1src Forums - Played with the TG last night

Jorge Torralba

03-19-2003, 10:32 AM

First imprssions:

Looks: First Class

Keyboard: Why bother? It felt cheap and was not as easy to use as most described. I think for the most part, new owners are just excited and slightly blind to any cons.

Screen: Obviousdly smaller than the nx or nz. But definetly crips and clear.

Graffiti: Not bad. Could use a virtual graffiti area.

Size: Perfect

Weight: Perfect

Price: Not worth 200.00 Definetly not the 400.00 retail. This device should realistically come in at around 150 - 170.

I like it and dont like it at the same time. Sony needs to come down to earth with their pricing. Look at the nz for 800.00 . Get real. Granted, I know th hp is MS driven, but its 200 less than the nz and has BT and BUILT IN 80211. Muche better buy for the money. Yes I have side tracked here. But just trying to make a point that none of these handhelds are worth the high dollars they are asking.

aChistu

03-19-2003, 11:30 AM

Originally posted by Jorge Torralba
This device should realistically come in at around 150 - 170.

lol, such wishful thinking ;) -- Even I think that is too low for the DG50

Mastervtec

03-19-2003, 12:17 PM

Originally posted by Jorge Torralba
First imprssions:

Price: Not worth 200.00 Definetly not the 400.00 retail. This device should realistically come in at around 150 - 170.
.

HAHAHAHA<---- Get real!!! $150-$170 for hi res screen, Mp3 playback, keyboard, bluetooth, ect........ You make me laugh!!!

monkeyboy

03-19-2003, 12:21 PM

How is it performance wise? Battery life?

I wish it had 802.11b built in and more memory but when compared to other PalmOS products with the same features it's not that bad.

Jorge Torralba

03-19-2003, 12:27 PM

You guys obviously dont know the value of the dollar.  When all of this technology is integrated into a single board, the cost factor for the supplier and manufacturer is drastically reduced.  Not to mention that the R&D is a cross platform effort which essentially yields a phenomenal ROI.. You are paying for the hype and thats about it.  This message board is great. But I am sure that Sony gets a feel for what the consumer is saying by reading this board. Then they factor in comments from people willing to pay the exagerated prices without any issues and not actual value to the consumer. Therfore, 400.00 is way too much for this device. 

<B>JT</B>

danno

03-19-2003, 01:20 PM

However, someone at Sony must have done some homework on pricing ... it is priced similarly to the Palm Tungsten T. Someone at both Palm and Sony must have figured where customer "push back" would be before they priced the model. And don't forget to factor in royalty for OS, third party software, etc. While I'm sure that Sony is making money off the product I can't beleive they are gouging the public... otherwise a competitor would see a phenominal opportunity and we would have lower priced/similarly built and featured products.

kkerruish

03-19-2003, 01:49 PM

Jorge -

Just curious, but which HP has built in BT, and 802.11 and an expansion slot (be is SD, CF, whatever) - for 150-170?

Cheapest I've seen has been 300$...

Thanks,

Importluva

03-19-2003, 02:52 PM

Uh, sorry to break it to you but this pda is worth the 400. Why? Simple demand in the market. Look at where other pda's were introduced at-400-500 bucks and they couldn't even do a 1/4 of what our clies can. Now, does it really cost 400??? Well you tell me if cars really cost 30k, if computers should cost 2k, etc. Its just how the market is.

Foo Fighter

03-19-2003, 03:19 PM

Well Jorge is correct, to a point. Obviously $150-170 is beyond the realm of logic at this point, but I see no reason why such hardware can't be selling for $100 less than the current price scale. Palm and Sony both have a nasty tendency to pad their margins on high-end products. Just look at the recent release of low-cost Pocket PC hardware and you get an idea that we are being screwed over big time by the prices we are expected to pay for such devices as the SJ33. For $199-250 you can get a full blown Pocket PC with a modern multitasking (but not perfect) OS with all the advanced bells and whistles. For that same price on the PalmOS side you get a dinosaur OS powered by legacy Dragonball processors, with primitive features. That hardly seems competitive.

Upon the release of OS5/xScale I had hoped Palm and Sony would try to move this platform into the mainstream quickly to compete with PPC. Instead they arrogantly used the new hardware as an excuse to charge a higher premium. Fortunately the market correct this pricing by rejecting the new hardware. Neither the Tungsten T nor the NX series have sold well. There is absolutely NO reason why Palm and Sony aren't down here with PPC, instead of walking around with their heads in the clouds (or some other location) and see that the market has changed. The days of $500 Palm organizers is over. Nothing can justify this price in the mobile device market.

