PDA Reviews

Sony is already a well established player in the PDA market. In a bid to gain a greater share, it has been overhaul flagship phones. As a part of this, it has launched the new Sony CLIE SJ30 which happens to be the 1st 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 SJ30’s phone 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 display. 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 tiny wavy shadows along the base of the screen. It is usable both indoors and outdoors.  The Screen, when set at reasonable brightness, is usable in 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 Clié 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 regular. However, it is appreciably enhanced than the monochrome SJ20.

Applications:
As far as the applications are concerned, The SJ30 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 makes use of the same HotSync port, it can use cables and accessories created 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 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 is short of the superior speaker and superior 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 next to its competitors in the market Handspring’s Treo 90 and Palm’s m130.  If you are looking for a mid range color PDA for managing information and displaying photos, the SJ30 is definitely worth its price.

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Sony CLIE PEG-SJ30 PDA - Technical Specification Table

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