Sony Clie VZ90 Available for US Import
A company called Dynamism is now accepting orders for the Sony Clie VZ90 from Japan for shipment to customers in the US. The VZ90 is Sony's latest Clie Palm OS handheld that features a landscape OLED 480x320 pixel screen, WiFi and multiple expansion options.
The Sony Clie VZ90 features a 3.8 inch, 65k color organic EL display, with a 480x320 pixel resolution. According to Sony, the display provides a contrast ratio of 1000:1, a fast response time and a 180-degree viewing angle. It has a special emphasis on portable multimedia and is the first PDA to ship with an OLED screen.
The handheld runs Sony's 123 MHz handheld engine system on the Japanese version of Palm OS Garnet v5.2.1. It includes, 64MB of RAM, of which 40MB is user available, as well as 128MB of built in Flash, where 95MB of that is available to the user. The unit also features dual memory expansion, with a memory stick PRO slot and a Compact Flash Type I/II slot that can also accommodate select IO CF expansion cards. The handheld also has built in WiFi wireless and an IR port for connectivity.
Since the native OS version is Japanese, Dynamism's tech team is attempting to convert the VZ-90 for English speaking use. It is available now as-is with the Japanese OS. The price for the Dynamism Imported Clie VZ90 is $1099 USD.
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RE: Now, if only...
Zodiac2/T616
2.128 gigs under the hood.
RE: Now, if only...
pen & paper -> m515 -> Zire72 -> TH55
$1099??? Shame on you, Dynamism! Greedy little bastar...
Someone supposedly had a VZ90 with proper (fully localized) English OS on demo in San Francisco a few weeks ago. I was hoping to get a ROM dump, but it didn't work out. I hope someone gets the ROM and offers the upgrade for free (not that I can condone doing anything like this!).
I still can't understand why Sony keeps wrecking great designs. Had they simply put a 4 inch OLED screen into a UX50 with a better battery, we would have the perfect Palm. Instead they try to re-invent the wheel. Again. Whatever, Sony.
My source claimed that there's a new version of NetFront on the VZ90. I wonder if it works with the UX50 and TH55...
******************************************************************
Sony CLIE UX100: 128 MB real RAM, OLED screen. All the PDA anyone really ever wanted.
SHAME ON SONY! DYNAMISM SUCKS!!!!!!!!!
However, think SHAME ONE SONY to not to sell their PDAs in world's richest and most educated market. I think SONY sucks more than Dynamism by allowing companies like this to take advantage of us.
I will never buy another SONY until they put their act together on this issue...
NO MORE SONY!
LIGHTEN UP PALM! GIVE US A REAL TUNGSTEN WITH Wi-Fi + BT!!!
THANX!!!
Palm III>Palm IIIx>PalmV>PalmVx>Palm m505>Palm M515>Tungsten T
Dell X30 624Mhz w/BT+Wi-Fi
Nokia 6600 w/BT
RE: $1099??? Shame on you, Dynamism! Greedy little bastar...
Between Handera getting killed off and Sony chickening out, I've losing faith in PDAs. It's ironic that Sony left when they did - they were so close to creating the perfect mix of features. Now where are we going to find a well made PalmOS PDA from now on? Sure as he11 not from Pa1mone! Thank Budda for eBay!
Since the m505 came out, we've seen a string of second-rate hardware being released by Palm. Are they even CAPAPLE of putting out a PDA that doesn't have a buggy OS or horrible hardware quality? I now doubt it.
m505 - "Get the Hungarian one!", "m505 brightness hack, please!"
m130 - "thousands of colors!"
Treo 600 - "could have been a great smartphone - except it's a piece of c r a p phone"
TE - "how cheap can we get?"
T3 - "baked SD card, anyone?"
T5 - "rush job, incarnate..."
PalmOS deserves better hardware than what Palm is now capable of giving it. PalmOS reminds me of a Pro Bowl quarterback getting stuck playing year after year for a team that isn't even good enough to make the playoffs. Eventually, the OS will be reduced to the level of the hardware it plays on.
It will be interesting to see if Sony brings out the long-awaited CLIE UX100 in Japan next spring. But then I suppose Dynamism would try to get $1500 for one of them with an English localization. Thanks for nothing, Sony-san.
******************************************************************
Sony CLIE UX100: 128 MB real RAM, OLED screen. All the PDA anyone really ever wanted.
