The TJ25 and the TJ35 compete for the same user as PalmOne's excellent Tungsten E, which sells for $200 on the PalmOne website. The TJ units, which are handsome and colored silver, come with a solid protective cover that flips open to the side. The TJ25 fits comfortably in the hand with measurements of 3.0 x 4.38 x .47 inches, weighing in at a light 4.9 ounces.

For navigation, the TJ series has a roller that you can push down with two buttons directly on the side. We found this system, different than competing 5-way navigation solutions in devices like the Tungsten E, easy to use. The unit also has four buttons, each one linked to the four main Palm OS applications, the Address Book, MemoPad, Calendar and To Do List.

Like the Tungsten E, the TJ series has a 320x320, 65,000 color display, and a graffiti writing area just bellow it. While the TJ series display is more than adequate, the Tungsten E's display is brighter. It worked better indoors, as most PDA displays do, but was still usable outside.

Since the units are Palm OS 5.2.1 devices, they use Graffiti 2, based on on CIC's Jot for handwriting recognition, just like all the recent PalmOne PDAs. We're big fans of Jot, which we find easier to use than the traditional Graffiti. The unit also bundles Decuma's handwriting recognition solution, which is even closer to natural handwriting than Graffiti 2.

The TJ series runs on a 200 MHz Motorola i.MXL processor, which offers solid performance and can handle multimedia tasks well. The Tungsten E uses a 126 MHz Texas Instruments CPU. The TJ25 bundles 16MB of RAM, of which only 11MB are available to the user, while the TJ35 has 32 MB of memory, 23 MB user available. The Tungsten E also bundles 32MB of RAM. 32MB of memory, we think, is the minimum amount of RAM that a handheld aimed at business users should have.

Of course, what would a Clie unit be without a Memory Stick slot. A memory card is a must have purchase for any handheld user. You can, for example, store additional applications and images, and most importantly backup your data in manner that's easy to carry around. And since the Memory Stick slots on the TJ series support the newest Memory Stick models available, you'll be able to store up to 1GB of additional data on single card. SanDisk recently announced that it had doubled the storage capacity of Memory stick up to 2GB, which should be available in a few months.


Memory Stick

While the TJ25 is lacking in multimedia capabilities, as there is no headphone jack or speaker, so you won't be able to listen to music, for example, on the device, the TJ35 has a headphone jack and speaker. In terms of music, the TJ35 has Aerodrome's AeroPlayer MP3 player.

Applications bundled with the TJ25 include Sony's Clie Launcher, a very useful replacement for the traditional Palm OS launcher, a back utility, image viewer, world clock, and file manager, as well as some games, utilities and trial software. The TJ35 adds Picsel Viewer, which lets you read Microsoft Office documents, which you can do with Documents to Go on the Tungsten E.


Clie Launcher

The TJ series, unlike the Tungsten E, comes with a removable battery. For syncing and charging, it offers a dongle, which attaches to the bottom of the PDA and connects to a USB cable and AC adapter. A docking cradle costs $30.

Sony's TJ series offers two solid units that won't overwhelm business users with the multitude of functions offered by the company’s higher-end devices. In terms of their chief competition, the Tungsten E, the TJ35 measures up better. The TJ25's minimal amount of memory, lack of sound and a Microsoft Office document reader, limits its appeal. Another problem is that it lists for the same price as the Tungsten E, which offers all these things and more. The TJ35, which compares more favorably to the Tungsten E, beats it out in some areas, such as a faster CPU and removable battery and doesn't in others, such as the Tungsten E's more robust Microsoft Office document syncing and brighter display.