VisorCentral.com - Sonys site on their PDA

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VisorCentral.com (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/index.php)
- Off Topic (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/forumdisplay.php?forumid=6)
-- Sonys site on their PDA (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/showthread.php?threadid=4689)

Posted by b1lanceman on 07-13-2000 10:39 AM:

Its in Japanese, so does anyone have a translation program?
http://www.sony.co.jp/sd/ProductsPa.../PEG/PEG-S500C/

It looks pretty sexy, if only i could read all that stuff.

Posted by Trinition on 07-13-2000 12:04 PM:

Well, I tried finding a good Japanese-to-English website translation site, but failed. What's it matter, anyways, since most of the text is in graphics. Doesn't Sony know the many reason why text should be sparingly used in graphics on the web???

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--
Trinition ([email protected])

Posted by Hoser_back_home on 07-13-2000 02:14 PM:

Check this out!
http://www.world.sony.com/News/Press/200007/00-030/

Interesting quotes:

quote:
Last November, Sony and Palm Inc. agreed to collaborate in the development of next generation Palm OSR software with rich AV functionality, and Sony's Palm-PoweredTM personal entertainment organizers are the first products to result from this collaborative effort.

could this be PalmOS 4???

quote:
In terms of software, they come standard with a web browser to handle images as well as image file management software to share information with PCs including VAIO. In addition, Sony is planning to start a network service called "ImageStation" that allows handling of still and moving images over the Internet within this year. Directly or through a PC, customers can download still and moving images from the Internet with ImageStation and playback the images with the personal entertainment organizers.

Based on these features and the expressed 'collaboration' with Palm, I wonder what Palm has up their sleeve right now. I don't think they'll sit back and watch Sony steal the limelight with something both companies worked on together.

Posted by foo fighter on 07-13-2000 02:47 PM:

Here are the specs for the new Sony PDA:

PEG-S500C/PEG-S300
Palm OS(R) ver.3.5
CPU Dragonball EZi 20MHz
8MB(DRAM)/4MB(Flash)/8MB(MS)
USB
LCD 160/160 dots
256/16
70.9/114.7/15.2 mm
120g
AC
8MB CD-ROM

The Grayscale device will retail for $510, while the color version will go for $555.

I think the Pocket PC is going to pound this thing. It's too expensive, and you can actually buy Pocket PCs for much lower prices. There is no built in audio capabilties, and the display is still only 160x160 just like the Palm IIIc.

Posted by perze_a on 07-13-2000 04:06 PM:

They're releasing both models on september 9.

from its hardware page, it still has the same stuff as the regular Palm OS buttons except for the stick and the jog dial. One thing worth noting is that It also has a mobile communications adapter available for the unit.

On the top of the page, they are calling it a Personal Entertainment Organizer!

[This message has been edited by perze_a (edited 07-13-2000).]

Posted by Taki on 07-13-2000 04:29 PM:

I doubt if Japanese-English translation program will work without Japanese IME(MS program that correctly displays Japanese encoding). Here's a summary of what I read this page.
They call it Personal Entertainment Organizer(PEG).
___________________________________

Hardware
1. Easy access to the internet-PEG will come with an adaptor & connection cable to cell phone.
2. Jog Dial will work with all soft that comes with PEG, a stylus is not necessary for most basic operations.
3. Memory Stick Slot(8MB Memory Stick included)-PEG can use Memory Stick for strage of different kinds of data. For example, it can read Memory Stick from your digital camera using "PictureGear Pocket" application, which comes with PEG.
4. PEG-S500C is the smallest color Plam OS machine(as of July 13).
5. Standard cradle is USB cradle. Compatible with Win98, Win 98 Second ed.,Win2000 professional. Serial cardle will be available & sold separate.

Software
1."Memory Stick Gate"-a file mover program. PEG will be able to handle 64MB memory maximum.
2."PictureGear Pocket"-image viewer program;can attach photo of a person to his/her address book entry.
3. (ATOK is a program for Japanese language entry)
4."g-Media" is a video viewer;will convert & display .AVI, MPEG1, QuickTime & other file format.
5."MultiMail" compatible(?they don't cleary say if it's included or not)-enable to send & receive e-mail via cell phone
6."Palmscape" internet browser included
7.Palm OS standard PIM
8.Graffiti
______________________________

They also started PEG's web page(http://www.sony.co.jp/sd/PEG/). There's not much in it yet, though.

[This message has been edited by Taki (edited 07-13-2000).]

Posted by foo fighter on 07-13-2000 04:32 PM:

quote:
Originally posted by perze_a:
They're releasing both models on september 9.

That's only in Japan. It won't reach the US market until the end of this year, most likely November.

Posted by foo fighter on 07-13-2000 04:45 PM:

Taki, I got these specs from Palmstation.com

PEG-S500C/PEG-S300
Palm OS(R) ver.3.5
CPU Dragonball EZi 20MHz
8MB(DRAM)/4MB(Flash)/8MB(MS)
USB
LCD 160/160 dots
256/16
70.9/114.7/15.2 mm
120g
AC
8MB CD-ROM

Posted by Petro on 07-13-2000 05:17 PM:

quote:
Originally posted by foo fighter:
The Grayscale device will retail for $510, while the color version will go for $555.

ACK!!!! Are you Serious!! That's outragous!! No WAY will these sell big with a price like that! The IIIc is $60 LESS than their b/w PDA!!

And I was worried they might take some of the Japanese market away from Handspring!

I think unless they seriously drop the price when they come to the US with it, their PDAs aren't going to do too well.

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Posted by Taki on 07-13-2000 05:22 PM:

quote:
Originally posted by foo fighter:
I think the Pocket PC is going to pound this thing. It's too expensive, and you can actually buy Pocket PCs for much lower prices.

