PDA Reviews

The age of the PDA was over long back. Or at least most of you would have thought so. At a time when most players in the market dropped the pure PDA, HP has launched 2 models in its iPAQ series – the HP iPAQ 110 Classic and the HP iPAQ 210 Enterprise. The name iPAQ 110 is a misnomer, as it is not just targeted at Businessmen but the ordinary everyday user as well.  It runs the latest Windows Mobile 6 Professional Edition along with Integrated Bluetooth and even Wi-Fi. It is powered by a 624 MHz Marvell PXA310 processor and 256MB Flash ROM and 64MB SDRAM. It also has a 24 pin connector and a mini USB port for terminal attachments. Apart from all these, it also has a 4 inch, VGA touch screen, 262,000 colors and a 3.5 mm headphone jack.   So, in the age of smart phones and pocket PCs, will the PDA click? Read the review and find out for yourself.

Design:

The form factor and make:
The HP iPAQ 110 Classic Handheld PDA is a based on a design that HP bought from HTC in 2002 and used them in several iPAQ form factors. The 110 is the 4th device to have the same form factor. However, HP has not updated the design and the phone reminds you of how things were like in 1999.  At 2.7 x 0.5 x 4.6 inches, it is thin and light weight and weighs a measly 3.68 ounces, amongst the lightest in the market. As far as the design is concerned, it is too simple and HP could have tried much better than this.
The plastic face is textured to convey the impression of brushed metal. The back side is made of black plastic and tends to retain a lot of fingerprints and smudges. The casing is quite sturdy and the battery cover latches securely and the SD Card mechanism feels strong. There is a SD Card slot on the left and a power and audio note button on the right. The top has some space for the stylus and a 3.5mm Standard port for headphones. The Stylus is a rugged metal barrel and is not of the telescopic design that most other models have.  It also houses the LED indicator and a light sensor. There is neither a camera lens nor slide out phone controls.

Keypad:
Coming to the details of the Keypad, the buttons on the keypad feel lighter and flimsy. The Directional pad is large and easy to use and the buttons are good for average use. If you are into Action gaming, the buttons might be unacceptable. The layout of the buttons is rather odd- the Start and the OK/Close buttons are the innermost pair unlike other devices where they are the outermost.  It lacks dedicated soft keys for one handed use, but you can re-task your Calendar and Messaging buttons for the purpose. The iPAQ allows press and hold choices on its three re-mappable buttons. So, you can launch about 4 programs from the buttons with soft keys or launch 6 applications without soft keys.

Display:
The iPAQ has a larger screen than most phones in the market. The 3.5″ inches screen is simply marvelous. The only downside is perhaps that the resolution is available in QVGA only. However, it seems less sharp than a 2.8″ screen and has polarization issues as well. The latter makes the screen glow and is very evident in landscape mode and gets annoying when you watch videos with dark scenes. The Auto Sensor adjusts brightness automatically and the built in screen lock function allows you to tap the app on the screen to lock it and another tap to unlock it. The phone’s display is as good as one expects out of a QVGA.  The resolution is not lively and a high screen protector would help with the polarization problems.

Features:

Connectivity:
Connectivity is top class in the iPAQ 110 Pocket PC PDA.  It has with Bluetooth 2.0/EDR, along 802.11b/g Wi-Fi. It is more connected than the last generation level PDAs. It also comes with HP’s wireless connection manager from where you can manage both WiFi and Bluetooth connections. The WiFI range on the phone is amazing, not only was it able to detect all Wi-FI routers in the area, but also was able to connect with the home network as well. Web pages loaded fast and data transfer was easy. There is a complaint though, the iPAQ claims to have connected to the network sometimes, when it actually was not.  Can get annoying sometimes!
Bluetooth on the iPAQ is good. HP uses the Widcomm stack unlike others which use the pathetic Microsoft Bluetooth stack for Windows Mobile. It allows you to discover services on another Bluetooth enabled device, access the internet or a LAN using a PC. Even in a radio crowded area, the connection between the iPAQ tested and another phone was solid.  There was no hitch in the connection while loading pages over Wi-Fi wile using Bluetooth headphones- a chronic problem on several devices. However, when blue tooth is activated, Wi-Fi’s performance took a hit.

Windows Mobile Office 6.1:
The iPAQ 110 runs the standard package of Windows Mobile 6 which translates to the latest version of Mobile Word, Excel & PowerPoint 6.1.The phone is far from being classic as it is one of the very few phones in the market with 6.1and is compatible with Office 2007 so you can open docx, xlsx and pptx file formats on the Pocket PC. Apart from the basic application package, a PDF viewer (ClearVue) and a HP photo application and a few other apps are present. Windows Live is another feature on the phone. The Windows Update manual can be switched to either automatic or manual modes.  However, HP has not included Microsoft Outlook keeping in tune with its policy. There are third party options such as syncing to Mozilla via Birdiesync.

Syncing:
Since the iPAQ runs MW 6.1, one needs to use the latest version of Active Sync- ActiveSync Version 4.5 on your Windows. Active Sync 4.5 allows simultaneous WI-FI and ActiveSync connections making syncing easier than ever before.

