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	Punk's Review of the Clie N760C
Okay, after using Sony N760c for about a week or so, I think I'm qualified to write a review on it. First of all, let me tell you that I got a really good deal on this device. Using the $100 off coupon from Dell, I got this device for only $364.95 (October 7, 2001). One thing I can assure you is that, you're NOT going to see this much price drop any time soon! Plus, I even got the Slim Leather case for FREEEEEE!!! Oh well...let's get on with the review. First of all, let me start off by describing the physical appearance and built of the device. The device has a metal front casing, but the rear is same old plastic. The device feels very very very solid. I never heard any crack or creak when holding the device. It also feels very comfortable while holding. On the left side of the device, you'll find: headphone connector, headphone remote connector, jogdial, back button, and hold switch. On the top part of the device, you'll find: infrared port, stylus slot and stylus, memory stick slot w/cover that covers the slot when there is no memory stick, memory stick LED that turns on when memory stick is accessed and is being read by the device, and finally, a chain-holder type holder that lets you run neck holding strap or something like that through it. There's nothing on the right side of the device, and the bottom side has that good-old computer connector. The cradle that comes with the device blends perfectly with the device. Two pieces of wire come out from the back of the cradle. One goes to the usb port and the other one to the power source. The one that goes to the power source can be disconnected from the cradle, so that you won't have to carry the whole cradle while traveling to charge the device. I wish the usb wire was also detachable. The front of the LED has a light that lights up when the device is placed in the cradle with power source available at the same time. This is basically to let the user know that device is being charged. But, that's it..it does not change color when the device is fully charged. It will always be green no matter what!!! The buttons on the front of the device have sturdy feelings to it. They are kind of hard to press, especially the Up and Down buttons. I, for one, do not really care about this 'cause most of the games I play are board games which mostly use stylus as input. Plus, just because I am saying the buttons are sturdy does not mean that they are completely useless. What I'm saying is that, it'll take you some time to get used to it. After that, you'll not even notice the sturdiness. Allright, now let's get to the display part....Oh my god, I cannot believe the clarity of the display on this device. It is so crisp and clear and colorful. The device has 320 pixels horizontally and 320 pixels vertically. This sounds like the numbers are double the other palm devices (except HandEra 330), but the numbers are actually four times more. Why????....let me describe.... [] This is a 1 by 1 resolution. [][] [][] This is a 2 by 2 resolution. See how the numbers are actually 2 to 1 ratio, but the number of pixels are 4 to 1 ratio. This is exact same with 160 by 160 vs. 320 by 320. Because of the high resolution and the ability to display 65,000 colors at the same time (Sony N760c can display 102,400 different colors maximum at the same time resolution-wise), the picture quality when viewing photos are just awesome. My co-workers dropped their jaw when I showed some of the pictures that came with the device. Because so much pixels are packed in so little area, the pixels are not noticeable at all. The screen is lit from the bottom and it is noticeable when viewed from certain angle. But when viewing it directly (that's how everyone uses their device, I hope), the screen is evenly lit. Another good thing about this device is that, when using at night, light is thrown from graffiti area (although it may look like a defect) to ease the use of device. When I had Palm IIIxe long time ago, using graffiti was so hard at night. I'd be trying to write alphabets on the number side. With Sony N760c, this problem has gone. I'd have still preferred if the device actually lit white drawings on the graffiti area, then it'd have been much more better. Another good thing I found out was that when using the device at night, if you flip to the back side of it, you'll see that the light is coming out of reset hole. This is actually there to facilitate the reset of the device at night. Like I said, when I had Palm IIIxe, I'd have had to guess for about 3 or 4 minutes poking with the stylus everywhere to find the reset hole or I could have just turn on the room light (too lazy!!!), but that problem, once again, is gone with N760c...but I wish that I won't have to use that feature a whole lot. One thing I do wish the device had display-wise is Virtual graffiti. If the device had