2004-03-25

Will Sony make any more Clié NX series units now that there's the UX-50 and TH-55?

I've been wondering if there will be any more units in the NX series now that there's the UX-50 with a keyboard and the TH-55 (basically an NX without the clamshell and CF card slot). It seems to me that this is not likely, and that's too bad. Why do I care? Why should you?

I prefer units with a collapsible graffiti area since they first showed up on the HandEra 330, for e-book reading and other things (and since there are now many ways to write on the screen without even opening the graffiti area, such as TealScript) who really needs the input area?

I also prefer units with CF card slots (although I might settle for an SD card slot...but I'd rather not.) The CF card slot is the most flexible (you can get CF adapters for most of the other card formats too). Not to mention CF support the largest memory sizes and are generally cheapest and maybe fastest. Multiple card slots are even nicer. The PocketPCs win a point there; most have a CF and SD slot, last I checked. Or at least one or the other.

The above reasons are why I bought the HandEra 330 to replace my Newton MessagePad (which had two PCMCIA slots and no need of a Graffiti area, I should note), and then the Sony NX70 and the NX80. The HandEra 330 supported CF and SD/MMC cards, and the NXs support CF and (yech) Memory Stick. But I note the UX-50 and the TH-55 are back to only having a Memory Stick.

If there are no further NX models....then I may have bought my last Sony. I really like the NX series. Aside from the collapsible Graffiti area and CF and MS slots, the keyboard is nice, though I don't use it that much (a bit too small for my fingers) - I could live without it. The built in still/video camera and audio recorder is great, the MP3 player, the Infrared remote...except for not having a cell phone built it, the NX's are the all-around do everything (well, I'd like built-in WiFi and BlueTooth too but at least I can add 'em).

But I'd take a TH-55 with a CF (or SD) and Mem Stick slot if there was no NX. Basically just take the NX80, remove the keyboard....and I'd buy it. Or take the TH-55 and add a CF slot in place of the SD or camera. Done deal!

Alas...I have a bad feeling that I've seen my last Sony. It all hinges on the memory slot. Sony finally (grudgingly and partially) supported memory in the CF slot (after other vendors wrote drivers for CF memory first!) If Sony doesn't make another NX, I sure hope that Palm produces a replacement. The latest Tungsten is pretty darn close; just add a camera and maybe another memory slot. The Garmin unit is close too.

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