Software:
The software bundled on the HP iPAQ 110 is similar to the fare offered on WM5.0 PocketPCs. Windows Mobile 6.0 adds several improvements – better ways to share events, calendars, etc., full HTML display with images and display advanced formatting. However it is still inferior to the desktop version. There is the Internet Explorer Mobile, Windows Live Messenger Client and Windows Media Player 10 Mobile offered. WMP 10 Mobile supports WMA, WAV and PlaysForSure files. The sound through the integrated speakers is average. Through the stereo headphones, there is an improvement in sound quality. The best sound performance with the HP iPAQ 110 is with the Plantronics Pulsar 590a Bluetooth wireless stereo headphones- it allowed great channel separation and full volume. The other applications provided are ClearVue PDF Viewer and Microsoft’s Picture and Video viewer. It also comes with 2 basic games: Bubble breaker and Solitaire. Third party applications run really smooth on the 110.

Gaming:
The great screen and the fast processor make gaming an absolute pleasure on the phone. The rectangular D pad on the phone is great. Audio through the speaker is decent and several Pocket PC games run very smooth. If you are a hard-core gamer, this iPAQ 110 Pocket PC would not disappoint you.

Expansion:
Most Devices do not have a SDHC slot like the 110 does, giving it an advantage in the microSD age. SDHC cards allow you to store data up to 32GB, giving it more solid storage than any but the most advanced multimedia devices.  16GB card can store up to 4000 songs or 20-100 feature length movies. The iPAQ 110 has a total of 64Mb, with about 20 Mb free after boot. It has a 256MB flash memory with 196Mb available for usage. The RAM is on the shorter side, however actually is good by Pocket PC standards.  The SD card supports SDIO, though the most popular SDIO is Wi-FI and is already built in.

Accessories:
The HP iPAQ 110 Classic Handheld PDA is provided with a 120mAH Lithium Ion rechargeable battery, an AC Adapter with power cord, a Mini USB Sync/Charge cable, a slip case and a HP iPAQ companion CD.

Performance:

What is inside?
The iPAQ 110 is the first device to have the new XScale PXA310 processor, built by Marvell. The PxA310 and the PxA320 are based on Intel’s chips. The new PXA320 runs at a clock speed of 624 MHz as high as the older PXA270 line. However, Marvell claims that the 310 is capable of delivering 50-100% more performance than the PXA270.

VGA resolution:
When tested for VGA resolution, its average speed was a whopping 264% making it the best in the Windows Mobile Segment (beating competitors like the Advantage).

Speed:
File operations on the Hewlett Packard  iPAQ 110 are fast and so are the graphical operations because of the lower resolution. The only major selling points of the new processor are the lower power consumption and integrated video functionality. A 624Mhz needed 530mW for playing video, much higher than the PXA320 which needed only 320mW. What difference will 200mW make? Averaging this over a few hours, the battery life of the PXA320 processor based phone will be 20 percent higher than the PXA310. The iPAQ 110 lacks an applet for controlling CPU clock speed; however it seems to do a good job on its own.

Media functionality:
Coming to the details of the integrated video functionality, the PXA310 was able to play MPEG-4 parts such as H.264.  It was as good as the Axim’s X51v’s hardware acceleration. Code compatibility was good as well, DivX and Xvid files worked perfectly. In layman terms, the iPAQ 110 has a tremendous multimedia performance. It can handle high quality desktop videos with out a synch. The new processor makes it a power intensive device; however that still does not extend battery life.

Battery Life of iPAQ 110:

The HP iPAQ 110 Classic comes with a standard rechargeable 3.7v Lithium Ion battery which is 1200mAh in capacity. The battery life on the iPAQ is really good in spite of having a lot to power- a large display, Wi-Fi, a high end CPU and even Bluetooth radios. On starting with a full battery, playing high end videos, switching on Wi-Fi and other applications, it took 4 hours for the battery to go down. That is exceptional considering most phones have difficulty in crossing the 3 hour mark. The battery should be able to last 2-3 days with moderate usage. So, in short, the iPAQ 110’s battery life tramples all competition in its league. It equals the Dell Axim’s battery life and is twice the battery life of the iPod Touch. In other words, simply an amazing battery life.

Warranty:

There is a one year warranty on parts and labor on the HP iPAQ 110 Classic and a warranty of 90 days for technical support in most regions.

Verdict:

The iPAQ is the fastest processor available on a PDA. It has a large and excellent display not found in the mobiles and smart phones of the time. It has integrated Wi-FI and Bluetooth and a software bundle that covers Office Mobile, email, music & video playback, picture and PDF viewing.  It does get overshadowed by its more advanced sibling the unreleased iPAQ 210, the 110 is not just a data repository, but is capable of tasks like Internet, Entertainment etc.  The Battery life could have been better and the built in speaker was disappointing. However, it is an easy choice for people who are looking for an affordable PDA minus the phone and who want to complement this PDA to their mobile phone.

Check HP iPAQ 111 Review in this website.

