USA Comparisons: Cheap Sony CLIE PEG-TH55/U Handheld

Sony CLIE PEG-TH55/U Handheld Product Description:

Palm OS version 5.2, Sony Handheld Engine processor, 32 MB RAM
Built-in 310K Pixels CMOS Camera with 2x Digital Zoom (JPEG, 640 x 480 resolution), audio player, and video player
High resolution TFT Color Display (480 x 320 dots, 65,536 colors)
Integrated Memory Stick slot (compatible with optional Memory Stick Pro media)
Internal lithium-ion polymer rechargeable battery

Product Description

Sony CLIE PEG-TH55/U Handheld

Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews

160 of 162 people found the following review helpful.
Nice features, nice price
By Tony M. Phan
Sorry for the long read, but I tried to be pretty comprehensive. ^_^

The design is very classy and professional, with a textured black plastic body and dark metal screen bezel. The TH-55 also features a built-in screen cover, which is a fingerprint and smudge magnet. The cover only flips back about 135 degrees, so at times it can get in the way. You can remove it, but it will leave two gaping holes in the top of the handheld. The best thing about the cover is that it is clear, allowing you to see appointments or alarms without opening it up, as well as the "viewfinder" for taking digital photos.

The digital camera is a 310,000 pixel unit capable of 640x480 photos. It has a 2x digital zoom and dedicated shutter/capture buttons on the left side of the handheld. Picture quality is decent for such a small unit, but the photos are only suitable for quick snapshots and e-mailing.

Of note is that the TH-55 has 32MB RAM with all 32MB available for use. In the past, CLIEs had memory specs like "16MB, 11 available to user." For further memory expansion, the Memory Stick slot is located on the left side and has a little door to prevent the stick from popping out. The slot supports all regular Memory Sticks, as well as the new Pro cards.

A big feature about the TH-55 is the wireless networking. Although the U.S. model had Bluetooth removed, the WiFi remains, and works very well. You'll take a noticeable hit in page loading speeds, but turning off Power Saving mode in the main prefs can help. Don't expect pages to pop up instantly though. NetFront 3.1 is the preloaded web browser, and makes for a nice handheld web experience, with various page fit options, Javascript support, and Jog Dial support.

Speaking of the Jog Dial, Sony moved it to the upper back of the PDA, right above the digital camera. This takes some getting used to for previous CLIE owners who may be used to having the Jog Dial on the side. There are also buttons to the left and right of the Jog Dial, which serve as back/forward in NetFront and previous/next in the Audio Player, among other uses.

The speaker is located on the back, and is reasonably loud. If using the TH-55 as an alarm clock, it helps to put it on its face so you can hear the alarm better. Alerts come through well, but the vibrating alarm of previous models has been removed. As with previous models, Sony also includes a Voice Recorder application.

Battery life is phenomenal; I can't honestly remember a time that an electronic device has wowed me with miserly battery consumption. When playing music with the screen off, I got 22 hours and 14 minutes in before the audio capabilities shut down. Surfing the web with WiFi enabled and the screen at half brightness, I got nearly seven hours of use (my cramped fingers!) before the networking shut off.

The great battery life is partly due to the Handheld Engine Sony uses in the TH-55, which is also used in the UX-40/50 line. It integrates a 123MHz ARM CPU, graphics core, and DSP onto one chip. The DSP helps the TH-55 play videos smoothly and decode mp3s despite the low CPU clock. Similar to Intel's SpeedStep technology, the Handheld Engine can regulate its clock speed from 8-123MHz depending on the application.

Sony's been hyping its new Clie Organizer software, but after all the talk, I went back to the standard PIM utilities. Like some third-party apps, it aims to put all utilities in one place, and allow you to move information back and forth between them. The Datebook gets a makeover, allowing you to write notes directly on the screen and add icons and pictures to your appointments. The right side of the screen is home to a tabbed launcher, which lets you access all the core apps with a simple tap. Although it's neat, the default Palm utilities do the job quicker and don't require relearning. It's not bad for a 1.0 release, but needs more speed and polish.

Sony includes Piscel Viewer on the TH-55, so you can view Microsoft Office documents. For a limited time, registering the handheld will get you a free copy of Documents to Go, which will let you edit Office documents. You get just about everything you need out of the box software-wise.