I agree with you, foo. But I think it will do well in Japan. Many Japanese people like top-of-the-line everything. In addition, many people tend to think the price is equal to the quality. Also they like & trust Sony "Brand". I see lots of complaints about Palm and HS for not recalling products w/faulty DRAM on many Japanese Palm/Visor sites. They seem more upset than Americans even if they aren't having any problems with their units. They think Sony would recall their product if something like that happens(I'm not sure if that's true, though).

My personal experience with Sony products are not so good

Besides, I don't like design of PEG. Why do they have to have that metal-looking borders(sounds like it's plastic)? Yuk! It reminds me of early models of Walkman.

[This message has been edited by Taki (edited 07-13-2000).]

Posted by Trinition on 07-13-2000 06:06 PM:

First of all, I don't get why the B&W is only $50 or so less than the color? There's not much incentive to buy B&W when color is just a tad more.

Secondly, I found a link to a developer site buried within those other links. It too is in Japanese, but maybe we can garner something:
http://www.jp.sonypdadev.com/magazi...0713/index.html

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--
Trinition ([email protected])

Posted by perze_a on 07-13-2000 06:22 PM:

Anybody know when Sony started this "jog-dial" technology? The first time I encountered this type was with the first export model of the MD Player/Recorder.

One more thing. I don't think I will buy any of the PEG's considering the design, size, most of all, the price.

Posted by Charo on 07-13-2000 06:55 PM:

"Sony positions its personal entertainment organizer as one of the strategic products of the coming broadband network era . . ."
Quote from the Sony Press Release

Most people do not have access, even within large population centers, to broadband and won't until we get something like wireless broadband.

Posted by b1lanceman on 07-13-2000 06:56 PM:

Its worth the money you pay, its only a little bigger than a palmV with a whole helluva lot more features on it.... its worth the extra hundred bucks you pay. But one question, does it come with a memory stick included? the 8mbDRAM/4mbFlash/8mb MS seems to imply this

Posted by Charo on 07-13-2000 07:02 PM:

All Sony products are always priced higher than their competitors products.

quote:
Originally posted by foo fighter:

The Grayscale device will retail for $510, while the color version will go for $555.

I think the Pocket PC is going to pound this thing. It's too expensive

Posted by b1lanceman on 07-13-2000 07:09 PM:

Also, ive heard that there might be limited wireless capabilities on it. Are those there?

Posted by foo fighter on 07-13-2000 07:26 PM:

quote:
Originally posted by b1lanceman:
Its worth the money you pay, its only a little bigger than a palmV with a whole helluva lot more features on it....

According to the InfoWorld article, the Sony PDA won't have digital audio features, initially. Which means, if your thinking of buying the Sony device right away, to listen to music, you can forget that.

Here is a snippet:
However, consumers may find initial versions of the device have several shortcomings.

The first models won't, however, support versions of the Memory Stick used with the company's digital music players, meaning it cannot do double duty as an MP3 player. The built-in copy protection hardware required to support the music memory cards won't be available until second-generation versions of the device come on the market.

Here is the article link: http://www.infoworld.com/articles/h...3hnsonypalm.xml

[This message has been edited by foo fighter (edited 07-13-2000).]

Posted by perze_a on 07-13-2000 09:01 PM:

I'm assuming that Sony will be putting some enhancements on it so that it would be able to compete in the in the US PDA market.

Posted by Hoser_back_home on 07-13-2000 10:16 PM:

The +$500 price for the both models widened my eyes at first but then i thought about it.

Visor = $249
PalmIIIc = $449
on the sony:
8MB memory stick $20
built in modem for cell phone:$unknown (i'll assume $120 (since this is what the Thincom goes for and it's not a cell phone modem so it could be more!)
USB cradle (IIIc doesn't have this)
Colour (Visor doesn't have this)
software: built in internet browser
"g-media" video viewer
image viewer

SO after looking at what you get...it's DEFINATLEY better than the IIIc as it has much more built in for not much more in price and it ends up being similar in price to the visor WITH a colour display. But as we see in the Soundoff "colour" thread...some people don't want colour.

It's like the automobile analogy (we always go back to this example don't we?) The new volkswagons come with a lot of standard features but cost more than a Honda Civic. However, if you wanted those features on the civic, you'd end up paying the same or more than the volkswagon!

VW managed to convince consumers to pay a little extra for these features that became standard. I wonder if Sony will do the same? Otherwise i wouldn't use price as the reason why it won't sell well in the States.

Posted by SteveS on 07-13-2000 10:53 PM:

quote:
Originally posted by foo fighter:
Here are the specs for the new Sony PDA:

PEG-S500C/PEG-S300
Palm OS(R) ver.3.5
CPU Dragonball EZi 20MHz
8MB(DRAM)/4MB(Flash)/8MB(MS)
USB
LCD 160/160 dots
256/16
70.9/114.7/15.2 mm
120g
AC
8MB CD-ROM

The Grayscale device will retail for $510, while the color version will go for $555.

I think the Pocket PC is going to pound this thing. It's too expensive, and you can actually buy Pocket PCs for much lower prices. There is no built in audio capabilties, and the display is still only 160x160 just like the Palm IIIc.

What you are doing is converting the Japanese MSRP in Yen to US Dollars. This is a big mistake when evaluating Japanese consumer products. It has been the working policy of most Japanese consumer electronics to sell their products in the US for 25% to 50% less that the price in Japan. Why? There are several reasons such as there a larger market in the US to move product, manufacture warranty is not support by Sony but their US import partner and -- most of all -- less taxation at the retail selling point. With the current exchange rate, I expect these products to be MSRP'ed in the US for $375 for the color and about $275 for the grayscale version. Also, I expect a lot of their margin will be on the MemoryStick modules and not the unit itself.

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