Spotlight Customer Reviews
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Perfect gadget for enthusiasts
Comment: I had this PDA for almost two years now and it still works properly except that it's internal memory falls short compared to other PDAs. Most of it's people seems to complain it's battery usage especially when operating cameras but if you make your backlit screen minimal as possible, then the camera will last longer even with the flash. I do that all the time and usually gets me 50 shots with flash if used continuosly without quitting; quitting so would make results for your battery life different. MP3 works great but you'll need to format your mp3s to atrac3 using sony's software since all it playback is atrac3. I also recommand that you get at least 256mb of merory stick pro for this one; that way you can backup lots of data in case your pda screws up and also to store some video clips, games, works, etc. If you want to playback mp3s, buy the standard magicgate merory stick fot it; only those can playback atrac3s. This pda can access most of webpages too as long as it doesn't eat away too much of merory space. I hope this review helps some of those who wish to use it's built-in camera very efficiently because I know I did.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: a piece of junk
Comment: Dont ever buy this product. It comes with a packet of junk softwares. Take for example audio player. It can only play files which has a frequency of 44.1KHz and data rate of 96kbps to 128kbps. However there are some awesome products out there, but since sony doesnt provide their API, these products dont work for nz90.
Battery life is terrible. Even when your battery is %80 percent charged, you cannot use flash to take a picture. I think with fully charged battery you can only take 5 ( yes it is 5) pictures. Then your battery is totally gone.
There are so many negatives for this products that I can write 5 paged on that!!!!
Exteremely disappointed user of nz90.
Luckily I saved so many friends of mine to do the same mistake!!!
Customer Rating: Summary: A jack of all trades - master of none
Comment: It may be a great idea to have a PDA and camera combo, but this product is not it. It has the best screen I have seen (big and bright); excellent game selections; but is cumbersome due to the flip screen and ridiculous stylus storage.
The camera takes good photos, but the lag time from shutter release to taking a picture is very slow and you need a very steady hand for quality picures. The still and video camera use way too much power (in relation to a stand alone camera which may be able to take up to one or two hundred pictures on a battery charge vs about 15 - 20 for this one) The screen is just about invisible in sunlight making it very difficult to frame picures.
The Piscel Viewer for documents is not user friendly and you cannot edit any documents without additional software. As a PDA alone it is not bad, but many are better due to battery life and are more user friendly.
Just a bad choice. Battery life at this time is way behind the state of the art (5 hrs max just leaving it on). The power lasts about two hours playing even simple games (something like backgammon). You cannot even fill a MS on one battery charge and movies cannot be taken (or the flash used) at anything less than full power. The battery is rechargeable (and removable), but there is no external charger available. Batteries must be charged in the Clie.
The cradle connection is awkward and usually takes both hands and some jiggling to get it to seat on the cradle. The only way to tell it is seated properly is to turn it on and make sure the battery logo has a lighting bolt accross it indicating that the unit is charging and therefore is properly seated in the cradle.
I am now looking at a Pocket PC and digital camera (separate) to get better performance. Any one want a sightly used Clie NZ 90??
Customer Rating: Summary: HUGE in every sense !
Comment: Well, let's start by the basics. This machine is HUGE by any means if you compare it to any other PDA. It's like, well, the Darth Vader of all the Palm Powered devices. It's black, it's menacing, it's all-powerful. You can stun an attacker with it if you whirl it over your head and hit him (it includes a convenient hand strap for that purpose).
Jokes aside, it is well built (i used to have a Clie NR70V and it was very fragile), the hinges and swivels are tight, it won't open inside your backpack and get all scratched inside.
It is also a nice PDA, with all the useful stuff that any common handheld has. (Memo, Agenda, Address, To Do, Whatever). But it excels on the add-ons. That's the best part.
The digital camera is awesome (autofocus/manual focus, flash, 2.0 MP) and it can store hundreds of pictures. There are many options and settings to play with.
It also has audio recorder software. The sound is crisp, clear, and you can record many, many, many hours of speech, enviromental audio or anything.
As any other Clie, it has its own mp3 player. There's no need to buy the special SONY smartmedia card to use it: a Lexmark alternative will do the trick.
Of course, if you combine audio + pictures, you'll get a video camera. It works as one. Not great quality, it might be compared with having a webcam with you all the time.
What else ? Integrated keyboard, speaker, remote control, a couple of headphones, infrared port.
