Manufacturer: Sony Model#: PEG-S3.60 Weight: 1lbs Height: .59"     Width: 2.88" Length: 4.63" Average Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars	Retail Price: Unavailable Online Sale Price:
Features: 16 MB memory stores thousands of contacts, appointments, to-do items, and notes Jog Dial navigator allows you to access phone numbers, notes, and more while keeping your other hand free View and edit Word and Excel documents Value-added software includes Amy Reiley's Pocket Gourmet and Pocket Vineyard, gMovie for watching video clips, and StreetFinder Express What's in the box: Clie Handheld, USB HotSync Cable, AC Adapter, Stylus, Installation CD-ROM, Applications Manual, Protective Cover

User Submitted Sony PEG-S360 Clie Handheld Reviews (cont...)

For my first handheld as I'm about to graduate from college, I was undecided, between the Visor Neo, Palm m125 and the Clie-s360. I know I made the right choice with the Clie-s360.

The m125, at a similar price point, offers less ram, a smaller screen size, and an uglier (in my opinion) design that makes it look like a toy. The Clie-s360 has a great silverish two-tone glossy/matte look, and even though it's still a plastic case it feels solid in either hand. The Visor Neo is bulkier, less RAM, and looks and feels like a grocery store check-out line toy.

Once you've tried it, you'll find that the left thumb operated jog-dial becomes as indispensible as your mouse wheel (if you have one, that is. If not, get one!) I'm a lefty, but I still have no problem using the jog-dial to scroll through web pages on AvantGo (bundled). Only time jog-dial and lefthandedness is bad is when using the stylus, but I'm not usually scrolling when writing, so it doesn't really come up.

Tech specs are comparable with other new models, except for the fact that it's a affordable model with internal 16 MB!!! Very nice bonus for now, since few in its class can compare.

You won't be disappointed with this as you first PDA, and as an upgrade from an older PDA you'll be pleased with its design and features!

Date: 2002-04-05
New PDA Standard: 16 MB RAM
I recently sold my Palm VIIx (8 MB RAM), which served me well. I'm an undergraduate, and 16 MB is a must for new PDA photo albums, applications, and (of course) games.

I have owned the S360 for a few weeks now, and its slim design and protective cover make it very fashionable and sturdy. The only drawback with the S360 is Sony's inablity to include a CRADLE. The S360 comes with separate USB cradle and recharge adapter cables. I cannot simultaneously recharge and sync the S360.

Date: 2002-03-30
The best monochrome PDA
I'm a big fan of Palm PDA's and even Pocket PCs and have had a Palm Vx, IIIc, and Compaq iPAQ, all of which I've been extremely satisfied with. I was recently checking out the new entries into the field, and this one caught my eye as the best of the current crop of monochrome units, unless you want to spend almost twice the price for the HandEra offering, which, although a great device, is noticeably bigger and heavier, although it offers that great feature of the two expansion slots for both SD and CF cards.

The main attraction for me is the extra 8 megs of RAM for a total of 16 megs. That's plenty of space for lots of programs, data and utilities. I've had to get Data Becker's Compress-It! program to make more room on my 8-meg Palm IIIc. This program allows you to compress even executables by an average of 37% in my experience, but with this PDA I wouldn't need it.

One other feature the Sonys have is the little jog-wheel, which I find a nice touch and very convenient. If I have one gripe about the unit it's that this wheel seems to protrude a little less than on the earlier Sony models, and one other thing is that they're replaced the up-and-down scroll buttons with a toggle switch that is also so low-relief that it's a little difficult to operate. But except for that I really don't have any complaints about it.

While I was at it, I also compared the IIIc to the Sony T615CS color model. I compared it side by side with my Palm IIIc, and at high brightness there's still no comparison to my Palm. The screen seems almost identical to the one on my Compaq iPAQ; it's bright but appears a little milky, but it's okay. The Compaq's appears this way because of the partially back-reflective screen which allows it to be seen out of doors in direct sunlight. Although not as bright as the IIIc, the IIIc's washes out in direct sunlight, so overall this screen is an improvement over the IIIc's in terms of features, but I still like the brightness on my Palm. If I had to use it outdoors much I'd probably prefer the Sony's. Last but not least, the Sony's greater 240 x 320 level resolution screen and 64k colors is just drop-dead gorgeous.

Since I started writing this review, I discovered Sony is coming out with two more units which should start hitting the stores soon, which have screens with 320x480 resolution--the Peg NR70 and NR70V models. Sony does this by removing the physical Graffiti area and providing a virtual one, as on the Pocket PCs.

With these two models, the Palm platform now has a PDA with a screen that is truly the equal of any of the Pocket PCs, something which I will probably appreciate since I really like the greater resolution and colors of my Compaq iPAQ. And my iPAQ 3630 only has 16k colors. I think the current iPAQs now have 64k, as does the Sony Peg615CS and above. The Casio Casiopeias have always had 64k colors, but the first HP Jornada also had 16k (not 64k as had been thought). I also noted that the HP's screen wasn't quite as bright as the Casiopeia's and the iPAQ, but it was okay. The HP also has a newer model since then but I don't know if the color range has been upped to 64k yet, but this gives you some idea of the differences in the screens between the major offerings in this area. All the Pocket PC's are 240x320 resolution. One other difference to be aware of is that the original HP Jornada only had 16 megs of RAM, whereas the Cassiopeia and iPAQ had 32 megs. I suspect the new release of the Jornada now has 32 megs also, but I haven't checked it out personally myself yet so I can't say for sure.

But getting back to the Sony PEG360 monochrome model, it's very lightweight and the screen, although the only Sony with 160 x 160 resolution, is, from what I can tell, the sharpest of the monochrome units out there. The backlight is also pretty bright. I note the built-in apps have been modified and have had some improvements made in the 2 years since I bought my IIIc, which is all to the good, and also there has been at least one major revision to the Palm OS in the almost 2 years since I purchased my IIIc.

All in all, this looks to be a great new PDA at an attractive price for all the features you're getting, and I would actually give it four and a half stars if I could.

Date: 2002-03-23
First impression: it rocks
I just got this PDA a couple of hours ago, and it's my first. It took me only about 20 minutes to learn all the essentials, including the graffiti alphabet. It's very fast and efficient as well; must be all the memory. So far it looks like a real winner.