, like most PDAs, but the contrast ratio is simply amazing.
----
In bright sunlight the OLED screen does work well.
Direct sunlight will wash out the screen (reflections from the digitizer grid), but the VZ90 is more visible and at more angles than other PDAs I tested.
I will try to capture this in a photo.
--------------
Gobs of Memory !
40MB Storage/Program Memory, 96MB Internal Media, 7MB System Memory
There are several kinds of memory.
'Storage Memory' (AKA Program Memory) is the most important, where you store your programs and data for fast access.
The VZ90 has 40MB of storage memory, more than any previous CLIE.
(in comparison: NX60,NX7x,NZ90=11MB, NX80/UX=16MB, TH55=32MB, T3=52MB, TapwaveZ2=116MB)
TECH NOTE: the palmOne T3, Tapwave Zodiac2 have more storage memory, but adds to battery drain.
'Internal Media' is arguably the second most important for users. It is like a built in memory stick.
This is a feature added on the UX40/50. It uses left over Flash ROM as an internal memory stick.
The UX40/50 has around 30MB of Internal Media, the VZ90 triples that to around 96MB.
FASTER: The Internal Media in the VZ90 is much faster than the UX50.
TECH NOTE: Reading data is 8 to 16% faster, and writing is 36% faster for large blocks, and up to 500% faster for small blocks.
'System Memory' is the least important to average users, but important to programmers and power users who like a lot of resident 'desk-accessory' programs.
The VZ90 has a 7MB system/dynamic heap, similar to most other CLIE models.
JackFlash storage is not discussed here, since it is not supported.
Unlike the UX50 which has a non-standard 16MB flash storage area for backup, the VZ90 uses the regular MSBackup utility (store up to four backups on a memory stick, CF or the 96MB internal storage)
--------------
CPU, HHE, DSP, GFX
It uses the same "Hand Held Engine" CPU as the UX and TH series.
This gives great battery life, but at a slow clock speed (123MHz max)
Like the other models, the slower CPU is supplemented by a DSP (for audio and video decoding) and a 2D graphics accelerator.
TECH NOTE: my Underclocker app does work, 32/64/96MHz slowdown, no overclocking.
--------------
Expansion slots:
The VZ90 has both a memory stick slot and a CF slot.
Movies and music can be played back from any of the 3 media types (CF, Memory stick, internal media). Similar for other data including photos.
The memory stick slot handles regular, MS Pro as well as old style MagicGate sticks.
TECH NOTE: The Memory Stick slot is about the same speed as the UX/TH models (ie. about twice as fast as the NX/NZ models).
----
The CF slot is finally done right. No hacks or modified apps required !
It has drivers built in that properly support CF storage cards for all the multimedia apps.
[you may recall that the earlier NX60/70 and NZ90 didn't have any CF storage support. The later model NX73 and 80 had a good driver, but intentionally limited multimedia apps]
Since there is no camera, recording movies to CF is no longer a problem ;->
TECH NOTE: the CF read speed is 15 to 38% faster than an NX/NZ.
CF write speeds are the same or slower, but not a problem for the VZ (meant for playback, not photo/video/voice recording)
Only CF storage cards are supported. Media must be FAT format (2GB size limit).
Microdrives *do* work in my limited testing, but they are not recommended because of power consumption and other problems.
Other CF devices are not supported, so don't ask! [only one wireless option in Japan]
--------------
Wireless
The VZ90 has WiFi built in and it works just as well as the earlier models.
With the extra large battery, I expect it to last longer than the TH55.
Bluetooth is not an option. No drivers for the Bluetooth memory stick (unlikely they will be written).
Not wanting to start another Bluetooth v. WiFi debate, but bluetooth doesn't make much sense for a media player like the VZ90. WiFi streaming of content is a little more interesting.
--------------
Media player
See other threads and photos for discussing the features of the new media player.
Even though the media player is one of the new features of the VZ90, IMHO it is very underwhelming.
It provides a different UI for features you most likely already use.
