Sony unveils new color, monochrome Cliés
Posted by configure on 16 January 2002 - 07:13 · no comments & 340 views
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Sony on Tuesday began taking preorders for the color Clié PEG-T615C and monochrome PEG-S360, with the T615C expected to ship beginning next month and the S360 from the end of this month, the company said in a statement. Both models are based on Motorola Inc.'s 33MHz Dragonball VZ processor, the same one used in current Clié models.
Sony claims the T615C, with its 320-by-320-pixel resolution screen, is the thinnest color device running Palm Inc.'s operating system. The handheld also functions as a universal remote control, so tech-savvy users can control their home stereo and television from up to 15 feet away using the Clié's infrared port, Sony said.
The T615C includes 16M bytes of internal memory, which is double the RAM of previous models. The device is one-half-inch (1.27 cm) thick and weighs 4.9 ounces (137.2 grams). It uses Sony's memory stick media and comes bundled with Documents to Go software, which lets users edit Microsoft Corp. Word documents on the device. The T615C is expected to ship in late January, with an estimated street price of about $400, Sony said in the statement.
Sony's monochrome S360, which also features 16M bytes of RAM and a memory stick slot, includes a rechargeable battery, the company said. It also comes bundled with digital image viewing software. The S360 is expected to ship beginning next month, priced at about $200, Sony said.
In Scandinavia, the color-screen device is like a membership badge in a club of elite investment bankers, venture capitalists and executives. It is also popular among trendy young designers and other folks with deep pockets.
"I love it because I can keep everything in it. Everything's there, and it's my phone as well," said Maria Westerberg, an interior designer in Stockholm.
"It's great for writing quick notes so I can remember things I've got to do, like meetings, but also other simple things like the name of a book. It's easy to erase the note once you don't need it," she said.
On the surface it looks like a bulky cellular phone -- hence the disparaging "brick" designation. Inside is a high-resolution, easy-on-the-eyes color display and keyboard.
In fact, with its earpiece and speakerphone function, for most people it serves as the principal mobile phone as well as data organizer. If they have another phone, it is most likely a small one for evening occasions.
THE ULTIMATE ORGANIZER?
But, if the Communicator is so great, why has it taken so long to introduce it to gadget-loving America? Nokia is, after all, the No. 1 maker of mobile phone handsets -- in the United States and worldwide.
Analysts say it's a matter of timing. In contrast to Palm handhelds, with their roots in the computer industry, Nokia's history is firmly in mobile communications. The great crossover opportunity for Nokia's handheld device in America will be the advent later this year of new mobile networks capable of speedy Internet service. This will allow fuller access to e-mail and Web pages, including video, via mobile handsets.
On the computer side, the Nokia Communicator powers an extensive contacts book, calendar and note pad. It also has a word processor, spreadsheet function and imaging programs.
The gadget can read and edit slimmed-down versions of Microsoft's Word, PowerPoint and Excel. When hooked up with a desktop computer, data can be synchronized between the two machines just like a Palm or other handheld.
But it's more than simply an office-in-your-pocket, analysts and industry experts say.
It offers quick and easy communication: access to the Internet, corporate network e-mail, fax and standard voice call services. It has facilitated the use of popular text messaging, something the Blackberry two-way pager is known for in the United States.
Communicator users can also send and receive photos taken from a digital camera.
What has won it followers in Europe -- with a market share of around 30 percent, according to Canalys.com -- is that the phone and computer organizer functions work well together.
Several personal organizers, such as Handspring, Palm and Compaq's iPaq, have mobile phone accessories but they can also be awkward and clunky.
One advantage of the Communicator is that users surfing the Internet won't be disconnected by an incoming call. When a call comes in, a message appears showing the number. If the user decides to take the call, it's easy to disconnect from the Internet.
DRAWBACKS: ACCESS LIMITS, RIVALS
The biggest drawback, apart from size and price, is that it works only on the relatively new and small GSM wireless network.
GSM, or Global System for Mobile Communications -- far and away the most popular system in Europe and other countries around the globe -- competes against more popular U.S. networks like TDMA and CDMA.
But GSM networks, on which the Communicator runs, promise to become more widespread as AT&T Wireless and Cingular Wireless, two of the nation's biggest mobile operators, are now building such systems.
Still, the Communicator will have many competitors this year, starting with the Treo, a Palm-based phone and organizer made by Handspring Inc. that will cost $599.
Phones from Samsung Electronics 05930.KS and Kyocera 6971.T have incorporated Palm's popular operating system to create phones with limited computer functions. Siemens SIEGn.DE is also coming out with a touch-color-screen combination phone, powered by Microsoft Pocket PC software, this year.