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Sean Li is one of the lucky few who have already got their hands on Sony's brand new T615. Here he gives us his first impressions of the unit. His observations are well thought out and should help you make up your mind as to if you want to spend your money on this beauty. (22/01/2002- 7 of Sean's photos added- hold your mouse over the pictures for Sean's comments)

Sony Clié T615 C/G - Early Review by Sean Li (22/01/2002) Sony's Clié T615 has recently been released in parts of Asia and in the US. I received a pre-ordered unit this weekend in Hong Kong, and have been spending the past couple of days familiarising myself with this new PDA. First of all, this is my first Sony Clié. I've gone through several Palms, Handspring Visors, and PocketPCs though. I've been eyeing one of the Cliés for a while now, but have always preferred the smaller form factor of the Palm PDAs even if the screen wasn't as good - I've been using a Palm M505 for a while. For me, it's a primary consideration, above all else, as if the PDA isn't small, I'm much less likely to carry it with me. Previous iterations of the Clié (S and N Series) were, for me, too thick. I also thought that, until the release of Palm OS 4.0 and 4.1, response was a bit sluggish. Lastly, I use a Macintosh at home, and the Cliés sometimes require add-on software to sync. I'm happy to report though that the T615 will sync with Palm Desktop Beta for Mac OS X without requiring any additional software. The T415 was released only a few weeks ago, but immediately there was speculation that a colour version would soon be released. It didn't take long, as the T600 was announced in Japan, followed by the T615 more recently. It comes with Palm Desktop for Clié version 4, along with some additional software: Intellisync Lite, PictureGear Lite, a World Clock with customisable alarm settings, Clié Paint, PG Pocket, Photo Stand for slide shows, and Universal Remote Commander. Note that the software package will be different according to which region you're in; I noticed that the software package for the US market is much more extensive. The last application brings us to one of the unique features for the new Clié T-series: a high power infrared port. The Universal Remote Commander allows you to control a variety of devices, and comes pre-configured for TV, VCR, and DVD. However, the Asian package seems to include the configuration files for Sony-branded equipment. Early reports from the US indicate that those have configuration files that cover equipment from a multitude of other brands. Perhaps those configurations files will be available as a separate download. I have not had access to any Sony equipment over the past couple of days so I have not yet tried the Remote Commander. Note that this is not a "learning" remote; you cannot "train" it to recognise other types of equipment without the appropriate configuration file. Another unique feature to the T-series is a new speaker, which allows the playback of converted WAV and MIDI files. One of the first things I noticed when setting up the T615 was how much better even the standard system sounds were compared to my Palm M505. There are several additional sound files included on the setup CD-ROM, along with a Sound Converter utility. It's pretty straightforward: you select either a standard MIDI file, or an 8kHz or 22kHz WAV file, and add it to your conversion list. Those files are then converted to a Palm database file and loaded onto the T615 the next time you sync. The main utility now is the ability to easily add customised alarm sounds. I'm sure future applications, games in particular, will be made to utilise the improved speaker. The built-in application will not play back MP3 files though; you'll need Sony's Music Adapter to do that, and only through headphones. I prefer using a separate MP3 player which much higher capacity so that I do not have to compromise on sound quality in order to cram as many songs as possible into a memory card. While we're on the topic of games, let's discuss how well they work on the T615. Let me first make another personal statement: for me, certain games are well suited for a PDA platform. This includes games that rely on the screen, or on just a couple of buttons. I'm not looking to replicate GameBoy Advance games, or Sony Playstation games on my PDA (although it would be nice if my GBA had a backlit screen!). This is not to say that I am not an avid gamer, but I believe that games, to be "properly" enjoyed, should be played on their appropriate platform. Having said that, for my purposes, the T615 works very well for PDA games. I don't have a problem with the buttons; others will tell you that they're too thin, or that the rocker switch is very hard to use, etc… Yes, the buttons are thin, but they work just as well as any other Palm-powered PDA I've used. There is also a jog dial with a "back" button that will take you to the application you were using before. I have not found a way to configure it as a back button for AvantGo though - this seemed to me the most intuitive application. Let's move on to discuss the screen. This is, by far, the best feature of the T615 (and of other Sony Cliés, the T415 notwithstanding). It's very bright, and the 320x320 resolution is excellent. The colour is also very good, although colour saturation could be better. The M505 looks somewhat more saturated. It's probably in part due to the difference in backlight brightness. The T615's screen is not quite as bright as an HP Jornada 568, but it's more than bright enough for my purposes. Unfortunately, the Graffiti area is not backlit, so you may find yourself at times writing "blind." There are a few sample photos that can be installed from the CD-ROM, and the screen is perfectly suited for displaying them. I had never carried any photos on the M505 simply because the screen was not good enough to display them, but I will be converting some of my photos to have on the T615. This is something though that everyone will have to see for themselves. Screen quality remains a very subjective topic, and some people have already indicated a preference for the M505's better colours over the brightness of the T615. I find it difficult now, even after just a couple of days, to go back to the M505 without looking for a brightness control. Size-wise, the T615 is excellent. It's a little thicker than the T415, its black & white predecessor, and it does to me seem thicker than the M505. It's less wide than the M505 though, so there's not much between them overall. In photos, the T615 may look bigger than the M505, but there's really not much difference "in hand." A small USB cradle is included in the package. The power adapter plugs directly into the cradle. Unfortunately, unlike previous Sony Cliés, the power adapter can no longer plug directly into the Clié; travellers will have to get the Travel Kit, or take their cradle with them, or get one of the third-party USB-based sync and charge cables. The cradle does have a power light though. The Clié itself has an amber light, just below the rocker switch, that lights up while the unit is charging and switches off at full charge. This is a nice feature compared to the M505 which has a charging light but it never indicated whether the unit was fully charged or not. As to battery life, I can't really comment yet. I spent the first day installing and configuring software, mostly using infrared, during which the battery depleted fairly quickly, noticeably faster than the M505. By the end of the day, with the T615 having been on for several hours and probably not having received a full charge as I wanted to start using it, I needed to charge the Clié again. This however doesn't represent "normal usage," where the Clié would only be turned on from time to time each day to refer to my calendar or contacts or to read my AvantGo channels or a play a game for a few minutes. Also, this will be very much affected by the brightness of the screen; turning it down will increase battery life. Even at its lowest setting, the screen is still very usable. Would I recommend the T615 to others? Absolutely! In the current market, I find the Clié T615 to be one of the best combination of features available, for my purposes (I didn't even mention the vibrating alarm, or the larger 16MB of built-in memory). PDAs are very much a personal choice; the next person may find that the lack of built-in MP3 playback is enough that they'd rather get the N710/760/770. Others may want video playback; in that case, PocketPC is really the only option. It's possible to play videos on a Palm device, but the current crop of Palm PDAs doesn't really have the processing power for good video playback. But if you're looking for a PDA with an excellent screen, good ergonomics, loads of internal memory, a good speaker for alarms, and small in size, the T615 is hard to beat. And it even syncs with Macs! Sean Li / seanli@mac.com