Sony CLIE PEG-T615C Handheld

For anyone that has ever tried to buy a handheld for multimedia purposes, especially when they're looking for a color handheld, many of the past Palm based color handhelds are flawed, because of the screen. The problem with the screen on the recently discontinued Palm m505 is that the screen is too dark, making the screen illegible and making people not notice that there's color on the screen at all. Then there's the Handspring Visor Prism, the color screen is much better here, but the screen is very pixelated, meaning although the colors are bright enough, but it's just too grainy. But with the Clie PEG-T615c, the replacement for the successful Sony Clie PEG-N610c; the color screen redefines what a Palm based color handheld should be.

How well does the Clie PEG-T615c perform over the popular Palm based color screen handhelds?

Well to be honest, the Clie PEG-T615c surpasses the performance of the Handspring Visor Prism in many ways. It surpasses the Visor Prism by offering a more slender and sleeker form factor and one of which in particular is the brushed aluminum effect for the housing, compared to the Visor Prism's low quality plastic housing. Then there's the discontinued m505, where the color screen is too dark to be legible, although this issue was corrected with the newly offered m515. But still, even with the brighter color screen of the m515, the brightness doesn't match with the Clie PEG-T615c handheld and it has a high-resolution screen rather than a standard resolution screen in many other Palm based handhelds' color screens, except for the color Clie handhelds that were offered today and before.

When I was shopping for a high quality handheld for my dad as a Christmas present, I knew he was looking for a decent Palm based color handheld. But after looking at many options that are offered by the market, I wasn't satisfied with their products. Many of them aren't equipped with a decent color screen and that they lack some of the latest features in which the Clie PEG-T615c offered.

Features

The handheld features a sleek brushed aluminum case with a thickness of about half an inch and with a weight of only 4.9 oz, it is just as thin and light as the Palm m515. Really the greatness of the handheld is underneath the handheld itself.

With 16MB of DRAM, you can store even more contacts, priorities, stretch your schedule and still have more than enough room for all your other things, like a few photos. With the 4MB of Flash ROM, you can easily upgrade the handheld's operating system without worries about eradicating the handheld's ability to store content.

With the color screen, as I've already mentioned; it features a 320x320 resolution, over 65,000 colors and reflective TFT technology. All of them combined make the color screen much more legible, as a result, when you're viewing photographs through the handheld, the colors on the screen are unmatched by any other Palm based color handheld on the market, well except for the Sony Clie Color handhelds.

With the USB cradle, it allows you to use the handheld through any computer that offers a USB port, except for those that have Windows 95/NT 4.0 systems, which doesn't recognize USB. Sony doesn't even offer a serial cradle or cable for this series of handhelds for those that still use those operating systems. But Mac users will find the package disappointing, because it doesn't include any Mac drivers in the package and Sony requires Mac users to order it through a 3rd party source.

Before you even start using the handheld, charge your Clie according to the manufacturer through the manual and you'll be using the handheld in no time at all.

But for the control panel of the handheld, the buttons are rather small and this is especially true for the scroll button where it's almost useless, because most of us have rather large fingers and with such a small scroll button, we can accidentally press other buttons. But the jog on the side of the handheld does aid in the scrolling though as it frees the other hand for working on something else, such as your cell phone. Plus it has a back button to go back to your previous screen, so if you've made a mistake, you don't have to go back to the main page of the handheld just to correct your previous mistake.

But the handheld also features a remote control feature for controlling your TV channels, VCR and DVD player playback and AV amplifiers. But it doesn't support certain manufacturer's units or devices. But the package provides a list of manufacturers in which the product does support the Clie remote control through the guide. All this can be achieved with the Clie Remote Commander 1.0.

With the lithium polymer battery, the Clie can last up to 12 days with one charge, depending on applications and user habits with the handheld. But of course if we use the remote control often, it could very well drain batteries much more quickly though. The same thing basically happens when we use color intensive applications, such as viewing pictures through the Picture Gear Pocket application though.

The sound effect generator bundled for the handheld, you can set your preferred audio reminder for appointments, alarm clocks and it can even offer sound effects for your games through the handheld as well. All of it is done through the Sound Utility (PC or Mac) and/or Sound Converter 1.0 (PC only).

Included in the handheld is Clie Paint, which you can even create your own masterpieces on the go. Combine the Paint and the stylus for the Clie PEG-T615c handheld; you have yourself an art pallet for your creative minds.