HP iPAQ 110 PDA Pocket PC - Technical Specification Table

Manufacturer	HP
Product Type	PDA
Model Name	iPAQ 110 Classic
Dimensions (H x W x D) inches	2.71 x 0.54 x 4.59 in
Weight	3.86 oz
Image	65,536 colors
Display Resolution	240 x 320
ROM	256 MB flash ROM
RAM	64MB
Flash Memory installed	Yes
Included Accessories	Stylus, AC adapter with power cord, mini USB sync/charge cable, slip case, HP iPAQ Companion CD.
OS Provided	Windows Mobile 6.1
Processor	Marvel PXA310 processor, 624MHz
Input type	Stylus, Jog Dial, Touch screen
Software	Windows Mobile 6 Classic operating system. HP software bundle includes iPAQ Wireless Manager, HP Photosmart Mobile, HP QuickStart Tour/Setup Assistant and Bluetooth Manager. Microsoft software bundle includes Office Mobile, Office Outlook Mobile, Internet Explorer Mobile, and Windows Media Player 10. Windows Live Messenger client also included. PIM apps and tools include Contacts, Calendar, Notes, Tasks, Calculator, ClearVue PDF viewer and Picture/video viewer. Games include Bubble Breaker and Solitaire.
Networking	Integrated WiFi 802.11 b/g with WPA 2 security. Bluetooth v2.0 with EDR support. Mini-USB 2.0 for syncing with PC.
Audio	Integrated speaker, mic and 3.5mm 4-pin headphone jack. Voice Recorder and Windows Media Player 10 Mobile (v10.3) included for voice recording and MP3 playback.
Slots	1 SDIO
I/O Ports	External: 1 mini USB 1 headphone/line-out
Battery	Removable/rechargeable 1200 mAh Lithium-lon
Power Supply	AC Adapter
Service and Support	One-year parts and labor in most regions; 90 days technical support for software in most regions. Additional offers may vary by region.

When was the last time you have seen a pure PDA in the market? Chances are, you have not, at least not in the recent few years.  There is an explanation for that as mobile phones have now evolved into a new avatar that bundle all features a PDA has, making a pure PDA worthless. However, HP has come up with a new model the HP iPAQ 111 - a classic handheld PDA meant to accompany your phone. With a Marvell PXA310 624Hz processor, a 64MB RAM and a 3.5” touch screen, the PDA sure sounds tempting.  Now, who would ever want a PDA alone? Right? Wrong.  While your mobile phone can do all the communication handling, PDAs are highly effective in organizing your data and tasks, making it perfect to complement your phone. If Business matters most, you would not mind carrying another device in your pocket. How good is the iPAQ 111 at it? Read the following review and find out.

Design:

Old-school style:
Kudos to HP, the HP iPAQ 111 Classic PDA is designed old school style. The design reminds you of a bygone era when people used to depend on PDAs and mobile phones were bulky. This is yet another phone in the HP series to have the same form factor (Note : This design was bought from HTC in early 2002 and has been used in HP models ever since).  The iPAQ 111 is about 2.7 inches wide, 0.6 inches thick and 4.6 inches tall. At 4.1oz it is a reasonably light phone and is bulkier than its predecessor the iPAQ 110 Classic.  The phone’s casing is built of Plastic, but has been textured to convey the impression of a brushed metal surface. On the left side of the body is present the SD card slot and on the right are present the power and audio note button.  Like all the other models in the 110 series, the PDA has a telescopic stylus which is hard to get used to initially.

Keypad:
The keypad is delicate and the buttons feel light and wayward. There is the start and OK buttons in the innermost of the keypad buttons. This odd design and its lack of dedicated soft keys for one handed use, make it difficult to use the keypad. But once you get used to it, the Directional keypad and the buttons are great to use.  There are dedicated buttons for Calendar and Messaging which can be re-tasked for other purposes. Since it is a PDA phone, the keypad has been designed keeping in mind the business users. Hence, if you are into hard core gaming on your phone, the 111 Classic’s keypad would not really appeal much to you as the buttons are not conveniently located for gaming.

Display:
PDAs usually have a big screen and the iPAQ 111 is no exception. At 3.5″ the screen is large and is astounding. Unlike the 110 which was available whose screen was available in QVGA resolution, the HP iPAQ 111 Classic uses a Color TFT Active Matrix. It has excellent contrasts and brightness, but when it comes to resolution, it is a disappointment. The PDA has a one of the lowest resolutions in the market at 320 x 240 pixels.  The problem with low resolutions is that reading long text would cause one’s eyes to turn sour. Aligning the touch screen would take some time. But once, you are ready, the touch screen is great to use. The screen is sensitive and responds to touch well. The phone suffers from polarization problems which gets annoying especially when you watch videos with insufficient lighting.
Overall, the resolution could have been much higher and the display could have been better than a QVGA.

Features:

Microsoft Mobile Office 6.1:
The iPAQ 111 Classic Handheld PDA has Windows Mobile 6.1 and hence the latest version of all Microsoft Office applications such as Word, Excel etc. are provided. Apart from all this, there is a PDF viewer and a Photo application package provided by HP. There is the Mobile Windows Media player on it, which is pretty much adequate for listening to music.  Who says all this is classic? This is advanced features on your PDA and the presence of Windows Live is another bonus. To keep updating your Windows, you can get it done automatically or manually. If you would want Microsoft Outlook, you will need to shell out separately for a third party application that would enable you to sync with your PC.

Synchronization:
There is the Active Sync 4.5 provided on the OS which allows simultaneous Wi-Fi and Active Sync connections making syncing painless.  Syncing between Outlook and the PC is pretty simple too.

Wi-Fi:
Compared to the last gen PDAs, the 111 Classic is more connected and has loads of options for you to connect : Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.  It has 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi whose range is great. Not only was it able to detect most routers, it managed to connect to the network quick as well. The browsing was fast and data transfer was easy. Like the 110, the PDA reports that it has connected to the Internet when it actually has not.

