Customer Reviews

Sony Clie PEG-NX60 (Silver) Handheld

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The NX60 is Sony's first Palm OS5 handheld. The only differences between this and the NX70 is the lack of a built in camera. The NX60 retails for [distinctively] less though, so this is the handheld to choose if you don't need the camera.

With a 200 MHz strong arm processor from Intel this is the most powerful Palm OS PDA ever made and the NX60 is loaded with multimedia software to show that power off. For the first time Sony has included a powerful Movie Player capable of MPEG 1 and MPEG 4 playback. They have also improved the MP3 player from previous models. This version lets you manage your playlists and gives you several levels of bass boost.

Another new feature is the CF slot on the back. This is used with the optional WiFi card from Sony and will allow you to surf the web with any compatible wireless network. The new OS5 web browser is easy to use and very fast. Sony has also added a voice recording ability to the NX60 for taking voice notes anywhere.

The NX60 also has all the great features from the old NR series including the best PDA screen on any handheld. Sony's High res TFT 320 X 480 pixels color screen is sharp and vivid. It has a virtual grafiti area that can be lowered so programs, pictures, and movies can be viewed full screen.

It also includes a polyphonic speaker and alarm, AV universal remote, built in thumb keyboard, a magnesium casing that has better grip than the NR series, and lots of great software including Documents to Go 5.

I've used Pocket PC and Palm devices and this is by far my favorite handheld. Sony has taken everything that was great about the NR series and added a lot more without raising the price from the NR series.

The only downside to the NX60 is the large size, but its still very small for something you can use in place of a laptop for most uses. The screen also flips so you can use it like a regular PDA if you don't need the keyboard.

In my opinion you can't by a better PDA than one of the NX series from Sony.

There are a lot of very thorough reviews of the NX60, so I'm going to just highlight a few of the things I think make this stand out above and beyond other palm PDAs, as well as some notes to the negative side of things, and things i have yet to try but will discuss after trying them out.

Sony design - it's beautiful. Technically and from an asthetic perspective, the NX60 is almost flawless. The keyboard is somewhat extraneous if you've learned graffiti, but it's a useful backup. All controls are intuitively located (except the keyboard, which I find difficult to use while holding onto the device). Sony has employed their now famous and highly cherished Jog Dial physical interface, with the welcome addition of a "Back" button to allow you to not only scroll through and into menus/programs (the jog dial clicks in to allow what you've rolled over to be selected), but also to navigate back to higher levels within the interface. It doesn't work with all apps, however.

I really wonder whether the flip-top screen on the NX60 was the inspiration for the new class of notepad style PC laptops. It's a great design. It allows for a larger screen than your standard palm. Great idea. It also means that the screen protection is built into the function of the device, a welcome change for me from the flip top or removeable styles of screen protection (if there is any built in at all).

Contrary to a couple of the reviews, I LOVE the screen-based graffiti area. It's collapseable in (what i assume are) NX60-aware apps, which I love because it means more useable screen space, and when you write on it, you get immediate visual feedback of the shape of your strokes...it has, if anything, improved my speed and accuracy with graffiti. I love it. (review edit): I can now, thanks in large part to the visual feedback, write almost as quickly as I write on paper. Woo hoo!

The screen is bright and sharp. Lovely.

The processor is FAST, FAST, FAST. I guess i'll be testing this once i get a mem stick and load up some video...
(review edit): Tried out video...cooooollll...I found a decently priced 128 meg mem stick, so I'm not exactly ripping huge movies to this thing, but the quality is excellent. Very pleased.

the size: just big enough for my big, american guy hands. some things shouldn't be the size of a quarter. the NX60 is in my opinion just the right size. think of it like a super-futuristic detective's note pad, and the size is just right. I tried out the Palm Tungsten, and found its short height and the "pull open to use fully" 'feature' awkward, and difficult to hold on to. If you have really small pockets maybe it's ok, but it sacrifices useability for minimal stowage size. i'd rather take up more pocket space than fumble while i use the device.

(review edit): I've been using Eudora's mail product on the Clie to read mail from my Outlook inbox, and reply to some of the mail (it sends through the PC when I sync)...it rules. I took the Clie to jury duty standby with me last week, got through everything in my mailbox with time to spare. Thanks to the Clie's ability to play mp3s in the background while using other apps, I did it all listening to music. Yay.

flash player. (review edit): have tried this out now. Pretty darn cool. I haven't really pushed it yet, just simple stuff. It's decently fast at rendering simple animations, and can handle sound pretty well, so (so far) another big win.

