Prospective new Clie from Palm user with questions

[mooreman]

I started out with a Palm Vx and then early this year upgraded to a Palm M505 and have been fairly disappointed with the quality of the display being dim and constant use of the "front-light" will quickly kill the battery. SO, after reading many posts and trying to do some research, I've decided that I am going to ditch the M505 and get the NX70V. BUT, I have some questions for some of you current owners/experts:

1: Palm M505 has 8 MB "useable" memory, how much is actually available on the NX70V w/out using an expansion card?

2: Assuming a full charge and no problems with battery, how long on average will the battery last between charges? (for instance, my work requires that I travel and I am usually gone for as long as 3 days at a time, should I also invest in a travel charger?)

3: The digital camera - how good are the pictures really? I've had some "cheaper" digital cameras that took good pics, but they were usually too dim and/or blurry for lack of a strong UV light source (i.e. the sun) to perk them up. Does the camera do well enough to really be a factor in purchasing this PDA? As well, I understand you can record video, and the same questions apply.

4: Viewing flash video files - as far as I know, the largest available memory Stick expansion cards are good for 128mb, how long of a movie file can you store on 128mb?

5: Protective case - One thing that I DO like about the Palm M505 is the wide variety of protective hard cases available for them. I prefer the aluminum metal "hard" cases as they lend more protection than soft cases and plus they look cool. Since the NX70V has the swivel screen function and has kind-of a "funky" form-factor, do they have, or WILL they have available a metallic hard case for this PDA?

6: Processor - As the NX70V allegedly has a new 200mhz ARM-compliant processor, can anyone vouch that the faster processor makes a noteable difference? (My M505 has a 33mhz processor I believe) Also, by virtue of the fact that it IS a faster processor, one can draw the conclusion that it requires MORE energy (battery) to power it. Does the battery run out faster because of this?

I thank you all in advance for your input/advice and I hope all of your answers are positives since I really want to try one out more than ever since I monkied with one on display at Staples.

[RCollins291]

I have just upgraded from a Palm V. I have been searching for months for the ultimate handheld. I purchased a NR70 and then sent it back for the nre NX70.

Here is my answers for you r questions, these are based on my experience.

1. The Memory is usable is a little under 16 meg on board. The Palm OS takes up some with all the free saftware that comes with it, and there is a lot.

2. Well your in luck because Sony has added a great feature for those of us who travel, I travel alot also. They have added an adaptor for the cradle power supple that will allow the cradle power supply to plug into the PDA and act as a travel charger. The battery life if great so far, for my use. I keep tons of Excel and Word files on mine for work.

3. The camera is a great upgraage from the NR70 model, it is 300K with a small zoom. It taked great pictures and also has a photo editor software installed. Of course the better the lighting the better the pics, but it does great for me. I even use them on my website. I took a Mpeg video file and converted it to the Clie version, the software will be installed on your PC, the original file was 1.4 meg and after conversion it was about 300k you have 3 choses of quality also. I have read that with the 128 Meg stick you can record upto 1 hour of video.

4. The 512 meg MS is scheduled for release this year and by 2004 I believe the 1 gig should be out and by 2005 a 4 gig will be available. The flash demos that come with the NX really play well.

5. I have seen some protective cases out, and have found one that I am really interested in and they are going to call me when they are available, shoulg be by Nov 25. I will post when I get the call.

The processor is great, OS 5 takes advantage of the higher processor speeds. TechTV calls the NX70 the PDA on Steriods, I feel the same.

I hope this helps, If you like you you can email me at rick@blountvegas.com and I can send you some pics taken from my NX70, or if you have any questions please feel free to send me an email, Iwill be glad to help in any way.

[bjorn]

I loaded my bible software (2 meg), and then tried to load all the apps, but ran out of room.

I wasn't too disappointed, although while I at first thought vindigo (a "city guide" with built-in reviews and zooming color maps) was pretty cool, I became annoyed when after deleting it from my clie, the desktop "sync" (separate) will re-install the app every time, if there is room.

I finally settled on the following:

Standard Installation
Bejeweled (game)
Bounce Out (game)
Kinoma (not working correctly though - color is all screwed up)
MyBible
NetFront
DocumentsToGo
Yahdice (game)

My memory usage shows 3.3 meg of free space out of 11 meg, not counting the memory stick.

The screen is AWESOME. I also was a long time Palm Vx user, and am thrilled with the screen, in any lighting.

As far as battery life goes, I have been careful to not allow the battery to drain completely. I used to be pretty lax about when I sync'ed my Vx ... sometimes a week or maybe even two between sync's, but no more. I sync and charge when I get to work, and I sync and charge when I get home (I use the MP3 player pretty heavily).

Hope this helps!

Bjorn