virtual graffiti, it'd have given more screen room vertically, plus programs and hacks to flip the display sidewise would've helped so much when surfing internet, or using book reader, etc. Let's talk about the applications that come with the device. First of all, Sony N760c has Palm OS 4.1 which is basically Palm OS 4.0 with few bug improvements and better support for MP3 playing. This said, the device runs on a Motorola 68VZ328 33Mhz processor, plus it can be overclocked using hacks upto somewhere around 50Mhz. But overclocking usually means, software incompatibility and faster battery hogging. Anyway, none of the applications that come with the device utilize the high resolution of the device. I hope that the next version of OS upgrade solves this problem. By not utilizing high resolution, I meant less scrollable screen, more stuff on screen, etc. The device comes with all the standard Palm OS applications (Addressbook, Datebook, etc..) plus few more on its own. The "few more" are: AudioPlayer, PictureGear Pocket, PhotoStand, gMovie, MS Backup, MS Gate, MS Import, and MS Autorun. AudioPlayer: It lets you play MP3 and Atrac3 music files that are on Internal RAM and Memory stick. MP3 playing is great. The quality is awesome. I have about 25 songs and all my application in Memory stick. AudioPlayer has option to play songs in background, meaning, you can play songs and use other applications at the same time. I NEVER noticed any pause while switching to different applications and playing MP3 at the same time. Some people have complained that the MP3 songs do not sound great, but that's because they're using cheap headphones. I have had no complains with my $50 Aiwa headphones. The hold-switch comes real handy when playing MP3. When you slide the hold-switch to ON, it will turn off the screen and disable all the buttons on the device. This saves battery by preventing accidental screen turn-on(s). While the buttons on the device are disabled, you can still control your AudioPlayer with the included REMOTE-CONTROL for your headphone. The REMOTE-CONTROL lets you Play, Stop, go to next track or previous tracks, go backward or forward on the current tracks. Plus ,the REMOTE-CONTROL also has a stylus tip allowing the user to use the remotecontrol as a stylus. Some of the features that the AudioPlayer has are: AVLS (Automatic Volume Limiter System), A-B Repeat function (Normal Playback, Repeat All, Repeat Current), Track Order (Random, Reverse), Display (Normal View, Visual Effect View, List View), and Jog-Function chooser. My one complain with Sony is that they did not include a built-in amplified speaker!!! What's the point of having a mp3 player when the only use can be obtained thru headphones. I know some people may say that MP3 playing is for private use (not to disturb others), but think of times when you've no access to headphones and you're dying to listen some of the songs!!! Speakers would have not only solved that problem, but it'd have also made system alarms and warnings more "hear-able." GMovie: Let's you play movies on your device. Movie playing is pretty choppy!!! MS Autorun: Let's you run applications off of Memory stick. Pretty slow compared to what other programs (SilverScreen, etc.) can do. MS Import: Gives you direct access to your Memory Stick (and let me repeat that, MEMORY STICK ONLY, NOT INTERNAL RAM) from your computer as a lettered-drive. Very, very, very useful when transferring big applications and mp3s. Transfer speed is just amazing. Very fast!!! PictureGear Pocket and Photostand: Lets you view pictures, Zoom-in, Zoom-out, etc. Little slow, but just awesome programs. Photostand lets you use your device as a picture frame which displays images you specify at specified interval with many built-in effects (Analog clock, Digital clock, Wind, Fade, Blinds, Blocks, etc.) Very good if you want to use your device as a picture album or you just wanna show off!!! Well, we've talked about the built-in applications. Now, let's talk about applications available for Palm OS. Because N760c has higher resolution than other palm devices, some of the applications are not compatible with hig-res. This is not a big problem, though. The device comes with High-Res control panel that lets you run the incompatible apps in their native resolution (160 by 160), but then, they will look kinda blocky. The High-Res control panel only works for applications installed in internal memory. For application on Memory Stick, one will need a program like SwitchDash!!! There are others, but I use SwitchDash. Higher resolution really makes viewing very easy on eyes. Writings and pictures look sharp and clear. For users who read books, edit documents, etc. you'll appreciate the high resolution of this device so much. Well, that's about all I have to write. I may have forgotten few things, but I don't think they're major.
You can contact Punk by sending him a private message at PDABuzz.