Sony CLIE PEG-T615C Handheld
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- Wireless Capabilities: Infrared irDA
- Processor: 33 MHz Motorola DragonBall VZ
- Weight: 4.9 oz.
- Installed RAM: 16 MB
- Text Formats: DOC
- Operating System: Palm OS
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The New "Best PDA for Business" (For Now) UPDATED 7/25/02
Pros
Great color screen; thin aluminum case; light weight; long battery life; good software bundle
Cons
Buttons hard to operate, needs a hard cover.
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
The smallest, lightest, best-looking PDA on the market also happens to have the best hi-res color screen. What more could you ask for (other than easy-to-use buttons)?
The Sony Clie PEG-T615C takes over from Sony's PEG-N610C as the best PDA for business, but not without some caveats.
The T615C is an improvement on the N610C in several respects. First, the form factor is even smaller and lighter. The T615C has a sleek aluminum case with beveled edges; it feels very solidly constructed. The T615C's case is only 4.65" high by 2.83" wide by 0.5" thick, compared to the N610C's 4.8" by 2.9" by 0.7" plastic case. The T615C is much lighter: 4.9 oz. vs. 6.5 oz. The T615C looks great, fits comfortably in your hand, and is so light that carrying it in a shirt pocket is finally a viable option.
The T615C also sports 16MB of RAM, vs. 8MB for the N610C. For those of you comparing the Palm-powered Sonys to Pocket PCs with scads of RAM, keep in mind that the Pocket PC OS is a memory hog--those machines NEED more RAM. The Pocket PC OS takes up most of the 32MB that came standard on the first-gen Pocket PC models, which is why most models now sport 64 MB. Palm OS apps typically take 50-500KB, compared to Pocket PC apps that sometimes take over a megabyte. On my 8 MB Clie N610C, I had 32 apps loaded into main memory at the same time, including Da Da Baseball (a good baseball video game), Bejeweled, Bankbook 3, Documents to Go, WordView, AvantGo (typically with about 700 web pages downloaded), TopSecret, PGPocket (typically with about 8-10 320x320 16-bit color pictures), and Clie Paint. This left about 500K for additional apps or documents. I occasionally used the Memory Stick to store additional photos and documents. Anyway, the long and short of it is, the Palm OS seems to be about 4 times as efficient with memory as the Pocket PC OS. With 16 MB onboard the T615C, most users probably won't ever need to use a Memory Stick.
The 615C also runs on Palm OS 4.1, which differs from version 4.0 only slightly. OS 4.1 now includes the ability to run an app directly from Memory Stick, which could come in handy if you actually fill up your 16MB. The OS also includes support for the "Remote Commander" feature, a little app that lets you use your Clie as a remote control for your TV, DVD, VCR and receiver. It will NOT control your cable box or a CD changer, so for me the feature turned out to be worthless.
Having already discussed my opinion on Palm OS vs. Pocket PC OS at length in my earlier review of the Clie PEG-N610C, I won't repeat it here. Suffice to say that in my opinion, the Palm OS is much more stable than the Pocket PC OS, and if you're using a PDA for business, stability is extremely important. I don't think Pocket PC OS is ready for prime time yet. (Of course, neither was Windows 9x!) One thing Microsoft does right, though, is throw resources at problems. I suspect the next generation of Pocket PC software will be significantly more stable. The question is, will Palm OS 5 be less stable than OS 4.x and its predecessors?
In my view, once you've decided on an OS, the most important feature of a PDA is the screen. If you have to strain to read the info on your PDA, you will quickly tire of using it. Here, the T615C takes top honors away from the N610C. The T615C's transflective, backlit TFT screen has the same resolution (320 x 320) and color depth (16-bit) as its predecessor, but to my eye it is slightly brighter and more vivid than the N610C's sidelit, reflective TFT screen. Both PDAs are head and shoulders above anything offered by any other manufacturer of PDAs, whether Palm OS or Pocket PC. The T615C's screen is perfectly legible in direct sunlight, and its backlight is more than sufficient to illuminate the screen in an office environment. In the dark the screen is so bright you can use it as a flashlight.
Sony bundles a good amount of software with the T615C, including Intellisync Lite, Documents to Go Standard, which lets you view Word and Excel files, and Presenter-To-Go, which does the same for Powerpoint presentations. (A complete list of bundled 3rd party apps is at the end of this epinion.) Sync-ing with Outlook via Intellisync Lite is seamless. Several 3rd party apps are available if you want to do more than that.