Bluetooth:
The 111 Classic iPAQ has Bluetooth 2.0/EDR which uses the Widcomm stack. The Bluetooth enables you to discover services on other devices and allows you to access Internet using a LAN connected to a PC. Though Wi-Fi worked without a hitch when Bluetooth headphones were activated, the browsing speed fell down drastically.

Internet Browsing:
This HP iPAQ 111 Classic PDA Pocket PC device is pretty good enough for Internet browsing.  Its low resolution does not really worse things here. The Internet Explorer provided has pretty decent options that would allow you to browse Internet easily.  Did we mention that one could download other browsers as well? Opera ran best in the 111 iPAQ. The rate browsing on the device is sufficient for rare browsing. Browsing Internet through Wi-Fi is easy and the inbuilt Bluetooth would allow you to browse Internet as well.

Gaming:
A huge screen and a great processor, gaming does not get any better on the phone. There are tons of games that are available that you can play on your PDA. While most games run smooth, the problem arises because of the keypad. The rectangular D pad is good to use, but if there are other buttons you would like to play with, it gets a bit annoying and confusing .However, the PDA is good for chess, card games and even some more graphically more intense games. If you are into some serious gaming, the PDA is great. It could have been better if there were some improvements in the key design.

Software Bundle:
Aimed at the Business oriented users, the PDA offers a variety of apps similar to the fare offered by Windows 5. It has its share of improvements – more innovative ways to organize data.  Features like full HTML display with images puts it way ahead of its league. However, Mobile Windows is still inferior to its desktop companion. There are the Windows Office applications such as Word and Excel that allow you to edit/view your documents, making it perfect for users on the go. There is the Windows Live Messenger client, Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player 10 which is simply marvelous.  WMP 10 has the capability to play WMA,WAV and PlaysForSure files. There is tremendous improvement is sound quality yet the sound is still pretty average.  HP has provided software to view PDF and TXT files with the ClearVue PDF viewer to view PDF files.  The Microsoft Picture and Video viewer lets you view pictures and videos. In terms of interface, all these applications are standard.  You can install other applications on to your PDA, such as Mozilla and Opera for mobile. Third party applications seem to run smooth on this PDA.

Performance:

The HP iPAQ 111 runs on the Marvell XScale PX310 processor at a clock speed of 624MHz, faster than the PX270. Performance wise, Marvel claims that 310 is about twice more efficient than the 270. Another feature of the processor is its low power consumption. It requires much lesser energy to run on than its predecessor the PX270.

If you have long text files, reading could have a bad impact on your eyes, the low resolution just adds to the problem. The resolution of the PDA is horribly low, even by most standards. But perhaps, that explains its long battery life. Nonetheless, the resolution could have been much better.  When it comes to playing video, the PX310 was able to play MPEG4 files with ease. It had no problem with DivX and XViD files either. Performance wise, the Phone simply tramples out competition. It can handle high quality videos without a synch.

Accessories:

The package includes a 1200mAH Lithium Ion battery, a Mini USB sync cable, a slip case, an AC adapter and a HP iPAQ companion CD. So, basically pretty much a stripped down package. The battery is replaceable and the USB sync cable lets you sync your PDA to a PC. The Power Adapter provided does tend to get heated up after a while, but that is not much of a problem either.  The CD provided has some basic software that would boost up the functionality of your PDA.

Battery Life of iPAQ 111:

A standard 3.7c Lithium 1200mAh battery is provided in the device and in terms of battery life, the PDA is amazing.  It lasted a solid 3 and half hours in spite of having to power up the large screen, the processor and Wi-Fi. When power intensive applications such as videos were played, the battery lasted a solid 3 hours better than most PDAs in the market. The battery lasts about 3 days with moderate usage. That is great even by reasonable standards. Consider this with the iPod Touch which lasts half the time this PDA does.

Warranty:

There is a guaranteed warranty of one year on parts and labor of the HP 111 iPAQ Classic and apart from that the technical support is available for 90 days from the date of purchase.

Verdict:

The trend now is to have a PDA with a phone, however not many phones can claim to successfully combine the best of both. The iPAQ 111 Classic handheld is a pure PDA and is great at what PDAs do the best – Organizing data.  It’s amazing display, integrated Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and an amazing software bundle overshadow most other PDAs in the market. Of course, the PX210 processor is faster than the 111’s PX110, but that would not make much of a difference. The Battery Life and the speaker are average and if been better could have made this phone a must buy.  So, if you are looking for a PDA that complements your Phone, this is recommended.

Check other Latest PDA Reviews in our website.