AudioPlayer, MoviePlayer and JPEG viewer.
Also on other threads, you can install it and run it and get most of the UI if run on the Landscape mode UX40/50, including MP4 codecs (more limited on portrait orientation PDAs)
However don't be fooled if you copy/pirate this software to your UX50 and think you now have a VZ90.
The new media player is mostly doing things you've done before (play MPEG-4 video, CBR music, view photos). The user interface is different.
The whole VZ90 package makes it a much better overall movie player (ie. screen, battery, CF slot etc), not the software.
--------------
Japanese
Did I mention the PDA and PC support software is almost entirely in Japanese ?
Using the Japanese user interface is not that difficult if you have experience with a similar model English CLIE.
You can recognize many of the icons, and some words are in English (eg: "MS Backup")
However some of the settings are not the same, and requires some guesswork or a little translation of the manuals.
NOTE: The manuals are available on the install CDROM, and can be used with most Japanese->English translation software.
You can copy English programs onto the VZ and it works as expected.
Some programs have a problem with the black color scheme.
Replacing system UI with English
Because of the system UI difference (app laucher, Prefs etc), it is not possible to blindly copy over the English user interface from a similar model CLIE and expect it to work.
Translation of many parts of the user interface is possible (using overlay files). More info to come on that.
TECH NOTE: reflashing the system ROM is often discussed. No way of reflashing the recent model CLIEs has been found, and even so an English version of the ROM doesn't exist!
--------------
Amazing Battery
I have more tests to run, but the battery life appears to be amazing.
The marketing literature says 42 hours of audio playing (hold mode), but I have yet to confirm it.
--------------
Movie formats
See other threads discussing the different supported movie formats.
Nothing earth shaking here. Improvements over previous media players and the lame Image Converter program.
Strongly recommended is the VR100K video recorder. This makes it easy to record movies, and with the VZ90, you will now playback movies a lot more often.
TECH NOTE: still doesn't support full screen movie playback. I'll have to write one, the MM System API appears to be similar to past releases.
--------------
Organizer
The Organizer application runs in portrait mode (see below)
To me that is the only interesting feature ;->
The UI is in Japanese.
--------------
Rotatable apps
Almost everything on the VZ90 runs in Landscape mode (480 wide x 320 tall), like the CLIE UX40/50.
If you run the CLIE Organizer on the VZ, it will switch to Portrait mode (320 wide x 480 tall), with the screen rotated 90 degrees.
This is the only supplied application that runs in portrait mode.
When you exit Organizer, the system switches back to landscape mode.
The CLIE Organizer makes more sense in a portrait orientation. Organizer was introduced with the TH55, a portrait orientation PDA.
Before you ask - the answer is "no". This technology is unique to the VZ90 including low level system hooks.
[MANY TECH NOTES]
How it works:
Screen rotation is supported at the system level.
When an app is launched the orientation is decided. All the apps except Organizer run in landscape mode.
Programs can switch between landscape and portrait on the fly (not using the official PalmSource DIA API)
When in landscape mode (for everything except Organizer) the PDA acts very similar to the UX series.
The virtual silk area and status bar is on the right (can be switched to the left side). Virtual silk plugins are not supported (they aren't for the UX50 either).
When in portrait mode the PDA acts like most other 320x480 CLIEs (eg: NX/NZ/TH). The status bar and virtual silk area are on the bottom.
Virtual silk plugins are supported (2 are provided, default and Decuma J)
Other models:
This is the first CLIE to have this 'rotate' feature.
The palmOne T3 has a software rotation feature. The PDA runs significantly slower in landscape mode compared to the natural portrait orientation of the PDA.
The Tapwave Zodiac has a hardware rotation feature. The PDA runs at the same speed regardless of rotation (the Zodiac has a graphics accelerator chip).
The VZ90 appears to do support rotation in hardware as well. My graphics test only ran only slightly slower (7%) in portrait mode. The same comparison on a T3 ran 300% slower because of the software approach.
