Sony Clie TG50 PDA (Sony-PEGTG50U)

Sony Clie PEG-TJ35

Clie TG50 PDA (Sony-PEGTG50U) Review, by Sean Captain December 24, 2003

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• Reviewed by: ceokid

  Strengths: Backlit keyboard, Bluetooth, Looks, Screen Quality, Audio Quality.

  Weaknesses: NONE

  Overall: I originally started my PDA adventure with a Palm Vx (that I won at a convention) and then I upgraded to a Sony SL10 (which I got for $20 because Sony messed up on the rebate), which didn't work so well because I went through a lot of t triple A batteries. Now I got a TG50 (as a gift) and I absolutely love it. I use it more during the day than my computer. And it looks a lot better than it does online. I can't wait to see what Sony will have next year when I'm ready to purchase!

• Reviewed by: markharris2000

  Strengths: Solid performer, jog dial, screen resolution and contract, color is excellent. Metal case is solid. Palm OS5 included. Battery life is great!

  Weaknesses: Screen is a bit LESS sensitive than PALM's, barely noticeable screen illumination bar at the bottom of the screen.

  Overall: This is the 6th or 7th Palm OS PDA I've owned. This is the first SONY version however. I think SONY simply makes a better consumer quality PDA that runs PalmOS. They have done everything right. The only thing you'll need to get used to is the slightly thicker design (compared to Palm Vx or M515 for instance) and the vertical flip top cover (versus the Palm style horizontal book-style cover). Screen resolution and brightness are great. Truely makes this PDA a winner for polished apps. Yes, even the address book entries look more professional (kinda like the old days of Microsoft's Windows 3.x with Font files compared to TRUETYPE fonts in Windows 95 and beyond. Screen simply looks better!). Bluetooth works, but I've only been really using it for Hot-Sync'ing mail and contacts wirelessly. (Yes, I tried Web Browsing and while it works, you'd rather kill yourself first!)

• Reviewed by: PDAadvocate

  Strengths: Bright high resolution screen, a wealth of included software, decent built-in keyboard, good battery life, solid construction, great launcher program, good integration w/ Memory Stick, voice recorder

  Weaknesses: Cover could be designed to flip open easier (with one hand); keyboard could use a shift key on the right hand side; would like to have had productivity software included.

  Overall: The TG-50 is a solid, well designed PDA, like the N series Clies, but smaller. I had no problems installing the software and getting it to hotsync with Outlook. The included Picsel viewer software does read a variety of file formats (eg. Word, Excel) but it does not allow them to be edited and it requires a bit of fiddling with the document size to make them legible. Fortunately, other software such as DocumentsToGo, QuickOffice, and WordSmith are compatible with this Palm OS5 device. The keyboard easy to use, but I still use Graffiti quite a bit (I'm still looking for an easy way to move from one entry field to another without having to reach for the stylus). You may have come across comments regarding puddles of light at the bottom of TG-50 screen. While present, I find them unobtrusive and accept them as a price to pay for the bright backlighting of the screen (which is even brighter than my old Handera 330). One drawback is the speaker, which produces good sound, if a bit quiet (the Handera could reach volumes that could not be ignored, which made it a good travel alarm clock). The attractiveness of the included Sony launcher program make it easy to overlook its capabilities, which are considerable and well worth the time to play around with to learn and the sound quality of the voice recorder is very good. I find the 200 MHz speed and I like the fact it uses the old Graffiti instead of Jot. Final Impression: Highly Recommended - Best Palm PDA under $400.

• Reviewed by: hgihkcin

  Strengths: Beautiful screen wonderful softwear convinient keyboard

  Weaknesses: hard to figure out how to set up hotsync

  Overall: I love this pda but i cant figure out how to set up hotsync with my computer if you can help me IM me at Hgihkcin or e mail me at Hgihkcin@cs.com

• Reviewed by: SonySucks

  Strengths: look's nice.

  Weaknesses: It doesn't work!

  Overall: The SONY TG-50 PDA does not synchronize with MS Outlook as advertised. This is not an isolated problem. I have seen many postings on the Internet concerning this issues. SONY does not have a solution. I have a DELL Notebook running Windows XP and Outlook 2002 over a standard office network. I have spoken to SONY Tech Support 4 times for over 6 hours!! I have reinstalled every piece of related software (SONY, Intelisync and Outlook) and still I cannot synchronize with my computer. They have no other solution. I own a number of Sony product including my home computer and a digital camcorder. I am very disappointed in SONY. I do not recommend this product.