HP iPAQ 111 Classic PDA - Specification Details

Manufacturer	HP
Product Type	PDA
Model Name	iPAQ 111 Classic
Dimensions (H x W x D) inches	2.7 x 0.6 x 4.6 in
Weight	4.1 oz
Image	65,536 colors
Display Resolution	240 x 320
ROM	256 MB flash ROM
RAM	64MB
Flash Memory installed	Yes
Included Accessories	Stylus, AC adapter with power cord, mini USB sync/charge cable, slip case, HP iPAQ Companion CD.
OS Provided	Windows Mobile 6.1
Processor	Marvel PXA310 processor, 624MHz
Input type	Stylus, Jog Dial, Touch screen
Software	Windows Mobile 6 Classic operating system, HP software bundle includes iPAQ Wireless Manager, HP Photosmart Mobile, HP QuickStart Tour/Setup Assistant and Bluetooth Manager. Microsoft software bundle includes Office Mobile, Office Outlook Mobile, Internet Explorer Mobile, and Windows Media Player 10. Windows Live Messenger client also included. PIM apps and tools include Contacts, Calendar, Notes, Tasks, Calculator, ClearVue PDF viewer and Picture/video viewer. Games include Bubble Breaker and Solitaire.
Networking	Integrated WiFi 802.11 b/g with WPA 2 security. Bluetooth v2.0 with EDR support. Mini-USB 2.0 for syncing with PC.
Audio	Integrated speaker, mic and 3.5mm 4-pin headphone jack. Voice Recorder and Windows Media Player 10 Mobile (v10.3) included for voice recording and MP3 playback.
Slots	1 SDIO
I/O Ports	External: 1 mini USB 1 headphone/line-out
Battery	Removable/rechargeable 1200 mAh Lithium-lon
Power Supply	AC Adapter
Service and Support	One-year parts and labor in most regions; 90 days technical support for software in most regions. Additional offers may vary by region.

Sony is already a well established player in the PDA market. In a bid to gain a greater share, it has been revamping entry level and mid range phones. As a part of this, it has launched the new Sony CLIE SJ30 which happens to be the first color PDA Sony has launched in the mid-range segment. Compact and well designed, this beauty has a high resolution screen, with excellent picture quality. It is targeted at people who are looking for a well designed, reasonably priced color PDA.

Design:

Expect the best from Sony:
Trust Sony to come up with something so well designed. At 4.1 x 2.9 x 0.7 inches, the SJ30 is rather squat. This CLIE’s weighs a trim 4.9oz that includes the nylon flip over lid as well. Sony has managed to make the 2.9” screen appear larger than it actually is, by shrinking the bezel of the unit. The battery of the phone is not only rechargeable, but is also replaceable. Just remove one of the screws from the back panel and you can alter it. The Candy bar handheld provides a flip over lid, which protects the screen and the memory stick slot. The lack of a clasp makes it easily to open sideways or flip open. The glossy finish gives the plastic case a metallic look. In fact, the SJ10, the SJ20 and the SJ30 look pretty much similar.

Keyboard Design:

The Sony CLIE PEG-SJ30 PDA has the 4 application buttons and the scroll rocker. The buttons are bigger and easier to use than that of the Sony T Series CLIE. You can speed up switching and scrolling by the jog dial button and the back button. Together, they are very useful to control much of the functioning of the phone. The Date Book Button and the Address book button are too close to each other, making it difficult to distinguish in between them. Of course, that would bother you only if you are into gaming. The average PDA user would not face much of a problem with the keys. The Charge indicator LED lies below the rocker.

Screen:
While Sony has tried to cut down costs elsewhere on the phone, one area they splurged is the screen. The 320X320 pixel TFT screen is simply beautiful. Its colors are well reproduced and are a tad bit better than the T615. However, the whites seem to have a bluish tinge and yet another flaw in the screen is that the small wavy shadows along the bottom edge of the screen. It is usable both indoors and outdoors.  The Screen, when set at reasonable brightness, is usable in direct sunlight as well.

Ports and Accessories:
Sony PEG-SJ30 Hand Held PDA comes with a stylus, an adapter and a USB Connector. It is an efficient package if you frequently travel. The Stylus is on the thinner side and is difficult to get used to. The SJ30’s pale gray flip offers protection to the Power button (and prevents the phone from getting switched on accidentally) and the memory stick slot. It also has the HotSync Port that debuted on the T series.  However, one of the main drawbacks is the lack of a Cradle. If you simply cannot do without a cradle, you can purchase one from Sony (30$).  You can transfer information to other Palm OS handheld owners using the IrDA infrared port and the USB connector for transferring pictures, Word files, and Excel files etc. from your PC to your PDA.

Features:

Memory Stick Slot:
The SJ30 offers a space of 16MB, which is sufficient to store a lot of data. The SJ30 provides a Memory Stick slot which allows storage of enormous amounts of data and applications. With it you transfer digital content between your Clie handheld and other Memory Stick-compatible products like the digital cameras, digital camcorders, and even PCs.  The SJ30, like all the other phones in its series, is slower than average. However, it is appreciably better than the monochrome SJ20.

Applications:
As far as the applications are concerned, The SJ30 PDA Smartphone has a nice bundle of software. The SJ30 enables you to view and edit in Work and Excel. Sony includes Intellisync and HotSync to Lotus Notes and Microsoft Outlook. PictureGear Project lets you view pictures and convert them. CLIE Paint allows you to embellish your pictures. The World Alarm Clock allows you to put up to 5 Daily Alarms. Since the SJ30 uses the same HotSync port, it can use accessories and cables designed for other Sony models as well. Upgrading to the 5.0 premier, will give you access to features like the PowerPoint viewer.

No MP3 Player:
Unlike the T and the NR Series, the SJ30 cannot play polyphonic ringtones nor does it have a built-in MP3 player. However, if you want an MP3 Player, you could go for the MP3 Audio player adapter which would cost you another 129$.

