Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Sony Clié PEG-T615C


Enhancing its entertainment-centric PDA line, Sony's elegant Sony Clié PEG-T615C ($400 street) is a sleek device with a high-resolution, 16-bit color display, 16MB of memory, a Memory Stick expansion slot, a USB connection, and Palm OS 4.1. A quick comparison against Palm's flagship Palm m505 ($400 street), with its 8MB of memory and lower-resolution color screen, leaves little doubt that the PEG-T615C can take the lead in the Palm OS PDA competition. Unless you need wireless e-mail and Web functions (delivered by the Palm i705, reviewed on page 56), this Sony model is the PDA of choice.

Available in either shiny silver or royal blue, the PEG-T615C weighs 6 ounces (including its black leather flip cover) and measures 4.8 by 2.8 by 0.6 inches (HWD).

The PEG-T615C shares most features with the monochrome PEG-T415 ($250, reviewed in First Looks in our issue of January 15, 2002), including a jog dial for easy navigation, a universal remote-control functions for running some home entertainment devices, a generous software bundle, and a lithium ion polymer battery (rated at 12 days per charge).

The best part of the PEG-T615C is its gorgeous color display. The 320-by-320–resolution backlit TFT display is great indoors and fantastic outdoors, even in direct sunlight. Coupling the high-resolution display with 16-bit color, applications such as the included PictureGear Pocket image viewer from Sony become a lot more impressive to use. In fact, all of the included applications are easier and more enjoyable to use with the color display.

We wish the PEG-T615C came with a standard travel charger instead of requiring you to use the docking cradle to recharge the unit's battery. And if you often play MP3 files, the Sony Clié PEG-N760C ($450) is probably a better choice. With the PEG-T615C, you'll need to add the Sony PEGA-SA10 Audio Adapter ($130 street). Still, in the Palm OS PDA world, the PEG-T615C is unsurpassed.

  • Product: Sony Clié PEG-T615C
  • Street Price: $400
  • Requires: 233-MHz Pentium CPU or better; 64MB RAM; 128MB hard disk space; Microsoft Windows 98, 98 SE, 2000 Professional, Me, or XP
  • Company Info: Sony Electronics Inc., 888-315-7669, www.sony.com/clie
  • No comments: