FIRST OF ALL, let's get the name straight. Sony has decided to call this thing CLIE. You pronounce it KLEE-ay. CLIE stands for Communication, Link, Information and Entertainment. It goes well with some of Sony's other product names such as Wega, Vaio and Mavica. CLIE is just another in the line of acronym-derived names that Sony uses for their electronics product lines.
When I heard the name CLIE spoken out loud, I wondered whether Sony has really meant to come up with a name that could be confused with the word cliche. That would be a fitting descriptor for yet another Palm-imitator this late in the handheld game. And that begs the question: being third in the Palm OS handheld field, what could Sony come up with to differentiate its products from the rest of the pack?
Size wise, the CLIE is smaller than a Palm III or a Handspring, but larger than a Palm V. It comes with a docking cradle that plugs into a USB port. That means no Windows 95, NT support.
There's a lithium-ion rechargeable battery built into the lightweight, two-tone metal case and a portable AC travel adapter included in the box.
Obviously, Sony's name and worldwide marketing strength will automatically assure it a strong product from the outset. But, it knew it would have to provide something special in the product to make it stand out from the crowd.
And, it has to a point. CLIE's uniqueness comes from three items:
- Memory Stick, and the Memory Stick slot
- Jog Dial Navigator
- gMedia video player software
THE MEMORY STICK
Sony's Memory Stick is a proprietary memory storage card system used in most of its new electronics, such as digital still and video cameras, electronic picture frames, and laptop and desktop computers. The idea of removable storage cards is not new, but in the world of Palm PDAs the possibility of easily adding 32MB, 64MB, a soon-to-be-released 128MB or a planned 256MB of memory is an interesting prospect.
The slot where the removable memory slides into the top of the CLIE is the other half of the Memory Stick equation. Sony plans to use it as an expansion slot. Handspring announced an expansion slot for its Visor handheld a year ago.
Sony revealed a small number of possible future applications, such as a GPS device, at a preview party Tuesday night. But they were all under glass: Look but don't touch. From what I saw, I wonder just how small they make these expansion slot devices to keep the CLIE handheld size. A number of modules for Handspring's Visor are too large. Some of Sony's prototypes were even larger!
VIDEO PLAYER SOFTWARE
Sony's Jog Dial Navigator is a rolling mouse-like pointing and choosing device located on the left side of the device. It's the first time a pointer-chooser other than a stylus has been included in a PDA that runs on the Palm operating system. I make that distinction because RIM's Blackberry PDA has something incredibly similar to the Jog Dial Navigator on the right side. In the Blackberry's case, it's the only pointer-chooser available.
The thing that sets the CLIE apart from all other Palms is the built-in gMedia software. It allows you to view video clips on your Sony at speeds up to 15fps. I can happily report that in the five minutes I was allowed to fiddle with the CLIE I watched two MPEG-1 video clips play flawlessly. The quality, even on the crude black and white screen, was great.
These videos can be stored in either the internal memory or a Memory Stick. One video clip I watched was 14 seconds long and took up more than 430K of storage. Longer videos will probably have to go on larger Memory Sticks.
Sony also includes software from PictureGear that allows you to convert and compress digital photos on your PC, then download and add them to other Palm applications on your CLIE. Sony showed an example of entries in a phone book with pictures of the people listed. Kinda neat.
Sony plans to start shipping the CLIE in September, selling it on the company's Web site and through stores.
Sony's CLIE will be an immediate force in the marketplace and holds great promise in the future. But Handspring's Visor holds similar promise at a much lower price. And I don't expect that Palm, Handspring or even PocketPC manufacturers will be sitting still over the next few months. I expect a number of announcements from these folks before the end of the year. Many should talk about new and improved wireless devices. Stay tuned.
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Reprinted with permission of MSNBC.com Interactive L.L.C.
MSNBC is not a sponsor of and does not endorse PDA Verticals Corporation.
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