Manufacturer: Sony Model#: PEG-UX50 Weight: 2lbs Height: 3..5"     Width: 4..1" Length: " Average Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars	Retail Price: $649.99 Online Sale Price:
Features: A new concept in handhelds: an extremely portable personal entertainment communicator 6 oz. with stylus Integrated wireless LAN (802.11b) and Bluetooth interface Built-in QWERTY-layout wide-pitch keyboard with backlight What's in the box: Clie handheld, Charger Cradle, USB HotSync Cable, Retractable Stylus, AC Adapter, Hand Strap, Installation CD-ROM, Instruction manuals

User Submitted Sony Clie PEG-UX50 Handheld Reviews (cont...)

Some of those listed are PocketPC (WinCE) and the rest are PalmOS. I have no quarrel with either camp, because they both have their pros and cons. Let it suffice to say that I simply WON'T compare PalmOS to PocketPC, because that's the Mac-vs-PC arguement all over.

The keyboard is most useful. As for other reviewers who've claimed that the keyboard must have been designed for babies, it seems that these people have not run into the world of thumb-keyboards yet. I do have a full-size foldout keyboard for my IPAQ 5550, and while nothing can beat that, it also means that I have yet another accessory to carry with. But with the UX-50, I don't need to worry about that.

The screen size is debatable, as I doubt you'll see many applications utilize the full-sized screen.

Being left-handed, stylus usage has always been an issue with me. The default configuration is for righties, with the soft-silk area on the right side. That was easily fixed, as you can move the soft-silk area to the left, and now it's even easier to use.

This is probably the best PalmOS available on the market, if you can deal with a few short-comings.

#1 - the memory stick slot is designed in such a way that the inserted stick juts out from the rest of the case. While the device is in my pocket, I've jostled it to the point of ejecting the stick.

#2 - the stylus is a joke. It's extremely thin, and that makes it uncomfortable to hold for a period of time. It's collapsable, which means sometimes it folds back on itself. Originally, the stylus itself had some friction to keep it collapsed or extended, but after some wear, that friction is gone. Same for the insertion slot, after some wear, it's too easy to slip out.

#3 - I love the screen orientation, but I do wish Sony had considered a way to turn it to portrait mode, like the NZ/NX series.

#4 - if you have 802.11b wireless, use that over the USB cable. The USB sync cable is also a joke, and inserting it can be tedious. You need to flip open a little flap which will get in the way, and peer closely at the mini-USB connection to make sure it's oriented properly.

#5 - the charging base is also fruitless. All the other PDA's combine their sync function with charging. You put the PDA in the cradle, and it'll charge, and you can also sync. Not so on the UX-50. All it does is serve to charge the battery. If they could have designed it with an additional USB port on the base, that would have been an improvement.

#6 - the battery life with wireless is shabby, so I simply use wireless for sync'ing.

#7 - the hard buttons on the bottom are awkwardly placed. It's easy to press them when you don't need to press them.

#8 - bluetooth is a joke. Has been for years. Why do they persist on shoving this on us? If "they" ever develop a home-theater remote control which works on bluetooth, that would be the only realistic application I can ever concieve of.

You might think that with all these negative points, I don't like the unit. However, that's not the case, as I've rated it four stars (nothing deserves five stars, as that would imply perfection with no improvement).

Date: 2003-12-22
Dream Toy not Good Enough
This is the ultimate dream toy with features like Wi-Fi, bluetooth, and camera. It's industrial design is legendary.

It bundles a lot of nice progams making the Palm OS more usable. There is a web browser, NetFront, but that browser isn't up to primetime yet, sporting less functionality than Netscape 4. The Japanese version is the ONLY palm that supports Japanese character recognition, including Kanji characters.

Nevertheless, the Palm OS, though a great hackers dream, it is primitive by far. One cannot easily develop programs for it (especially Unicode versions). There's more support for PocketPC OSes (including free compilers) and better synchronization to MS products. For non-Windows OSes, perhaps this shouldn't matter as much. The Mac OS has pretty good sychronization abilities, including sync'ing photos taken from the camera with iPhoto , and music files with iTunes using the third-party software MissingSync.

One thing that always bugs me for all PDAs is that when the battery runs out, all your data is gone. There are other PDAs that will not lose contact information.

Date: 2003-12-09
Almost Snagged
I was all set to buy this until I saw one for real. It's so small it's clumsy. The built-in keyboard is useless; it was made for a child's fingers. The screen is so small, I don't know how us baby boomers can even read it. Sure it's got alot of goodies on it, but you can get most of those things as add-ons with many other PDAs. I'm really diappointed. I thought it would be something that I could use on the road without taking my bulky laptop. Not for $700, not for $649 at COMPUSA, not for $523 on Ebay. Sony, please go back to the drawing board.

Date: 2003-11-30
Sony Clie PEG-UX50
The search for the perfect palm pilot has always been an issue. Many have features that others don't have, that making it complicated to get the perfect one. Finally, Sony has created a PDA that has every feature that anyone could ever want "The Sony Clie UX50".
This PDA has more bells and whistles than any palm powered handheld that you have seen. With its wireless Internet and its blue tooth, it is easy to connect to every type of compatible device and the cradle for charging would be the only thing needed to be connected physically to it. This PDA has crossed over into being more like a laptop.
The UX50 also has a spaced out keyboard, which makes it easy to type in all the information that needs to be typed. Also the UX50 has a swivel screen, which allows you to change the keyboard into a screen. The pda also allows for the left and right-handed user to be comfortable and also eliminating the High-resolution display not to be covered while you write.
The screen resolution (420x380) is better than any pda out. The screen will let you enjoy little movies with the memory stick pro, which goes up to a gigabyte. Also the screen will be perfect to view your pictures from the camera on the pda or other sources. This pda has hand writing recognition for those who like to write on the screen. Also it has an MP3 player and a voice recorder.
This palm powered device is surely one the greatest inventions in the land of the pda's. It almost goes into the realm of laptops. If you were to buy any palm pilot and didn't mind dishing out 650 dollars then the Sony Clie UX50 is the palm for you.

Date: 2003-11-22
Good functions, buy it for the form factor
I have been using Palm and Symbian devices for over 7 years. After dropping (and breaking) my SonyEricsson P800, I was looking for a more-or-less similar device. Being not satisfied with SE customer service and P800 computing power, I decided to return to a Palm based system.

Having used it for about a week I am convinced that I prefer my UX50 over my P800. The main reasons:
- User interface for Palm is more intuitive than Symbian
- Synchronisation (With Outlook 2000) is better: Symbian sync was very bugy, lost middlenames during conversion, conflicted with Yahoo Intellisync and someimes just did not work for unclear reason
- MP3 is of good quality, with in-ear headphones the sound is good and (in contrast with the P800) the MP3 player works with the lid closed. Also, the MP3 player seems not suffer when you use other applications.
- The UX50 is very well equipped for video playback. The conversion softare allows you to convert AVI and MPEG files to a playable file. The quality and above all the landscape orientation of the screen make this the first PDA to really watch a video on. It is also very convenient that you can watch the screen without holding it in you hand!
- Integration with SMS (mostly for Europeans) is excellent. The keyboard allows you to send SMS as if they are emails.

My biggest complaint is that the Bluetooth-GPRS connection seems to destabilise the system sometimes requiring you to *hard* reset the UX50 (losing all you data untill you synch again). And the battery life is not good: about a day of intesive usage.

Overall I believe that the UX50 is rather expesive for the functionality it provides. The form factor is undeniably very attractive and should be one of your main arguments for buying it.