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| Home >> Handheld & PDA Reviews: Sony Clie PEG-SJ22 Handheld | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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User Submitted Sony Clie PEG-SJ22 Handheld Reviews (cont...)Date: 2004-02-19 Superb PDA This PDA is excellent. You just can't beat the price for a color PDA. The only issue with it is you just can't break the thing. If you break it it takes weeks to repair and costs you more than what you paid for the handheld in the first place. Date: 2004-01-27 Essential This is my first PDA, and it was an excellent buy. It was easy to set up and the software is really user friendly. Overall, it has become an essential part of my day-to-day activities. Date: 2004-01-18 Hidden costs I bought the SJ22 thinking that the simple, good looks and functionality of the PDA would make it as indispensable as my last PDA. Imagine my surprise when I couldn't sync the PDA to my Outlook account. The hidden information indicates that you must purchase third party software to allow Outlook syncing. Then I used the on-line help function to help me use the product appropriately. As soon as I searched for ways to use the alarm, I was prompted to purchase the "Advanced users guide" - paying for the PDA and the users guide was obviously not enough. The PDA IS attractive and useful but the hidden costs are so infuriating that it is difficult to recommend this product Date: 2004-01-12 Free Access to the Advanced Online Manual I'm keeping my review at a neutral 4 stars, because I played with this thing in the store. And as a longtime Palm user, I think it makes for a great PDA. Anyway, I'm thinking of buying this model as a "starter" PDA for my sister, because it's cheap enough. I decided to come here to Amazon and see what other people are saying about it, before making the purchase. It all seems fairly positive. The two big misgivings people have about this unit are that (1) you have to pay for the "advanced" manual, and (2) it doesn't include software to sync with Outlook. As far as #1 is concerned, I think you can find the full advanced manual on Sony's support site. I didn't have to pay any money to download it. Well, I'm assuming it's the advanced version of the manual, because it makes reference to the Advanced Operations on pages 53-165. You can find it on their web site, or just go directly to this link And as far as #2 goes, I'm expecting that the Chapura PocketMirror Standard software that came with my Palm IIIx PDA will allow this Sony Clie SJ22 to sync with Outlook. From what other reviewers have said, it should. So other than that, I think this model will make a great PDA for my sister. I found the handheld very easy to use. The manual is not included in hard copy, but is included on the CD that comes with it - fine by me and mother nature. A USB cable for hotsync purposes is included - which is a godsend for me, as my laptop has no serial ports. I was using the IR to hotsync prior. As far as the software bundle goes - there are lots of cool and useful programs included on the CD, as well as the standard Palm Desktop. If you are an Outlook user, I highly recommend BEYOND CONTACTS by DataViz. I used their Desktop to Go software for a while and DTG was evolved into the much more powerful Beyond Contacts - allowing to you utilize virtually the full functionality of Outlook on your Palm OS 3.5+ handheld. I have just hotsynched and it works famously. I have over 1600 contacts and 3700 calendar entries and it handled all of them, as well as my subfolders for contacts. It does not handle subfolders of the inbox, though. The color-coding of Outlook XP has been carried over to my handheld and this was one of the reasons I went color in the first place. It allows for many categories, instead of the standard 15 many of us were stuck with on the Palm. It also has a Today feature, similar to the Outlook Today view - very handy and easy to read thanks to the the hi-res color screen. Yes, this is software you have to pay for, but if you are a hard-core Outlook user and depend heavily on it, it is WELL worth the investment. ($29 for new users, $19 for DTG users). The company (Data-Viz) has excellent customer service and I've had some great experiences using their friendly human tech support. They even offer upgrades for free periodically to registered users. I don't work for them or anything, but I've done a lot of research to get Outlook onto my Palm and this was the best I found. It is so much more useful with the clear color screen of the Sony, too! Here is the link for the software: http://www.dataviz.com/products/beyondcontacts/index.html Some have also inquired in their review about music, photos, etc on the Sony...I read that you can buy an MP3 player that plugs into the Memory Card slot, as well as a digital camera and a game controller. Many other expansion options are available with the Sony SJ22, go to Sony.com for a list. Someone had also written that the SJ22 is compatible with many of the accessories for Sony's T and NR series handhelds. A good overview can be read here: http://www.pdabuyersguide.com/feature/sony_SJ22.htm (copy & paste into browser's address bar) Conclusion: Like the trusty Honda Civic, the Sony Clie SJ-22 has all the basic features expected in a handheld, with some great little useful extras, and lots of expandability options, all at a great price. I went in the store not knowing much about Sony's handhelds and now I'm happy I took the chance and bought one.
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