A Note for Mac Users:
The SJ30, like all the other PDA’s from Sony does not support Apple Macintosh. It perhaps is the only Palm OS Licensee that does not support Macintosh. The Missing Sync is the best thing that can help Macintosh users synchronize with the phone.

Performance:

The CLIE PEG-SJ30 runs on a 33 MHz Dragonballz processor, sufficiently fast for most of the daily-to-use applications. It runs Palm OS 4.1 and has 16 MB of RAM. Though 16MB is plenty for a Palm OS based device, it would not hold much music. If you want most of its musical capacity, the memory cards could be handy.

Applications do not take much time to launch. Scrolling and switching between screens is very fast. However, reading files from a memory card is comparatively slower. The prospect of unlimited storage seems to cover up for this minor fault.

What the PDA lacks:

The SJ30 lacks the enhanced speaker and enhanced infrared port of the T615C which is now being sold for around the same price. The most noticeable drawback of the phone is the lack of a Cradle and a MP3 player. The battery life could have been a bit longer and the screen sturdier.

Battery Life:

The phone’s Lithium ion battery lasts a reasonable amount of time. At maximum brightness, the battery lasts around 3 hours. With the backlight at quarter power (usually the brightness at which most users use), the phone lasts 9 and half hours, that is much longer than the monochrome SJ20 with all its backlight on. However, it is much lesser than Sony’s estimate of 15 days of 30 minutes usage per day.

Warranty:

The PEG-SJ30 comes with 90 days manufacturer’s warranty. If you register your PDA at Sony’s official website, the warranty is extended up to a year from the day of purchase. However, the LCD screen and the outside casing are not covered under warranty.

Verdict:

The SJ30 is a stylish palm OS handheld. Price wise, it is the cheapest in the color PDA segment. It lacks the high end features available on the T615 (The T615 was meant to be a High end phone that later was down-graded to a mid range phone. Hence it has all high end features that the SJ30 does not have). However, it is an attractive and a highly portable PDA at budget price. The software provided by the phone is generous, especially the ability to view and edit Word and Excel files. Mac Users, however, should shell out more for a synchronizing platform. While, the poor speaker and the lack of a cradle maybe a turn off for some users, there are many who would be impressed by its High resolution screen. Thus it fares reasonably well against its competitors in the market Palm’s m130 and Handspring’s Treo 90.  If you are looking for a mid range color PDA for managing information and displaying photos, the SJ30 is definitely worth its price.

Check 2010 Best Handheld PDA Reviews, Samsung Smartphone Reviews, specs in this website.

Sony CLIE PEG-SJ30 PDA - Technical Specification Table

Manufacturer	Sony
Product Type	PDA Phone
Model Number	CLIE PEG-SJ30
Dimensions (H x W x D) inches	4.1 x 2.9 x 0.7
Weight	4.9 oz
Image	65,536 colors
Display Resolution	320×320 pixels
Antenna	Fixed internal
ROM	4MB
RAM	16MB
Memory slot	Memory Stick Micro(M2)
Flash Memory installed	No
Included Accessories	Carrying case, Protective cover
OS Provided	Palm OS 4.1
Processor	Motorola Dragonballz V2 33Mhz
Input type	Stylus, Jog Dial, Touch screen
Audio Input/Audio Output	None
Applications	Mail, GMovie, Vindigo, Memo Pad, Security, Date Book, WorldMate, CLI Paint, Calculator, Race Fever, To Do List, SimpliWrite, Address Book, AcidSolitaire, QuickTime 5.0.2, CLI Photo Stand, Bejeweled (Trial), Memory Stick Gate, Mobipocket Reader, PowerOne Personal, World Alarm Clock, Astraware Zap!2016, BalanceLog (Trial), PictureGear Pocket, Memory Stick Backup, Memory Stick Export, Memory Stick Import, Contacts Pro (Trial), Intellisync Lite 4.0, Memory Stick Autorun, PictureGear 4.6 Lite, StreetFinder Express, Margi Presenter-to-Go, DataViz Documents To Go, Adobe Acrobat Reader 5.0, Palm Desktop 4.0.1 per PC, Amy Reiley’s Pocket Gourmet, Bump Attack Pinball (Trial), Amy Reiley’s Pocket Vineyard
OS Required	Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Professional, Windows 2000 Professional, Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition, Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition
Wireless Connectivity	IrDA
Interfaces	1X Infared-IrDA,1X USB-4pin USB Type A
Expansion Slots	Lithium Ion Handheld battery
Stand by (hrs)	~ 240 hours
Power Device	Power Adapter
Voltage Required	AC 100/240V
Service and Support	1 year Warranty

Sony Ericsson C901i QuadBand Cybershot Camera Smartphone

Sony Ericsson’s latest Cyber-shot camera PDA phone has an extremely impressive mix of imaging and phone functions. There are very few issues in the handset, but in total, it is a welcome addition to the market.

Sony Ericsson C901i sports a 5-mega pixel camera that features Smile shutter, auto focus, Bestpic, Smart contrast, Face Detection, PhotoFix along with geo-tagging. In addition to all these features, the Sony Ericsson 901i also comprises of xenon flash instead of photo flash LED, video stabilizer, video recording, red eye reduction, as well as video and picture blogging capabilities.