I can even speak about Bluetooth. I don't have any bluetooth gear in my house, but i'm leaving the wake-up option enabled and see if i find any BT devices in my office. Besides the blinking blue led looks cool :).
It has many improvementes since the last Clie versions. The memory stick has changed its place, so it doesn't flip out every time you put it in your pocket. The craddle is now foldable and you can take it everywhere to charge and/or connect your clie. You can even attach it to the PDA and carry it around.
Even when it is bulky, it is very well built and with a nice eequilibrium... you can hold it in your hand and it won't fall easily. That happened with the NR70V: the screen was heavier than the body, so it fell backwards always.
The keyboard is a lot better and easier to use by now. Also the back button has been moved a little and it's easier to use than before.
The camera doesn't rotate anymore... but i didn't miss the feature, since you can still use it in the open or closed form, to take pictures of yourself or others.
I would complain only about few things:
- The pen is thin ! It looks thinner compared to the huge agenda. And it has a very weird to attach to the PDA.
- The picture browsing is waaaay slow. I'll better find a better program to handle the pictures.
- I can't recall anything else, but i'm sure that there were some things that bothered me. Well, let's say it's 4 and a half stars. Oh, the price !Wait a little until it drops. But even now it's worth every cent. For a journalist is the perfect tool. And for a physician (who i am) too.
- And, it might seem crazy, but i find this size more comfortable for me than before. I don't think of it as a PDA, instead i think of it as a pocket sized notebook.
Customer Rating: Summary: HUGE in every sense !
Comment: Well, let's start by the basics. This machine is HUGE by any means if you compare it to any other PDA. It's like, well, the Darth Vader of all the Palm Powered devices. It's black, it's menacing, it's all-powerful. You can stun an attacker with it if you whirl it over your head and hit him (it includes a convenient hand strap for that purpose).
Jokes aside, it is well built (i used to have a Clie NR70V and it was very fragile), the hinges and swivels are tight, it won't open inside your backpack and get all scratched inside.
It is also a nice PDA, with all the useful stuff that any common handheld has. (Memo, Agenda, Address, To Do, Whatever). But it excels on the add-ons. That's the best part.
The digital camera is awesome (autofocus/manual focus, flash, 2.0 MP) and it can store hundreds of pictures. There are many options and settings to play with.
It also has audio recorder software. The sound is crisp, clear, and you can record many, many, many hours of speech, enviromental audio or anything.
As any other Clie, it has its own mp3 player. There's no need to buy the special SONY smartmedia card to use it: a Lexmark alternative will do the trick.
Of course, if you combine audio + pictures, you'll get a video camera. It works as one. Not great quality, it might be compared with having a webcam with you all the time.
What else ? Integrated keyboard, speaker, remote control, a couple of headphones, infrared port.
I can even speak about Bluetooth. I don't have any bluetooth gear in my house, but i'm leaving the wake-up option enabled and see if i find any BT devices in my office. Besides the blinking blue led looks cool :).
It has many improvementes since the last Clie versions. The memory stick has changed its place, so it doesn't flip out every time you put it in your pocket. The craddle is now foldable and you can take it everywhere to charge and/or connect your clie. You can even attach it to the PDA and carry it around.
Even when it is bulky, it is very well built and with a nice eequilibrium... you can hold it in your hand and it won't fall easily. That happened with the NR70V: the screen was heavier than the body, so it fell backwards always.
The keyboard is a lot better and easier to use by now. Also the back button has been moved a little and it's easier to use than before.
The camera doesn't rotate anymore... but i didn't miss the feature, since you can still use it in the open or closed form, to take pictures of yourself or others.
I would complain only about few things:
- The pen is thin ! It looks thinner compared to the huge agenda. And it has a very weird way to attach to the PDA.
- The picture browsing is waaaay slow. I'll better find a better program to handle the pictures.
- I can't recall anything else, but i'm sure that there were some things that bothered me. Ah ! The memory !!! Yes. That's upsetting: you see, there are 16 Mb of RAM but you can access only 11 of them. Why ? I don't know. However the better use of the memory stick features compensates the lack of actual memory. I would have expected at least 64 Mb RAM for a beast like this. Well, let's say it's 4 and a half stars. Oh, the price !!! Wait a little until it drops. But even now it's worth every cent. For a journalist is the perfect tool. And for a physician (who i am) too.
- And, it might seem crazy, but i find this size more comfortable for me than before. I don't think of it as a PDA, instead i think of it as a pocket sized notebook.