The T615C's Memory Stick is a painless way to store files. Some reviewers pan Sony for sticking with this format instead of going with supposedly more "standard" formats like SD, MMC or CompactFlash I or II. My question is: How can these formats be "standard" when there are so many of them? In fact, they are all very similar in terms of using them for file storage. Memory Stick prices are now in line with other forms of flash memory, and Sony is now putting out highly reviewed CD-RW drives that read Memory Sticks directly. True, you can't get an IBM Micro-Drive unless you have CompactFlash, but most people will never need one. Micro-Drives are notorious battery hogs anyway. What's more, on a Palm-OS PDA, with its relatively efficient use of memory, a 128 MB Memory Stick holds a TON of data.
The T615C uses the same Motorola Dragonball VZ 33MHz CPU as did its predecessor. It seems to run a bit faster, though, presumably because of the extra memory. What this means is that the T615C has more than adequate power for business apps and non-3D gaming. Despite Sony's claims, however, the Dragonball is woefully underpowered for viewing video clips or 3D gaming. Sony's next-gen Clie, the NR-70, uses a 66 MHz Dragonball, as does the T615C's upcoming replacement, the T655C. (Early reports indicate a massive hit on battery life with the faster processor, however.) Some time in 2003 we should start seeing Palm OS PDAs sporting 200+ MHz 32-bit Intel StrongARM processors, just like Pocket PCs. Keep in mind that Pocket PCs need a faster processor to carry off that complex Microsoft OS: business apps run about the same speed on either platform. But if you want anything resembling 3D gaming, or if you want to view video clips, either hold out for an NR70 or a T655C, or get a Pocket PC.
Battery life is another area where Palm OS devices trounce Pocket PCs, and the T615C is no exception. Sony claims its rechargeable lithium polymer battery will last 12 days with normal use. I never let my Clie go that long between charges, but then, I am a "heavy" user: I play games, read web pages, take notes, and keep all my personal info on the Clie. I usually charge my Clie every couple of days, by which time the battery life indicator usually shows slightly more than 50%. After using the T615C for a while, though, I am fairly sure that it uses more battery power than the N610C. I estimate that the T615C's battery life is about 10% worse than the N610C's, even though both have the same 800 milliamp battery, and the T615C is rated at 5.2 volt and the N610C is rated at 5.7 volts.
Now the downside. The buttons on the T615C were designed by an idiot. They are impossible to push with a stylus; you have to use a finger or a thumb. The up-down button is particularly hard to use, although you'll use the jog dial instead, except for games. Sony should have stuck with the button design used on the N610C/N760C. That said, after a week you won't notice.
The T615C's aluminum case, though attractive, seems likely to be more prone to scratches and dents than the aluminum-front, plastic backed case of the N610C. I dropped my N610C a half-dozen times with no ill effects. I haven't dropped the T615C yet.
The leather case that comes with the T615C is completely inadequate. The T615C's frame is so thin and lite, it can actually flex in your pocket, which, in my case, led to a broken screen. A good aftermarket hard case is a must.
And finally, my biggest gripe is that Sony changed the cradle. The N610C's cradle had a detachable power supply, and the outlet prongs folded up, making it a great travel charger. The T615C's cradle and recharger are all one unit, so you'll have to take the whole cradle with you on the road. And the cradle itself is a bit flimsier than before.
Overall, though, the T615C's drawbacks are minor, and are more than outweighed by the unit's gorgeous screen, good looks, long battery life, and small size.
3rd Party Software Bundled with the Clie T615C:
Intellisync Lite v. 4.0 (Pumatech, Inc.)
Documents To Go? - Standard Edition (DataViz. Inc.) - allows you to create, view, and edit Microsoft? Word and Excel files on the handheld.
Acrobat Reader v. 5.0 (Adobe Systems, Inc.)
AvantGo (AvantGo) - Automatically download internet content with each hotsync.
gMovie (Generic Media) - Video clip viewer.
Personal (Infinity Softworks) - Powerful calculator.
QuickTime v. 5.0.2 (Apple Computer, Inc.) - Alternative video viewer.
Vindigo (Vindigo) - Free city guide for restaurants, shopping, entertainment.
Amy Reiley's Pocket Vineyard (neohand)* - Wine guide.
Amy Reiley's Pocket Gourmet (neohand)* - Database of restaurant notes and dining terms.
AcidSolitaire (Red Mercury)* - Colorful solitaire game.
Bejeweled (Astraware)* - Fun gem matching game .
StreetFinder? Express (Rand McNally) - View interactive city maps.
Zap!2016 (Astraware) * - 16-bit color space shooter.
Race Fever (Digital Fiction) * - 3D car racing game.
Presenter-to-Go (MARGI) * - View Powerpoint slides.