RE: $1099??? Shame on you, Dynamism! Greedy little bastar...
Sony has already priced it like a laptop, it's not like they're selling it for normal PDA prices and Dynamism has jacked it up. I don't want a VZ90, but I am the very grateful owner of a TH55/E, and I feel Expansys deserves every penny they got from me and more, because otherwise I'd be stuck with an average PDA instead of what is to me the greatest PDA ever made. If it's good enough and hard enough to get that you have to import it from the other side of the world, it's worth paying a little extra for, IMHO.
RE: $1099??? Shame on you, Dynamism! Greedy little bastar...
If you think you can do better, set up your own company and lets see if you can do better.
RE: $1099??? Shame on you, Dynamism! Greedy little bastar...
[quote]
m505 - "Get the Hungarian one!", "m505 brightness hack, please!"
m130 - "thousands of colors!"
Treo 600 - "could have been a great smartphone - except it's a piece of c r a p phone"
TE - "how cheap can we get?"
T3 - "baked SD card, anyone?"
T5 - "rush job, incarnate..."
The T3's problem was totally solved by the ROM update, I agree with your assessment of the other units however. I went through 4 m505s, both USA and Hungarian made units, all had poor screen brightness. The "fix" to the m505 was the m515!
RE: $1099??? Shame on you, Dynamism! Greedy little bastar...
My answer to you, again DYNAMISM SUCKS!
PRICE GAUGING SUCKS, WE NEED TO HANG THE PRICE GAUGERS!!!
THANX!
Palm III>Palm IIIx>PalmV>PalmVx>Palm m505>Palm M515>Tungsten T
Dell X30 624Mhz w/BT+Wi-Fi
Nokia 6600 w/BT
RE: $1099??? Shame on you, Dynamism! Greedy little bastar...
Sony has already priced it like a laptop, it's not like they're selling it for normal PDA prices and Dynamism has jacked it up. I don't want a VZ90, but I am the very grateful owner of a TH55/E, and I feel Expansys deserves every penny they got from me and more, because otherwise I'd be stuck with an average PDA instead of what is to me the greatest PDA ever made. If it's good enough and hard enough to get that you have to import it from the other side of the world, it's worth paying a little extra for, IMHO.
Wholesale on the VZ90 is less than $600 (US). It probably costs Dynamism less than $100 to import these PDAs. Is $400 profit on a $600 PDA excessive? The market will decide.
The European TH55 is a great device. I called Expansys USA a few weeks ago to order one as a backup, but they had sold out (even though it was still on their website). I ended up getting what was probably the last new US TH55 in the state instead. After watching videos on the TH55, it was hard to go back to my UX50 (the real "greatest PDA ever made"). I've found one company in England that still has Euro TH55, but importing it probably won't be worth the hassle. Sony's decision to cripple the US TH55 was really annoying.
******************************************************************
Sony CLIE UX100: 128 MB real RAM, OLED screen. All the PDA anyone really ever wanted.
RE: $1099??? Shame on you, Dynamism! Greedy little bastar...
Price is merely what the buyer is willing to pay and what the seller is willing to accept.
RE: $1099??? Shame on you, Dynamism! Greedy little bastar...
I was going to buy a Libretto L5 from them at one point...Then I found another importer charging $700 less than what they charge dfor the same machine.
They have a VERY HEFTY markup going on. I use them to see what is available. Then I price shop elsewhere.
RE: $1099??? Shame on you, Dynamism! Greedy little bastar...
Economic freedom includes the right to charge "whatever the market will bear".
RE: $1099??? Shame on you, Dynamism! Greedy little bastar...
P.T. Barnum said there's a sucker born every minute. The sales of the m505 and m130 proved he underestimated the sucker birthrate by a factor of 1000, so maybe Dynamism will manage to sell a few of the new CLIEs for almost eleven hundred U.S. dollars. Eleven hundred! Har de har har.
******************************************************************
Sony CLIE UX100: 128 MB real RAM, OLED screen. All the PDA anyone really ever wanted.
RE: $1099??? Shame on you, Dynamism! Greedy little bastar...
RE: $1099??? Shame on you, Dynamism! Greedy little bastar...
Given that there is NO ONE else that is importing these things and selling them here in the States, I would infer that the market for high-end gadgets is not that big. If there WAS such a big demand for these devices, other businesses would surely jump into the fray to get a piece of the business. We who frequent the the forums on websites such as PIC are a very small part of the market. I think that we should be glad that Dyanamism exists at all, or people in the States would have ZERO chance of getting their hands on one of these.
