Manufacturer: Sony Model#: PEG-SL10 Weight: 1lbs Height: 2.03"     Width: 2.88" Length: 4.13" Average Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars	Retail Price: Unavailable Online Sale Price:
Features: Palm OS software version 4.1 DragonBall VZ 33 MHz 8 MB internal memory Backlit monochrome display, 320 x 320 pixels, 16 gray scale What's in the box: Clié PEG-SL10, USB HotSync cradle, stylus, two AAA alkaline batteries, protective cover, installation CD, application manual, Graffiti sticker, and registration materials

User Submitted Sony CLIE PEG-SL10 Handheld Reviews (cont...)

The rest of it is not too bad for the price.

Date: 2003-11-11
battery life is awful
great display, looks, etc. Terrible battery life. Don't buy this PDA.

Date: 2003-08-10
Great PDA!
SL10 is very lightweight, small in size, reasonably fast for most PDA tasks, low priced, runs stable Palm OS 4, very well designed with silver casing and great is you don't need multimedia on your Palm.

I have been using this for about 2 weeks now and like it very much. Lots of people here claim it has dark and unreadable screen, which is not true. You will need to install a free Palm application called ThinFontFix to make font more readble. Here's the breakdown,

Sunlight/cloudy outdoors or bright conditions : good readability, use of backlight(BL) makes no difference.

Indoors (medium light) : average readability, BL is a must, some reflection on screen but acceptable.

Dark conditions : excellent, BL must, perfect for your eyes.

I think that the reviewers who claim dark screen didn't turn on the BL all the time or enable ThinFontFix. I installed X-Master and KeepLitHack (both free Palm applications) to keep the BL always on irrespective of lighting conditions.

Now people who are used to 2 months battery life on old low-res Palm's will claim it has poor battery life. 5-6 hrs on rechargeable batteries (w/BL on always) is good enough for atleast 1 week. Its no big deal to put in freshly charged NiMH AAA's, say every Sunday evening. Its better than LiIon rechargeable batteries since they die within 2 yrs of manufacturing date and can't be replaced.

Another advantage of SL10 is that it comes with no cradle or others propreitary items to worry of. Only a *standard* USB cable, metal stylus and very well designed flip (eliminates need for a case). Jog dial is very useful when reading something & memory stick expansion slot is excellent.

Included SW bundle with Documents-to-go, MobiPocket Reader and other memory stick backup utilities is good. More importantly there are tons of free Palm application on the web like DiddleBug HR, Plucker, NoahLite, ThinFont, Shoplist, Runtime, etc.

Yes this won't snap pics, play mp3's or color pics, games or movies, but I don't those things in my PDA. PDA has to be simple, reliable, easy-to-use, good battery life and not-priced-as-much-as-a-new-Dell-PC. Overall for double digit price I paid I am pretty happy.

Date: 2003-08-06
Last PDA made to run on AAA batteries.
That's correct, this is the last PDA made to run on AAA batteries. All future ones would be running on a propreitary Lithium Ion battery. LiIon dies in 2 yrs time leaving you with a dead PDA. And replacing LiIon batteries is not easy or economical either. Yeah I know the technology changes a lot with time, but to throw away a working device just because its battery died is stupid. (All cell phone & laptop makers sell replacements for their battery packs, why not PDA makers?)

So after that rant about LiIon batteries back to the PDA review. The major pro's are,
1. Low price and still good build quality.
2. Looks good, small size, light weight and a very nice flip cover included.
3. Jog dial and memory stick expansion slot.
4. HiRes display and backlight (unlike Zire).
5. 6-7 hrs of battery life on a pair of NiMH AAA with backlight on all the time. AAA batteries can be found in easily in most stores for replacement.
6. Runs Palm OS 4 which has zillion free apps available and is very easy to use unlike Windows based PDA's.
7. Good set of bundled applications.
8. Comes with a simple non-propreitary USB cable. No bulky charger, cradle or other stuff to worry about on trips.

Con's,
1. The LCD is a bit dark for use in medium lighting conditions (although good in bright and in dark).
2. Eats batteries much faster than old Palm's which ran like weeks on a single set.
3. No other fun stuff like mp3 or color screen, but then look at its price!

In short if you want to get a PDA which will do basic stuff and keep running for a few yrs get a SL10 (found only refurbished or on ebay). All the new color PDA's will come with a LiIon battery which becomes a pain after one year of use when their charge capacity decreases. (Other AAA based ones that can be still found are Visor Edge/Deluxe and Palm iiixe.)

Date: 2003-04-30
GREAT
THIS IS A VERY GOOD PRODUCT, ALTHOUGH IT DOES HAVE ITS HIGHS AND LOWS

Highs
-great screen resolution- view pictures and watch short movies
-small compact size
-AAA batteries
-memory stick
-looks good

Lows
-paint fades away after time- "Back" button stopped working after extended use
-AAA batteries
-software expensive (as with all palm os devices

Verdict
-A great value for the money you can get a free case at sonystyle.com with purchase. This is deffinently better than the sj-20 considering the fifty- dollar difference. If you are young like me and dont have the money or dont want to carry a four hundred dollar device around- this is the product for you