Which apps you can and can't rotate varies a lot between these models.
The T3 is the most general (almost anything can rotate), the Tapwave is limited (eg: the launcher is landscape only) and the VZ90 is the most limited (only Organizer so far).
A future article will discuss this in more depth, and perhaps a system hack (for VZ90 owners *only*).
--------------
Misc:
The VZ90 is big and heavy. However if you compare it to a UX40/50 with the extended battery, it is similar in size and weight.
Includes cradle and well designed leather case.
Dressed in Black (black PDA, black color scheme, black packaging and even a black CD instead of the usual CLIE green)
Other potential future articles:
+ Selective changing UI from Japanese to English.
+ more technical stuff
+ actual testing (does the battery really last 40+ hours...)
+ better example photos (especially in bright light)
(all for now)
--------------
Here's my review of the new VZ90.
I'll include some technical points as well as some features that may not have been discussed so far.
This is for English speaker, so I will generally ignore the Japanese language features.
Executive summary:
Really cool and expensive PDA, which is not a regular PDA.
The screen is simply amazing.
Many of the best things from past CLIE models rolled into one, but a few important things removed.
From the TH55: amazing battery life done better (they claim 40+ hours of music)
From the NZ90: ultra-bright screen done better (OLED brilliance)
From the UX50: landscape mode screen done better (brighter, portrait rotate)
From the UX50/TH55: lots of memory, including 'Internal Media' (BIGGER)
From the NX/NZ series: Compact Flash slot done better (no hacks, FASTER)
From older models: Audio remote control
From various models: built in WiFi (works as well as UX50/TH55)
From Tapwave Zodiac: stereo speakers built in
From PalmOne T3 and Tapwave Zodiac: rotatable screen (landscape and limited portrait)
From Tapwave Zodiac: hardware graphics assist, including fast portrait/landscape
Things removed: no camera, no microphone, less portable.
--------------
Ordering:
This is not a budget budget friendly PDA !
I ordered mine from www.japan-direct.com, offered at $999 + s/h.
http://www.japan-direct.com/products.asp?type_id=18
Also being offered by Dynamism $1099 and other import companies.
This is a high end electronics toy in Japan that is already obscenely expensive
($860 in Japan, import price usually adds 25% or so)
--------------
The OLED Screen
Two Words : "Phe Nominal"
Hopefully you've seen the photos from other threads in this forum.
They give a rough indication of the differences, but aren't the same as seeing the screen in person.
Before the VZ90, the ultra-bright NZ90 screen (and some say the NX80) was top of the heap as far as screen goes -- but not anymore!
IMHO, the NZ90 screen blows away all those other PDAs
Now, the VZ90 OLED screen blows away the NZ90 screen !
I'll try to take photos and/or short video clips to illustrate the night and day difference - but seeing in person is believing.
The black color scheme helps to accentuate the amazing contrast ratio.
Suggestion: if you can, copy the Dolphin.MPG video to a memory stick and play it on the VZ90 and any other CLIE you have.
A crowd pleasing difference between the VZ90 and any other model.
TECH NOTE: The Dolphin.MPG is a common sample with older model CLIEs. This is a >1000kbps video that runs at 30fps (MPEG1)
TECH NOTE: the display depth is only 16 bit color, like most PDAs, but the contrast ratio is simply amazing.
----
In bright sunlight the OLED screen does work well.
Direct sunlight will wash out the screen (reflections from the digitizer grid), but the VZ90 is more visible and at more angles than other PDAs I tested.
I will try to capture this in a photo.
--------------
Gobs of Memory !
40MB Storage/Program Memory, 96MB Internal Media, 7MB System Memory
There are several kinds of memory.
'Storage Memory' (AKA Program Memory) is the most important, where you store your programs and data for fast access.
The VZ90 has 40MB of storage memory, more than any previous CLIE.
(in comparison: NX60,NX7x,NZ90=11MB, NX80/UX=16MB, TH55=32MB, T3=52MB, TapwaveZ2=116MB)
TECH NOTE: the palmOne T3, Tapwave Zodiac2 have more storage memory, but adds to battery drain.
'Internal Media' is arguably the second most important for users. It is like a built in memory stick.
This is a feature added on the UX40/50. It uses left over Flash ROM as an internal memory stick.
The UX40/50 has around 30MB of Internal Media, the VZ90 triples that to around 96MB.
FASTER: The Internal Media in the VZ90 is much faster than the UX50.
TECH NOTE: Reading data is 8 to 16% faster, and writing is 36% faster for large blocks, and up to 500% faster for small blocks.
'System Memory' is the least important to average users, but important to programmers and power users who like a lot of resident 'desk-accessory' programs.
The VZ90 has a 7MB system/dynamic heap, similar to most other CLIE models.
JackFlash storage is not discussed here, since it is not supported.
Unlike the UX50 which has a non-standard 16MB flash storage area for backup, the VZ90 uses the regular MSBackup utility (store up to four backups on a memory stick, CF or the 96MB internal storage)
--------------
CPU, HHE, DSP, GFX
It uses the same "Hand Held Engine" CPU as the UX and TH series.
This gives great battery life, but at a slow clock speed (123MHz max)
Like the other models, the slower CPU is supplemented by a DSP (for audio and video decoding) and a 2D graphics accelerator.
TECH NOTE: my Underclocker app does work, 32/64/96MHz slowdown, no overclocking.
--------------
Expansion slots:
The VZ90 has both a memory stick slot and a CF slot.
Movies and music can be played back from any of the 3 media types (CF, Memory stick, internal media). Similar for other data including photos.
The memory stick slot handles regular, MS Pro as well as old style MagicGate sticks.
TECH NOTE: The Memory Stick slot is about the same speed as the UX/TH models (ie. about twice as fast as the NX/NZ models).
----
The CF slot is finally done right. No hacks or modified apps required !
It has drivers built in that properly support CF storage cards for all the multimedia apps.
[you may recall that the earlier NX60/70 and NZ90 didn't have any CF storage support. The later model NX73 and 80 had a good driver, but intentionally limited multimedia apps]
Since there is no camera, recording movies to CF is no longer a problem ;->
TECH NOTE: the CF read speed is 15 to 38% faster than an NX/NZ.
CF write speeds are the same or slower, but not a problem for the VZ (meant for playback, not photo/video/voice recording)
Only CF storage cards are supported. Media must be FAT format (2GB size limit).
Microdrives *do* work in my limited testing, but they are not recommended because of power consumption and other problems.
Other CF devices are not supported, so don't ask! [only one wireless option in Japan]
--------------
Wireless
The VZ90 has WiFi built in and it works just as well as the earlier models.
With the extra large battery, I expect it to last longer than the TH55.
Bluetooth is not an option. No drivers for the Bluetooth memory stick (unlikely they will be written).
Not wanting to start another Bluetooth v. WiFi debate, but bluetooth doesn't make much sense for a media player like the VZ90. WiFi streaming of content is a little more interesting.
--------------
Media player
See other threads and photos for discussing the features of the new media player.
Even though the media player is one of the new features of the VZ90, IMHO it is very underwhelming.
It provides a different UI for features you most likely already use.
AudioPlayer, MoviePlayer and JPEG viewer.
Also on other threads, you can install it and run it and get most of the UI if run on the Landscape mode UX40/50, including MP4 codecs (more limited on portrait orientation PDAs)
However don't be fooled if you copy/pirate this software to your UX50 and think you now have a VZ90.
The new media player is mostly doing things you've done before (play MPEG-4 video, CBR music, view photos). The user interface is different.
The whole VZ90 package makes it a much better overall movie player (ie. screen, battery, CF slot etc), not the software.
--------------
Japanese
Did I mention the PDA and PC support software is almost entirely in Japanese ?
Using the Japanese user interface is not that difficult if you have experience with a similar model English CLIE.