PhoneMate (MobiMate) *
WorldMate (MobiMate) *
* Trial version.
See my related reviews of the T415 and N610C:
Sony Clie PEG-T415: Dim screen ruins an otherwise great Palm-powered PDA.
http://www.epinions.com/content_52207980164
Sony Clie PEG-N610C: (Formerly) The Best Palm-Powered PDA for Business.
http://www.epinions.com/content_52098928260
The T615C is an improvement on the N610C in several respects. First, the form factor is even smaller and lighter. The T615C has a sleek aluminum case with beveled edges; it feels very solidly constructed. The T615C's case is only 4.65" high by 2.83" wide by 0.5" thick, compared to the N610C's 4.8" by 2.9" by 0.7" plastic case. The T615C is much lighter: 4.9 oz. vs. 6.5 oz. The T615C looks great, fits comfortably in your hand, and is so light that carrying it in a shirt pocket is finally a viable option.
The T615C also sports 16MB of RAM, vs. 8MB for the N610C. For those of you comparing the Palm-powered Sonys to Pocket PCs with scads of RAM, keep in mind that the Pocket PC OS is a memory hog--those machines NEED more RAM. The Pocket PC OS takes up most of the 32MB that came standard on the first-gen Pocket PC models, which is why most models now sport 64 MB. Palm OS apps typically take 50-500KB, compared to Pocket PC apps that sometimes take over a megabyte. On my 8 MB Clie N610C, I had 32 apps loaded into main memory at the same time, including Da Da Baseball (a good baseball video game), Bejeweled, Bankbook 3, Documents to Go, WordView, AvantGo (typically with about 700 web pages downloaded), TopSecret, PGPocket (typically with about 8-10 320x320 16-bit color pictures), and Clie Paint. This left about 500K for additional apps or documents. I occasionally used the Memory Stick to store additional photos and documents. Anyway, the long and short of it is, the Palm OS seems to be about 4 times as efficient with memory as the Pocket PC OS. With 16 MB onboard the T615C, most users probably won't ever need to use a Memory Stick.
The 615C also runs on Palm OS 4.1, which differs from version 4.0 only slightly. OS 4.1 now includes the ability to run an app directly from Memory Stick, which could come in handy if you actually fill up your 16MB. The OS also includes support for the "Remote Commander" feature, a little app that lets you use your Clie as a remote control for your TV, DVD, VCR and receiver. It will NOT control your cable box or a CD changer, so for me the feature turned out to be worthless.
Having already discussed my opinion on Palm OS vs. Pocket PC OS at length in my earlier review of the Clie PEG-N610C, I won't repeat it here. Suffice to say that in my opinion, the Palm OS is much more stable than the Pocket PC OS, and if you're using a PDA for business, stability is extremely important. I don't think Pocket PC OS is ready for prime time yet. (Of course, neither was Windows 9x!) One thing Microsoft does right, though, is throw resources at problems. I suspect the next generation of Pocket PC software will be significantly more stable. The question is, will Palm OS 5 be less stable than OS 4.x and its predecessors?
In my view, once you've decided on an OS, the most important feature of a PDA is the screen. If you have to strain to read the info on your PDA, you will quickly tire of using it. Here, the T615C takes top honors away from the N610C. The T615C's transflective, backlit TFT screen has the same resolution (320 x 320) and color depth (16-bit) as its predecessor, but to my eye it is slightly brighter and more vivid than the N610C's sidelit, reflective TFT screen. Both PDAs are head and shoulders above anything offered by any other manufacturer of PDAs, whether Palm OS or Pocket PC. The T615C's screen is perfectly legible in direct sunlight, and its backlight is more than sufficient to illuminate the screen in an office environment. In the dark the screen is so bright you can use it as a flashlight.
Sony bundles a good amount of software with the T615C, including Intellisync Lite, Documents to Go Standard, which lets you view Word and Excel files, and Presenter-To-Go, which does the same for Powerpoint presentations. (A complete list of bundled 3rd party apps is at the end of this epinion.) Sync-ing with Outlook via Intellisync Lite is seamless. Several 3rd party apps are available if you want to do more than that.
The T615C's Memory Stick is a painless way to store files. Some reviewers pan Sony for sticking with this format instead of going with supposedly more "standard" formats like SD, MMC or CompactFlash I or II. My question is: How can these formats be "standard" when there are so many of them? In fact, they are all very similar in terms of using them for file storage. Memory Stick prices are now in line with other forms of flash memory, and Sony is now putting out highly reviewed CD-RW drives that read Memory Sticks directly. True, you can't get an IBM Micro-Drive unless you have CompactFlash, but most people will never need one. Micro-Drives are notorious battery hogs anyway. What's more, on a Palm-OS PDA, with its relatively efficient use of memory, a 128 MB Memory Stick holds a TON of data.