Jorge Torralba

03-19-2003, 03:44 PM

kkerruish

I was comparing the price of HP with bt and 80211b to the NZ.

quiller

03-19-2003, 03:56 PM

$150-$170 for the TG50? Sure, just wait two years. You can buy the T615 on eBay for $150 easily. A year ago, the T615 was selling for $350 and six months ago the T665 was at $400. The cheapest PDA out there is the Zire, at $89, and you think a device that is easily six or eight times more powerful (not to mention doesn't feel like a cracker when you use it) is going to go for only double it? Yea, and I can buy a '04 Vette for $8,000 because my '94 cost me $4,000... Get real.

Mastervtec

03-19-2003, 04:41 PM

Jorge, you have got to be the dumbest person one earth, that or close to it!! Everything in this world is worth what people will pay for it, people overpay for most everything they buy, why you ask?!?! well, they just do!! as stupid as that sounds it is the truth!!

danno

03-19-2003, 04:54 PM

Seems to me the average price for a Pocket PC is around $400.

_________________________________________________

For $199-250 you can get a full blown Pocket PC with a modern multitasking (but not perfect) OS with all the advanced bells and whistles.

Jorge Torralba

03-19-2003, 05:51 PM

no sense in getting offensive here. i was simply stating that i believe these units are way over priced and not worth the dough. After all is said and done, I would be curious to know how many $800.00 pda's Sony actually sells. And as my previous comments indicate, its driven by demand. I bet you the nz will drop in price quickly if the numbers are not there. thus affirming my toughts

wilsonch_98

03-19-2003, 05:55 PM

jedix

03-19-2003, 06:00 PM

DonWon

03-19-2003, 06:02 PM

What's with all these battles on the board.
The point of the board is for people to express their own thoughts freely.

Plus sony must read these boards for customer feedback.
So lets help ourselves out here.

The TG series should be around the $200 range ;)
and the NZ around $500 :D

wilsonch_98

03-19-2003, 06:46 PM

Originally posted by wonton
What's with all these battles on the board.
The point of the board is for people to express their own thoughts freely.

Plus sony must read these boards for customer feedback.
So lets help ourselves out here.

The TG series should be around the $200 range ;)
and the NZ around $500 :D

I am just wondering, if sony really does read this page for customer feedback, then we should be more realistic. If the board's general feedback is just un-realistic comment on price and endless complain without supporting argument, or compliment on their efford, they will not take this board seriously...

Just my thought

Importluva

03-19-2003, 09:38 PM

No need to call names

Supply and demand, simple economic theory. I mean, people will pay for their products, and if the price is feasible, then the product will sell. Now would it kill sony to lowe the price a hundred? No. However, I am sure that they had people research everything as see what the utility of these clies at certain people were in the demographic that Sony was aiming at-and decided to use this pricing, as it gave a good profit margin for the number of people they estimated would buy them, vs how much they would make on it if it was a lower price with more units being sold.

aChistu

03-19-2003, 11:39 PM

I tend to look at things in respect of what you're getting:

1. A REALLY slick PDA, on its own -- I would pay $220 for ;). I really canabalized "REALLY slick PDA" into PDA with high res screen, keyboard, flip, bluetooth ;).

2. MP3 player - $100 (depending on the memory stick I threw in there).

3. Digital voice recorder $30

So, what do we have? $350. I would pay that price, and truthfuly, throwing another $49.99 on to it, might make me think twice about getting the PDA, but then I scratch that idea and throw down the credit card ;)

and now that I think about it, I might even pay more for that "REALLY slick PDA" - so, I guess Sony hit my price right on the spot ;)

Mastervtec

03-20-2003, 02:41 PM

Originally posted by jedix

I don't care if you have a valid statement or not. Please don't be so insulting! (BTW, I have nothing to do with this conversation, just thought that your message was rude!)
I must have been having a really bad day, I must say that I am sorry.. However, the TG50 is at least a $350 machine IMO>

blueflame

03-20-2003, 02:45 PM

i think the tg50 is about a 300 dollar machine, with all it does that is cool, all the palms, and i mean all of them, need to be 100 dollars less that what they are
thats my opninion
Andreas

sstrasser86

03-20-2003, 03:57 PM

dido
or w/e that word is

PEG-SJ30

03-21-2003, 09:31 AM

Originally posted by Mastervtec
Jorge, you have got to be the dumbest person one earth, that or close to it!! Everything in this world is worth what people will pay for it, people overpay for most everything they buy, why you ask?!?! well, they just do!! as stupid as that sounds it is the truth!!

