Sony Clié PEG-NR70V

With full-blown laptop PCs now selling for $899, can you justify spending $600 on a PDA? If it's the new Sony Clié PEG-NR70V ($600 street) you can.

Sony has stuffed its new Palm OS handheld with some mouthwatering goodies including a color screen capable of displaying more than 65,000 colors, a built-in keyboard, a digital audio/video player, and a low-res (100,000-pixel) digital camera, all neatly packaged in a cool clamshell case. Another new Clié, the PEG-NR70, is available without the camera for $100 less. The only features missing from our wish list are integrated wireless communications and voice-recorder functions.

We tested all of the new Clié's features on a near-production unit and were extremely impressed. The PEG-NR70V uses a 66MHz DragonBall Super VZ processor—twice as fast as the CPUs in other current Palm OS models. The extra processing power comes in handy for multimedia files, but even normal applications pop up on the screen unlike any other Palm OS PDA we've tested. The new handheld also has 16MB of internal RAM, a Memory Stick expansion slot, and Sony's ever-convenient jog dial and back button for one-handed navigation.

At 5.3 by 2.8 by 0.6 inches (HWD) and 7 ounces, the new PDA packs all these standard features into a case that is just slightly larger and a bit heavier than the company's previous flagship model, the Clié PEG-N760C. The rechargeable lithium-ion battery provides about 10 days of normal use (figured at 30 minutes per day) according to Sony. If you use the multimedia features, battery life will be much shorter, of course.

The screen on the PEG-NR70V is built into a rotating flip cover that opens in clamshell fashion to reveal the integrated keyboard and traditional Palm OS application launch buttons on the device's bottom panel. The 3.8-inch (diagonal) LCD has a resolution of 320 by 480 pixels and delivers great visibility inside and good (but not great) visibility outside.

If you don't want to use the keyboard, you can twist the cover around by 180 degrees, and fold it down over the keyboard. The screen will be upside down, but the image flips automatically. In this compact orientation, the Clié resembles a typical Palm OS PDA and has a virtual Graffiti area at the bottom of the screen.

The QWERTY keyboard on the bottom half of the Clié clamshell has 7-mm center-to-center key spacing and 42 tiny, round protruding keys. Too small for normal typing, the keyboard is fine for two-thumb use. The contrast isn't great between the dark gray labels and the brushed silver keys they're printed on, however, and this somewhat diminishes the keyboard's appeal.

The swivel camera is conveniently built into the unit's hinge and is usable with the cover open or closed. There are three ways to take a picture: You can press the center of the jog dial, tap the software button, or press the shutter button located on the hinge. Image resolution choices are 320 by 240, 160 by 120, and 88 by 88 pixels. The camera has selectable white-balance levels, brightness settings, and special effects (black and white, negative, sepia, and solarization).

The camera is incredibly easy to use, and images can be stored internally or on a removable Memory Stick. Image quality is suitable for display on the device or for e-mail, but don't expect it to be suitable for printing.

The bundled AudioPlayer application plays MP3 files, and the included Sound Utility allows you to import MIDI and WAV files from a PC. The sound from the speaker on the back of the device is pleasant, but, as we expected, not loud or rich. Plug in the included earbud headphones, though, and the stereo sound and volume are as good as any mobile digital-audio player.

The package includes a USB docking cradle, AC adapter (but no travel charger), headphones, and a wired remote (for controlling the audio features). In addition to the standard Palm OS PDA applications, the rich software bundle includes PictureGear Pocket (for organizing photos), DataViz Documents To Go 4.0 Standard Edition, Intellisync Lite, gMovie, three games, and demo versions of Amy Reiley's Pocket Gourmet and Rand McNally StreetFinder.

It's not cheap, but the Sony Clié PEG-NR70V combines usable entertainment and image-capture features in a versatile PDA, clearly making it the best Palm OS device yet.