Design:

Sony Ericsson has great passion experimenting handset design. The maverick placement of the navigational key in last year’s K850i and combination of touch input and mechanical input found on W960i are proof of this. The C901i PDA Smartphone is also however, anything but experimental in design. It is an aboveboard candy bar style handset, and for our money paid, the simplicity and style in design is a major asset. The design is more clear having everything where it is to be located, and all its elements like number pad, dedicated keys and screen are well spaced and are easy to use.

Keypad Design of C901i:

The keypad and controls are well designed, with each key raised on a slight angle. The keys are easy to press and their tactility is really notable. The glossy surface of the keys makes your hands feel slippery and there are lot of chances that you might accidentally press a wrong key. At the heart of keypad is a comfortable 5-way navigational pad along with two selection buttons. The only blot in the design of the buttons is that the Answer and End call buttons are not raised and are placed between clear and shortcut keys, which makes it difficult to access them.

Handsome Handset:

The model C901i Cybershot Camera Phone looks and senses like a premium quality handset, comprised of lustrous plastic parts mixed with steel trimmings. The edges of the device are embellished with classy-looking silver and black lines which resembles emo leggings from a Tim Burton film are pleasing accents and helps giving C901i an overall impression of a very handsome handset.

Some intelligent tweaks in the design:

The design is altered by moving the volume controls to the bottom of the device making it uncomfortable to adjust the volume while you are on phone. Its slim handset streamlined makes it another superb piece of design. The only disadvantage of the model is that it is lint and dust attractive in the groove when the lens cover is closed.

Position of the Camera:

Turning the handset over reveals the surprise of the Cyber-shot camera. It seems like there is no covering to the lens of the camera, at least there is no sliding lens covered. The 5-mega pixel camera of C901i is actually under sliding lens mechanism. A gentle push exserts the top half of the phone and discloses the camera lens and LED camera flash. Although this design is unique it also carries some negatives. If the user holds the mobile in right hand as many of us do, it is difficult to open the cover because of the position of the hands. Sliding open the camera reveals an impressive feature: touch-sensitive controls surrounding the display. The various other functions include shot-mode, self timer and face detection. The buttons are very responsive and a nice touch is a fact that they alter on and off depending on the mode you are.

Two New Views:

The Sony Ericsson C901i has retained its intuitive user interface. General browsing and scrolling through menus is very fast compared to its previous model, making it one of the fastest Sony Ericsson PDAs. The main menu has included two new views, in addition to the standard grid layout- rotating and single icon layouts.

Features:

As everyone anticipated, Sony Ericsson has thrown nearly all the well known camera phone features into the new C901i. The model is incorporated with a camera of 5-mega pixel resolution, a range of auto focus modes including macro and face detection, a photo-light flash which can be set to stay on for shooting video and digital image stabilizer setting. The image settings can be adjusted with a selection of touch-sensitive icons which will be active when the lens cover of the camera is pulled open. During the tests that were conducted on the camera, the only holler found was that, the flash cannot be set to “On” and the only options present were “Auto” and “Off”.

Organizer And Apps:

Sony Ericsson C901i is offering a vast range of time-management features. Yearly, monthly and weekly views are offered by calendar. Whenever you enter a date of birth in the phone book, C901i automatically prompts to add it to calendar. Two types of tasks can be stored by using to-do application: simple tasks and phone calls.

Alarms are a part of the main menu and it provides five slots for alarms. Text and picture can be added to alarms. Furthermore, their behavior can be defined when the phone is in silent mode.

Optical zoom:

Photos are quite impressive in C901i, but the images are  slightly upstaged by Samsung’s G800. We should thank the Samsung’s optical zoom. There is no optical zoom on C901i, but you do get the features like face detection technology, auto-focus and a fairly effective flash.

Geo-Tagging:

For the photographers using camera phone who are very eager to show their chums where the photos are taken, it is an ear-warming news that the C901i supports geo-tagging. Unlike its cyber-shot vis-a-vis C702, the C901i does not include a dedicated GPS receiver. This means that location data needed to be tagged to photos is evolved by sending and receiving location data on-the-air and this would be added to a costly mobile data bill if you are not careful. Before going to trigger happy with your new camera phone, you may need to double check the geo-tagging option which is found in the final menu of the camera settings under “Add Position”.

Headset Attachment:

Along with the most Sony Ericsson phones in this price range, the C901i also supports HSDPA data speeds for fast browsing and also includes a Walkman style media playback menu. This latest Cyber-shot phone similar to other Sony Ericsson handsets supports Sony’s own M2 Memory Stick memory expansion (as opposed to the most common microSD) and headset attachment, which basically supports Sony’s proprietary inputs, so you should strictly stick to the headset in the box.

Texting:

The communication establishment features of C901i include SMS, MMS, email messaging all with T9 predictive text input. A host of PIM features are also included like a voice recorder, video and image editors, an FM radio and an RSS reader. The TrackID feature is also included, which allows you to record few seconds of any second through an external micro phone. Then the recording is sent to music database and if the song is recognized the title, album and artist name are sent to you.

A2DP Bluetooth:

Except for the 5-mega pixel camera, the C901i is not offering any spectacular features. There is no 3.5mm headphone jack, but an adapter is included allowing the use of standard headphones. The inclusion of A2DP Bluetooth profile permits you to stream music to a compatible set of Bluetooth headphones.

FM Radio with RDS and TrackID:

The integrated FM Radio of C901i carries memory for 20 channels and supports RDS. It has great interface and takes good advantage of the TrackID music recognition service. The radio can be minimized in the back ground like the music player.