I don't find it far-fetched to set a personal 'price ceiling' if you will, on PDAs. Since PDAs are still mostly organizers, I don't think any one of them is worth over $200 (regardless of feature set) if you ask me. There's a satisfaction about seeing how far technology has come in sub-$200 units. What used to buy a 2mb IIIxe then, gets you a 16mb hi-res color, transflective rechargable SJ30/22 today. Yes, there are functional advantages a Bluetooth/Wi-Fi equipped PPC has over my SJ30, but by large, they are much the same. And really, I don't need wireless.

I'm not pleased with the TG50's price. It is priced competitively in the market - but a little high above my price ceiling. Same goes for any $300+ PDA - I just don't care beyond that point. I guess like Jorge, I value my dollar a bit more than others.

Beavis

03-21-2003, 09:40 AM

..."i think the tg50 is about a 300 dollar machine, with all it does that is cool, all the palms, and i mean all of them, need to be 100 dollars less that what they are"...

Palm Zire $89

So, Palm should pay us $11 to buy the Zire? I like that idea.

Glassfan

03-21-2003, 09:50 AM

The TG-50 (and all the other CLIE's I've taken a look at) are made in Japan- the workmanship/fit and finish is superior to the competition which are mostly made in other countries like China. To me, the quality is worth at least a $50 price premium.

My TG-50 will arrive today from sonystyle. Can't wait to get my hands on it after I get home from work. I've already seen it in the stores, but I paid for it using my Sony card.

It has an MP3 player- say that's worth $100
Voice recorder $100
Organizer $100
All the other stuff it can do $100

Still, it should be around $300, even though it does $400 worth of stuff, and add $50 for the made in Japan quality, therefore I should be paying $350 for it, not $400. But I loved it's form factor and looks, so there's another $50 which justifies it for me. The TG-50 is not for everybody. Sony's higher-end Palms are niche products. The lower ones are intended for a wider base of potential users.

ErnieB

03-21-2003, 09:58 AM

I can see there are no business or marketing experts in this esteemed group.

Certainly, the people who work at Sony and do this for a living would have absolutely no idea how their new PDA should be priced. 

Perhaps Sony should introduce their new products on boards like this and let us geeks and dorks (who can't do much else but criticize and whine about everything they release) tell them where it should be priced.

Then, while we're at it, we can approve their business case, pricing and marketing models, production and quality goals, and hire and train their support staffs.  After all, the TG-50 is really only a $150-$170 PDA.

Please . . . .

sigelang

03-21-2003, 11:30 AM

First impressions:

Looks: First Class (I agree)
-----------
Screen: Obviousdly smaller than the nx or nz. But definetly crips and clear.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
totally disappointed!! Illuminating light at the bottom of the screen can be annoyance for some app. (Chess and word proc)

What's up with the double white sticker that seals the BOX
(One underneath was cut as if it was opened)

The bottom (hidden) sony sticker,smaller in size (perimeter)
than the one on top, and I don't know if it is cut by Sony, by CC or by the end user.

Mastervtec

03-21-2003, 11:52 AM

Originally posted by ErnieB
I can see there are no business or marketing experts in this esteemed group.

What exactly do you do for a living?? I highly doubt you know much more than anyone else in this forum, if you had a company it wouldn't survive more than a month based on your rather stupid idea that the TG50 should be $150-$170, you see no need for profit<<<LOL

Originally posted by ErnieB

Perhaps Sony should introduce their new products on boards like this and let us geeks and dorks (who can't do much else but criticize and whine about everything they release) tell them where it should be priced.

Good idea, then Sony could go under, nice thinking!! ;)

Originally posted by ErnieB

Then, while we're at it, we can approve their business case, pricing and marketing models, production and quality goals, and hire and train their support staffs.  After all, the TG-50 is really only a $150-$170 PDA.

Please . . . .

Now you're just being stupid^^^