The Memory Stick slot on the top of the handheld, users can easily expand on storage capacity or backup their Clie handhelds. But the Memory Stick is not very universalized, where not too many devices do support this format of digital media. But if you've got a few Sony digital electronic devices, this handheld is for you then. In addition, you can even share the Memory Stick to those who also use the Sony Clie handheld. But for now, the Memory Stick is only for content storage, no applications until the foreseeable future.

With Documents To Go, you can easily import your MS Excel or MS Word documents, to edit and view while you're on the go. Plus, you can even create MS Excel or MS Word documents. This is ideal for those very productive individuals too. But the problem is that Sony nor any 3rd Party vendor has produced a hardware keyboard for the Handheld for those that require extra typing while on the go, ideal for note taking.

Plus, the gMovie, you can view video clips for the handheld while you would like to be amused.

The address book isn't like many other Palm OS handhelds, where this one in particular also features an option that you can place a picture into, so you won't forget who you're actually contacting in the first place. That's in addition to the standard address book, where you store your colleagues' phone numbers, addresses, e-mail address and many more.

The Date Book will allow you to organize the events and you can schedule a baseball game, appointments and even anniversaries. With that, you can really replace your long-term agenda without ever taking out a bulky pen and paper agenda. With the LED silent reminder feature, you can set it to silent for a reminder, in case you're in a scenario where silence is essential, such as board meetings.

The To Do List gives you the ability to prioritize your deeds and work, where it's important. Without it, what's a handheld without it anyway? When you're done, you can just tap on the square and it automatically gives it a check mark. So this means that you don't need anymore of those sticky notes and never worry about lost lists or overdue priorities buried under a pile of new priorities.

For the Memo Pad , it gives you the capability to write anything you want to write, such as taking notes. The notepad , even makes taking short term priorities or small notes a pleasure as it allows you to write freestyle.

Other features include the calendar, world time and calculator. The world time really allows you to schedule a call to overseas when appropriate.

With the infrared port on the top of the handheld, you can even beam your contact to a colleague without ever having the colleague write down the information.

Choices of Input

Virtual Keyboard

The option of using the virtual keyboard allows you to easily enter your requested and/or required data into your handheld. To activate this feature, you have to use the supplied stylus to tap on the point where it either says ABC or 123 depending on what you want to use for entering the data.

Grafitti Pad

The handheld has a dedicated area that was designed for writing the characters. For new Palm powered handheld users, this could take a while to really master, but once you've mastered the patterns, you'll be using it most of the time. The Giraffe software built into the handheld can really shape up your writing, ideal for those who are using it for the first few days or weeks.

Handwriting

With the notepad feature in the handheld, you can use your handwriting for quick and short-term notes or reminders.

Desktop Software

With the desktop software provided by the handheld, it comes in a CD ROM and there's a ton of software, including the handheld management. From there, you can perform a synchronization process to interchange data between your computer and handheld.

Additional Software

Additional software titles for the handheld include Vindigo and Street Finder for those who travel a lot and you can stop worrying about losing your direction or that you can know where the nearest restaurants, en route rest areas for the bathroom or gas stations.

With the Palm OS 4.1, you can easily work on intensive applications that you'll often work for long hours and not lose any stability in the operating system. With the extra security and stability, it ensures that any user of the handheld can stop worrying about the data being lost or fallen into the wrong hands.

What are the flaws with the handheld then?

Despite a numerous amount of goodness found in the handheld, there are still many flaws that are found with the handheld. For example, there aren't enough accessories (for now) to go with the handheld, such as a hardware keyboard, no Memory Stick with pre-stored content such as books and many more. Plus, the scroll button is rather too small for the fingers, which is very hard to really slip.

Conclusion

But the handheld is ideal for those who aren't really into gaming, but more towards productivity and some photography though. But with the limited availability of accessories, there's a whole lot more potential to this handheld. But at $399, with a bright, high-resolution color screen and generous memory, it is truly a great value for a color handheld. But if you're into electronic books or multimedia such as games, a Palm m515 is recommended instead of the Clie PEG-T615c. However with the available Audio Adapter from Sony, you can playback your own audio and I would still recommend it. But if you want an integrated audio player, by all means, invest in a Clie PEG-N760c. But do use MG (White Memory Stick) for the audio content as it disables the copyright protection.