The price is right, and the machine impresses with a lot of technology packed into a small package. Battery life is great, and road warriors who don't like charging every day will love the TH-55. Despite having a low-powered CPU, multimedia doesn't suffer, and the WiFi is very handy when you don't want to fire up your main computer. The wonderful screen is the icing on the cake, but you won't be able to play games that require a joypad due to the screen taking up so much of the front. Not a bad effort from Sony with their first 320x480 tablet form handheld.

60 of 61 people found the following review helpful.
Best PDA I've ever owned...
By maxmasa31
And I've owned quite a few: Palm Zire 71, Dell Axim X5, Sony Clie SJ30 and a couple more, just to name a few.

Where to begin? The screen on the TH55 is crisp and vibrant (though a little dim compared to some other models) and huge, too! The pictures from the camera, while they're not print quality, I don't need them to be, as I already own a Sony Cybershot camera. And anyone complaining about the camera's pictures being pointless because of poor quality is crazy. With the TH55, the pics you take are perfect for use with the Clie Organizer and for e-mails--which is what they were MEANT to be for--not for making 4x6 prints. Just like with camera phones, the photos have to have a small file size, otherwise it wouldn't make much sense when you try to send it to someone.

But the biggest selling point for this PDA is its multimedia capabilities. I can FINALLY watch the MPEG movies that I record with my Cybershot on my PDA! Awesome! And some MPEG files downloaded off the 'net work, too. The 320x480 screen allows me to check out photos without a lot of wasted screen space, so my pictures look even BIGGER than on my old 320x320 Palm screens. Oh, and did I mention you can play MP3s, too? Awesome!

I also picked up a Palm wireless keyboard, so now my TH55 is like a portable laptop! I can watch movies, look at photos, listen to MP3's, browse the internet and send e-mail with Wi-Fi (built-in), play some seriously cool games and type up Word and Excel files (with free downloaded version of Docs to Go 6.0)--and all with a folding keyboard and PDA that take up 60% less space than a laptop!

Oh, and the battery life blows away any other PDA I've ever used. I can check out pics, type up a Word document, play some solitaire and listen to MP3s and a couple of hours later, I STILL have over 75% of my battery power left over! (I do have my screen brightness at about 70%, though) For once, I can go on vacation and not have to lug around a battery charger!

I hardly ever think that an item deserves five stars, but this one actually does. My only complaint? The stupid flip cover--it can get in the way sometimes and is a MAJOR dust/fingerprint/scratch magnet. But, I bought plugs for the holes for when you remove the cover, so now my TH55 is one sleek, slim tablet. PERFECT!

38 of 40 people found the following review helpful.
Great PDA with lots of features
By Warren Hearnes
I've had this PDA for almost a week now and it's been GREAT! It is thin (about 5/8"), has a sturdy flip-up cover and feels solid.

I previously had an old Palm m105 so I wanted to stay with the Palm OS. I had planned to buy a Tungsten E but the reviews for it talked about poor battery life, so I kept searching. I found that Sony was planning to release the PEG-TH55 in late February of 2004 and it was exactly what I was looking for in a PDA.

Out of the box, I easily transferred my m105 data to the PEG-TH55 with the Palm Desktop app (you'll need to switch to Palm Desktop for Clie if you are using a Palm-brand PDA, but that was seamless). The built-in Wi-Fi connected without a hitch to my home network and I hit some web pages to test it. The 320x480 display is very sharp and gives you a lot more real-estate to view applications. At the touch of a button, the Graffiti 2 or Decuma (both are options) input screen can come up and you still have the standard 320x320 display. There is a jog-dial and "back" button on the back which give another quick way to browse information.

Battery life? The box says 15 days but I haven't had it that long yet. I do know that I can fully charge the PEG-TH55, use it at work (not on a wireless LAN) for note-taking, scheduling, information look-up, etc., and the battery guage will still be at 95% full at the end of the day. That's a good sign that it will be able to keep up on a long business trip. The price is $399 MSRP but it does have lots of features that I think make it worth the cost -- the larger display, 0.31 mega-pixel camera, built-in Wi-Fi, voice recording capability, etc.

Cons? Not many so far. I don't think that you're able to do a HotSync with the Wi-Fi connection...I'm not sure if that can be done by any Palm but I had thought it would be possible. The camera is good for quick pics, but not for anything significant. Sony PDA's also do not have slots for things like SD/MMC, but use the Memory Stick instead...a minor problem if you already have those for your current PDA.

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