Things I haven't tried yet:

PDFs with images.

mp3s - it sounds like VBR mp3s aren't useable, which is too bad. but that's what the iPod is for, right? ;-) Besides, I'd rather spend 400 bucks on an iPod and put 15 gigs of vbr mp3s on it.
(review edit): tried out the mp3 player. Pretty decent. The Bass booster is ok, but the power throughput IMO leaves something to be desired. Again though, that's why there's such a thing as iPod.

notes:

memory stick - I'm wondering if it's compatible with the up to gigabyte mem sticks that are available now...the user manual only talks about mem sticks up to 128 megs. Would be useful for the photo, video and mp3 capabilities of this device...i'll write more about it if I find some answers to this.

wireless network card - i'm considering getting one, which i wasn't considering before - this is such a useable device that it might be worth dropping the extra cash for.

camera module - c'mon...chances are, if you are getting one of these, you already have a multi-megapixel camera with at least partially manual settings. You don't need a camera on your PDA ALSO, do you? ;-)

things i'm a little disappointed by:

the remote control function doesn't seem to be able to communicate with my sony amp or my sony vcr, which surprised me. maybe i'm missing something. (review edit): ok I got it to work with all my sony gear. Yay! Still isn't working with the (Samsung) tv, which is old enough to probably be using some obscure, outdated IR set, so no huge disappointment there; I've never had a remote control for it anyway (got it used). it just would have been nice. The remote commander app does have pre-sets for Samsung TVs, so I'm betting that the age of the TV is the problem. Time to upgrade ;-)

the internal memory (11 megs) is a little skimpy for a PDA with this much processing capability. i filled it up to capacity with word docs, excell files, web downloaded news, a couple of simple PDFs and my M$ Outlook info immediately. it reminds me of early days of laptops, when the standard ram was _never_ enough to do anything but read your good old text based email. You WILL need a memory stick, which i'm sure is Sony's general game plan. (review edit): if you look around you can find a 128 meg card for under fifty bucks, including tax, in San Francisco.

the keyboard could give a little more tactile feedback, but it has a continuous surface, so there's no dirt getting under the keys and screwing it up to worry about, which I highly value. pockets pick up a lot of grit : )

This is the first PDA I've ever owned, although I've been eyeing them for years, waiting for just the "right" one to come on the market. This is it. I could not be happier with it.

I opted for the PEG-NX60 over the NX70 because I have a great digital camera and didn't need one in the Clie. Since my camera is a Sony, it is very easy for me to swap memory sticks between the two devices. I've got tons of photos and videos saved on a 64 meg memory stick that I use predominantly for the Clie, and with the included image/video conversion program, I still have a comfortable amount of free space on the memory stick.

I found the Palm OS 5 to be quite intuitive, and even Graffiti was not a problem for me, although I was certain at the beginning that I would be using the hardware keyboard most of the time. Now, I use it infrequently, but I am still glad I bought this clamshell design Clie because of the additional protection it provides to the screen. I have been using this since December and have not felt the need to buy a protective case for the device. It rides in my purse and the well-built metal shell, plus clamshell design, feels very secure to me.

The included apps, especially Documents to Go, are terrific. I've set up the Clie to sync several Word and Excel documents between my home and work PCs, and it works like a dream. I always have the most current copy of those documents with me.

All in all, it's a good work tool, and a great play tool as well. I love having the ability to keep current work docs with me at all times, plus having a digital photo album as well. There's more to tell, but I think each user will tell his or her own story.

It's a winner, and I'm once again thrilled with a Sony product!

I bought this device for use at work. I work as an emergency medicine physician so I was looking for something that would be "almost" pocket size or just easy to carry around in scrubs.
Good points about this unit. It is very light compared to later models. Great color screen, very durable, sony brand quality. No camera. A good point because the unit is lighter, you are not paying extra money for poor, poor quality pictures, and you can purchase a pocket size digital camera for good prices now if you really *NEED* to take pictures.

Overall, Great unit, great price. Worthwhile investment.

My wife got this unit from work, so I had the luxury of playing with this without worrying about my pocket book. The darn thing has a 200MHz processor! The screen is crisp and clear, and we just marvelled at how clear the pictures are on this screen. Unlike my Palm m130, getting the Hot Sync to work on my USB interface for my Win2K laptop was no problem at all. One negative is that you absolutely need to buy a memory stick, as there is no way to take advantage of everything the Sony and Palm 5 allows without this. We were also slightly surprised with the size of the unit, but if you swivel the screen so that you don't use the keyboard it does fit into the palm. Strongly recommend this if you have the money.

I had this for little over one month, and I really love it. I have been using Palm III for about 3 years, and I wanted to switch to a color Palm OS PDA. I really love the crisp color and large viewing area. One disappointment is that it appears to be not as stable as Palm III. I am not sure if it is due to new Palm OS 5 or Sony's modification to Palm OS (I am assuming they did some modification to accommodate bigger screen). I had to perform soft reset for about 3 times in last couple of weeks. I never had to do reset for my old Palm III while I had for 3 years, and I was mid to heavy user of my Palm.
Large screen is really good for viewing/reading, but it doesn't work with all applications in Clie. The full screen mode is compatible with all basic organizer (date book, address, memo pad, to do) functions, and it also works with clie memo, document to go (ms word and excel application for palm), clie files(a file management tool for clie, it is just like windows explore on desk top), voice rec, mp3 player, clie album, photo stand, photo editor, clie viewer, and viewing all movie clips and macromedia flash files (yes, sony pre-loaded macromedia flash player for you).
However, if you use graffiti to write like me, the full screen is useless. To use graffiti the writing area needs to take some screen space (about 30%) out of your sight. The bulit in keyboard is neat and useful for quick punching in few characters, but it's not for typing sentences or phrases with my fat thumbs.
memory stick (ms) is a good expansion of memory, clie let you backup all of your pda data directly to ms. the software bundle also includes a software (a driver to be exact) to make nx60 to work as an external driver for your desktop computer. you need ms to import your favorate pictures, music, or movie from your pc to clie.