Performance:

The new C901i has got Sony Ericsson’s exceptional call quality and ease of messaging. The menu navigation of the model is very fast and lag free.

Camera Performance:

The large display is excellent for using camera as it is very easy to line up the images. Photos produced are not splendid, but they are more than good enough to use C901i as a secondary digital camera. Image noise is moderate, the poor color reproduction is the main black spot with the display. The camera can also be used as video recorder, as most of the mobile phones the video quality is not very brilliant.

Tests on 5-Mega Pixel Camera:

After we saw the average image quality in last year’s cyber-shot range, and again in the C702, you may not necessarily expect excellent photographs with the new model C901i. In the tests conducted over C901i, the 5-mega pixel shooter is kept through different paces in a variety of situations, both outdoors in natural light and indoor in studio lighting, the result is pleasing and there is a vast improvement in the picture quality compared with the earlier models.

Auto-Focus:

The auto-focus is faster and sharper, and can take excellent images without the artefacts found in the shots from the C702. The new models reproduction is not excellent-for example, the camera saw reds and deep shade of pink in a couple of shots, but overall the colors are rich with strong contrast.

Xenon Flash:

Xenon Flash performance almost adds to C901i, but the produced images are a bit softer compared with those taken with C905 in pitch dark conditions.

Video Recording:

Although it is limited to QVGA resolution of 30fps, C901i is also capable of video recording. LED flash can be used in video recording. The clips are recorded in MP4 format and take almost 3MB for recording of every minute.

Voice Quality:

The C901i is HSDPA-capable and operates on popular 2100MHz band. Voice calls are crisp and clear although the volume could have been louder. The handset comes with 160MB internal memory; the memory stick micro (M2) is also included, but in actual there is no card in the sales package.

Battery Life:

Battery life is of really great concern, where C901i have to be charged by the end of second day. If all the unnecessary animations are turned off and the display brightness is adjusted to 60%, one can manage to double the charge cycle. But it is a shame that, you have to turn off the “bling”, the animated wall paper from designer Nicholas X Morley-but it definitely makes a huge difference.

Package Details:

The Sony Ericsson C901i package consists of Sony Ericsson C901Cybershot OEM Factory unlocked handset, Lithium Ion Battery, one button ear piece, Memory micro M2 stick, USB data cable, CST-60 Universal Wall charger(110/220v), Sony Ericsson software, User’s Guide- English may downloaded off of this product’s page in the form of a PDF file. Please note that if this mobile brings a memory card, you may get a different memory denomination card than the one originally mentioned in the manufacturer’s global site. This discrepancy occurs due to the fact that manufacturers package different configurations in different countries where they launch their products.

Warranty:

Sony Ericsson C901i comes with one year manufacturer’s warranty.

Verdict:

The Sony Ericsson C901i is all killer and no filler. It is definitely an excellent cyber-shot camera smartphone. Every part works as intended, which is more that can be said to lot of phones now-a-days. Its design is slim, simple and stylish and the pull-out camera makes it genius. It is obvious that C901i does not have GPS receiver feature of C702 and many of its competitors, but in real no one is happy with receiver in C702. The main disadvantages are video recording maxes out at QVGA at 30fps, no document viewer, memory card slot beneath the battery cover, disappointing retail package contents. The Sony Ericsson C901i is a great value in terms of image quality.

The lagging features of the new model are location of the volume controls, a bit hit and miss lens cover, proprietary head phone or charger port and the fact that no M2 card is included. Despite these minor disadvantages, we still feel that the Sony Ericsson C901i is a best buy for a camera phone users along with a lot of PDA features. Though it cannot be said as a serious PDA, it is for the people who would like to see the fun side of it.

Check Nokia Smartphone Reviews, Samsung Smartphone Reviews in this website.

Sony Ericsson C901i Smartphone - Technical Specifications, Features

Manufacturer	Sony Ericsson
Product Type	Camera Mobile
Model Number	C901i
Dimensions (H x W x D) in mm	105 X 43 X 13
Weight	107 gram
Available Colors	Noble Black, Sincere silver, Precious Peach
Screen	TFT 262k colors
Antenna	Fixed internal
Phone Book	1000 X 20 fields
Internal memory	110MB
Memory slot	Memory Stick Micro(M2)
MP3	Yes
FM Radio	Yes
Video Record	Yes
Video Support	MPEG4
Audio Support	MP3/AAC
Voice support	Voice memo/dial
Games	Yes, downloadable, Motion-based games
SMS	Yes
MMS	Yes
Email	Yes
HSDPA	HSDPA, 3.6 mbps
USB Port	Yes
Infrared	No
Lens Type	CMOS, 5.0 Mega pixel
Max. Resolution	2592 x 1944 pixels
Flash	Yes
Night mode	No
Extra Features	Auto focus, xenon flash, camera images geo-tagging (cell-ID), face and smile detection.
Battery Type	Standard battery Li-Po
Stand by (hrs)	Up to 430 hours
Package includes	Sony Ericsson C901Cybershot OEM Factory unlocked handset, Lithium Ion Battery, one button ear piece, Memory micro M2 stick, USB data cable, CST-60 Universal Wall charger(110/220v), software, User’s Guide- English may downloaded off of this product’s page in the form of a PDF file.
Warranty	One year