The T615C uses the same Motorola Dragonball VZ 33MHz CPU as did its predecessor. It seems to run a bit faster, though, presumably because of the extra memory. What this means is that the T615C has more than adequate power for business apps and non-3D gaming. Despite Sony's claims, however, the Dragonball is woefully underpowered for viewing video clips or 3D gaming. Sony's next-gen Clie, the NR-70, uses a 66 MHz Dragonball, as does the T615C's upcoming replacement, the T655C. (Early reports indicate a massive hit on battery life with the faster processor, however.) Some time in 2003 we should start seeing Palm OS PDAs sporting 200+ MHz 32-bit Intel StrongARM processors, just like Pocket PCs. Keep in mind that Pocket PCs need a faster processor to carry off that complex Microsoft OS: business apps run about the same speed on either platform. But if you want anything resembling 3D gaming, or if you want to view video clips, either hold out for an NR70 or a T655C, or get a Pocket PC.
Battery life is another area where Palm OS devices trounce Pocket PCs, and the T615C is no exception. Sony claims its rechargeable lithium polymer battery will last 12 days with normal use. I never let my Clie go that long between charges, but then, I am a "heavy" user: I play games, read web pages, take notes, and keep all my personal info on the Clie. I usually charge my Clie every couple of days, by which time the battery life indicator usually shows slightly more than 50%. After using the T615C for a while, though, I am fairly sure that it uses more battery power than the N610C. I estimate that the T615C's battery life is about 10% worse than the N610C's, even though both have the same 800 milliamp battery, and the T615C is rated at 5.2 volt and the N610C is rated at 5.7 volts.
Now the downside. The buttons on the T615C were designed by an idiot. They are impossible to push with a stylus; you have to use a finger or a thumb. The up-down button is particularly hard to use, although you'll use the jog dial instead, except for games. Sony should have stuck with the button design used on the N610C/N760C. That said, after a week you won't notice.
The T615C's aluminum case, though attractive, seems likely to be more prone to scratches and dents than the aluminum-front, plastic backed case of the N610C. I dropped my N610C a half-dozen times with no ill effects. I haven't dropped the T615C yet.
The leather case that comes with the T615C is completely inadequate. The T615C's frame is so thin and lite, it can actually flex in your pocket, which, in my case, led to a broken screen. A good aftermarket hard case is a must.
And finally, my biggest gripe is that Sony changed the cradle. The N610C's cradle had a detachable power supply, and the outlet prongs folded up, making it a great travel charger. The T615C's cradle and recharger are all one unit, so you'll have to take the whole cradle with you on the road. And the cradle itself is a bit flimsier than before.
Overall, though, the T615C's drawbacks are minor, and are more than outweighed by the unit's gorgeous screen, good looks, long battery life, and small size.
3rd Party Software Bundled with the Clie T615C:
Intellisync Lite v. 4.0 (Pumatech, Inc.)
Documents To Go? - Standard Edition (DataViz. Inc.) - allows you to create, view, and edit Microsoft? Word and Excel files on the handheld.
Acrobat Reader v. 5.0 (Adobe Systems, Inc.)
AvantGo (AvantGo) - Automatically download internet content with each hotsync.
gMovie (Generic Media) - Video clip viewer.
Personal (Infinity Softworks) - Powerful calculator.
QuickTime v. 5.0.2 (Apple Computer, Inc.) - Alternative video viewer.
Vindigo (Vindigo) - Free city guide for restaurants, shopping, entertainment.
Amy Reiley's Pocket Vineyard (neohand)* - Wine guide.
Amy Reiley's Pocket Gourmet (neohand)* - Database of restaurant notes and dining terms.
AcidSolitaire (Red Mercury)* - Colorful solitaire game.
Bejeweled (Astraware)* - Fun gem matching game .
StreetFinder? Express (Rand McNally) - View interactive city maps.
Zap!2016 (Astraware) * - 16-bit color space shooter.
Race Fever (Digital Fiction) * - 3D car racing game.
Presenter-to-Go (MARGI) * - View Powerpoint slides.
PhoneMate (MobiMate) *
WorldMate (MobiMate) *
* Trial version.
See my related reviews of the T415 and N610C:
Sony Clie PEG-T415: Dim screen ruins an otherwise great Palm-powered PDA.
http://www.epinions.com/content_52207980164
Sony Clie PEG-N610C: (Formerly) The Best Palm-Powered PDA for Business.
http://www.epinions.com/content_52098928260
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