This is a great PDA. I was thinking of the Tungsten-T, but decided for the Clie because of its extended screen and multimedia capabilities. Programs like Documents To Go, media player, and web browser use the extended screen. Comes with a lot more programs. The screen tilts and moves over the keyboard for easier screen-only use. Tilt screen also allows to position the PDA on a desk and more the screen for better viewing. Memory expansion is a plus, specially to play MP3s, but the memory sticks are expensive. You can buy the compact flash driver (forgot the company name, $20) and use regular compact flash memory. I use the wireless LAN card so it is better for me to use the memory stick. Netfront 3 is great IF YOU DOWNLOAD THE UPDATE from the Sony web site. It eliminates/reduces the annoying "page too large" message. Netfront is by far the best browser I have seen on PDAs, and I can browse virtually any web site. Make sure you download all the updates. The keyboard is not that useful for typing documents, but it is great for small things.
ADVANTAGES: larger screen, lots of buttons, lots of extra goodies like the media player controller, nice screen, and NICE LOOKING PDA. Tilt screen feature is the best.
DISADVANTAGES: long format is not the best for business only purposes. MS is expensive.
CAMERA? Why? Buy a real digital camera. I can't see how useful it will be to have a digital camera in a phone or PDA unless you have a special use for it (like inventory, etc).

I just had a few comments, mainly on the screen and interface.

With the advent of the PEG NR70, 70V, and NX60 models, the Palm platform now has a drop-dead gorgeous screen that competes with the Pocket PC's. The partially back-reflective TFT screens are just as readable in sunlight as indoors. And the 240 x 320 screen resolution is the same as the Pocket PCs.

The other thing I liked was the new GUI interface on these three Palms that allows you to display the menu items like Hotsync, Memo Pad, Prefs, and so on, in a different format from the previous program manager and to use the jog-wheel button to move quickly up and down and to select the one you're interested in. This seems to require the larger screen on these Palms and the other Sony color models such as the SJ30, SJ22, and the PEG T655 and T665 don't have it, probably because it wouldn't fit.

Although I like the compact Palm Tungsten, with its built-in Bluetooth technology, I don't really need that and would rather not pay the extra money for it, which doubles the cost over the same-sized Sony SJ30 and SJ22 models. More useful for the price is the jog-wheel feature and the "back" button on the NX60 and the other Sony models, which the Palms don't have. This makes the Sonys almost completely capable of one-handed operation, which is very convenient and is another indication of Sony's commitment to creating innovative Palm platform models.

Overall, another great Palm platform offering from Sony.

I was looking for an upgrade from my Handspring Visor Platinum, and had come into a few hundred dollars to spend. I was torn between the Sony and a PocketPC, but I decided that I wanted the Sony because of the built in keyboard. Boy, was I glad that I did that. It's quite possibly the best PDA ever. So many features in a nice package. I don't have the camera version (NX70V) cuz I already have a good digicam, so I didn't care about it.

Tho, I'd like to clear something up. Some people complain about not being able to use the memstick for mp3s without magic gate, but this is wrong. You can use any memstick. The trick is to not use the mp3 program that comes with the Clie. Just use the drivers that mount the Clie as a removable USB drive, and use Windows Media Player (or even Windows Explorer) to transfer the music. So easy.

I only wish that they would actually bring out a REAL 256MB memstick and not this stupid "switch between one 128 section (a-side) and another 128 section (b-side) a la audio tapes." I wonder if there's a technological impasse on the size that a memstick can be.

I love this PDA. I had a Handspring Visor which was great, but it was time to upgrade to color and the latest OS. I decided for this PDA as it has the bigger screen that is used fully for writting documents and other things. Palm OS5 supports the bigger screen, so you will be seeing more programs for it. I use the MP3 player a lot. You can use Memory Stick Pro (256MB and higher) memory with a patch, and there is someone making a driver to use compact flash memory. You will not regret buying this PDA. My decisions: Windows? Hell no! I see too many people using the reset button too often, and that is to be expected from MS. Palm? Very stable and lots of apps. Never ever had a problem with it. Larger Clie versus smaller PDAs like the Tungsten T? I wanted also a PDA for browsing the internet via wireless lan (any Palm OS5 PDA can do it) but I like the larger screen for browsing. The other extras are nice too. For me, smaller PDAs are better for business use only.