You can recognize many of the icons, and some words are in English (eg: "MS Backup")
However some of the settings are not the same, and requires some guesswork or a little translation of the manuals.
NOTE: The manuals are available on the install CDROM, and can be used with most Japanese->English translation software.
You can copy English programs onto the VZ and it works as expected.
Some programs have a problem with the black color scheme.
Replacing system UI with English
Because of the system UI difference (app laucher, Prefs etc), it is not possible to blindly copy over the English user interface from a similar model CLIE and expect it to work.
Translation of many parts of the user interface is possible (using overlay files). More info to come on that.
TECH NOTE: reflashing the system ROM is often discussed. No way of reflashing the recent model CLIEs has been found, and even so an English version of the ROM doesn't exist!
--------------
Amazing Battery
I have more tests to run, but the battery life appears to be amazing.
The marketing literature says 42 hours of audio playing (hold mode), but I have yet to confirm it.
--------------
Movie formats
See other threads discussing the different supported movie formats.
Nothing earth shaking here. Improvements over previous media players and the lame Image Converter program.
Strongly recommended is the VR100K video recorder. This makes it easy to record movies, and with the VZ90, you will now playback movies a lot more often.
TECH NOTE: still doesn't support full screen movie playback. I'll have to write one, the MM System API appears to be similar to past releases.
--------------
Organizer
The Organizer application runs in portrait mode (see below)
To me that is the only interesting feature ;->
The UI is in Japanese.
--------------
Rotatable apps
Almost everything on the VZ90 runs in Landscape mode (480 wide x 320 tall), like the CLIE UX40/50.
If you run the CLIE Organizer on the VZ, it will switch to Portrait mode (320 wide x 480 tall), with the screen rotated 90 degrees.
This is the only supplied application that runs in portrait mode.
When you exit Organizer, the system switches back to landscape mode.
The CLIE Organizer makes more sense in a portrait orientation. Organizer was introduced with the TH55, a portrait orientation PDA.
Before you ask - the answer is "no". This technology is unique to the VZ90 including low level system hooks.
[MANY TECH NOTES]
How it works:
Screen rotation is supported at the system level.
When an app is launched the orientation is decided. All the apps except Organizer run in landscape mode.
Programs can switch between landscape and portrait on the fly (not using the official PalmSource DIA API)
When in landscape mode (for everything except Organizer) the PDA acts very similar to the UX series.
The virtual silk area and status bar is on the right (can be switched to the left side). Virtual silk plugins are not supported (they aren't for the UX50 either).
When in portrait mode the PDA acts like most other 320x480 CLIEs (eg: NX/NZ/TH). The status bar and virtual silk area are on the bottom.
Virtual silk plugins are supported (2 are provided, default and Decuma J)
Other models:
This is the first CLIE to have this 'rotate' feature.
The palmOne T3 has a software rotation feature. The PDA runs significantly slower in landscape mode compared to the natural portrait orientation of the PDA.
The Tapwave Zodiac has a hardware rotation feature. The PDA runs at the same speed regardless of rotation (the Zodiac has a graphics accelerator chip).
The VZ90 appears to do support rotation in hardware as well. My graphics test only ran only slightly slower (7%) in portrait mode. The same comparison on a T3 ran 300% slower because of the software approach.
Which apps you can and can't rotate varies a lot between these models.
The T3 is the most general (almost anything can rotate), the Tapwave is limited (eg: the launcher is landscape only) and the VZ90 is the most limited (only Organizer so far).
A future article will discuss this in more depth, and perhaps a system hack (for VZ90 owners *only*).
--------------
Misc:
The VZ90 is big and heavy. However if you compare it to a UX40/50 with the extended battery, it is similar in size and weight.
Includes cradle and well designed leather case.
Dressed in Black (black PDA, black color scheme, black packaging and even a black CD instead of the usual CLIE green)
Other potential future articles:
+ Selective changing UI from Japanese to English.
+ more technical stuff
+ actual testing (does the battery really last 40+ hours...)
+ better example photos (especially in bright light)
(all for now)
--------------