Just my 2 cents...
TMann
RE: $1099??? Shame on you, Dynamism! Greedy little bastar...
> m130 - "thousands of colors!"
> Treo 600 - "could have been a great smartphone - except it's a piece of c r a p phone"
> TE - "how cheap can we get?"
> T3 - "baked SD card, anyone?"
> T5 - "rush job, incarnate..."
Hey, VofR, you forgot about one:
TT - "Hey, that's not where I tapped! What the hell is wrong with this digitizer? Guess I'll have to reset it for the third time today..." And who could forget, "Why does pressing the power button only turn it on/off every third f'ing time?"
I did own an M505 before that (you forgot to mention "cradle death," BTW. But the T|T is without doubt the worst PDA purchase I ever made. The T2 is what the T|T should have been. Got one for my wife a year ago, and it's given us nary a problem.
cheers, d.
RE: $1099??? Shame on you, Dynamism! Greedy little bastar...
The VZ90 sells in Japan for 90,000-95,000 yen (not including sales tax) which is just under $900. So, they are selling it for $1100 including import expenses and their warranty etc? Seems like Sony is to blame for the high price.
RE: $1099??? Shame on you, Dynamism! Greedy little bastar...
TT - "Hey, that's not where I tapped! What the hell is wrong with this digitizer? Guess I'll have to reset it for the third time today..." And who could forget, "Why does pressing the power button only turn it on/off every third f'ing time?"
I did own an M505 before that (you forgot to mention "cradle death," BTW. But the T|T is without doubt the worst PDA purchase I ever made. The T2 is what the T|T should have been. Got one for my wife a year ago, and it's given us nary a problem.
Yes, I left out a lot of major problems, but it would likely take an entire page to list all the quality control issues Palm's PDAs have had over the past few years. It's funny how my IIIx, TRGpro, CLIE S300, UX50 etc are built to such a better standard than anything Palm now sells. Going from a CLIE TH55 to a Tungsten feels like going from a Lexus to a Lada. For me, the extra money it costs to buy quality hardware is a good investment.
******************************************************************
Sony CLIE UX100: 128 MB real RAM, OLED screen. All the PDA anyone really ever wanted.
RE: $1099??? Shame on you, Dynamism! Greedy little bastar...
m130 thousands of colors
}
Was that suppose be Palm's new 16bit color PDA that only turned out to be 12bit due to some engineering error with the display design?
Hearing ppl's rant about this overpriced PDA reminds of when I called Dell up 2 years ago seeing of they had any decent deals on hds. Some bastard tried to sell me an 80GB Maxtor 7200rpm 2MB cache for $304. I laguhed and laughed and laughed and laughed, and then bought one online for $104. There isn't anything wrong about what the guy did from a business perspective to say the least. An informed consumer always climbs to the top above all the muck, but you would think some of the transactions that happen can be almost as worse as ppl trying to sell bags of ice for $80 in FL after 4 tornadoes have left ppl homeless in 90 degree F + weather.
[signature0]the secret to enjoying your job is to have a hobby that's even worse[/signature0]
[signature1]My PDAs: Visor --> Visor Neo (blue) --> Zire 71.... so ends the "marathon", for now[/signature1]
Sony Ericsson President: PDAs are not coming back.
Question:
Did Sony Ericsson's success with smartphones lead to Sony's decision to stop selling PDAs in the United States?
Answer:
Definitely. The collapse of the PDA market is driven by the success of smartphones. Of course, we've benefited from many of the lessons Sony learned with the Clié. We have the same Memory Stick and the jog dial and a great display. Yet I think within the family they see that smartphones are the next step. PDAs are not coming back.
******************************************************************
Sony CLIE UX100: 128 MB real RAM, OLED screen. All the PDA anyone really ever wanted.
RE: $1099??? Shame on you, Dynamism! Greedy little bastar...
I have a feeling that in a few years we'll look at what will be an old PDA (like the TH55, or T5) and it will seem quaintly limited like pocket calculators do now.
We all knew big things were happening in handhelds, and happening quickly.
We didn't know handhelds as we know them now would evolve out of existance!
Not that that's a bad thing.
RE: $1099??? Shame on you, Dynamism! Greedy little bastar...
******************************************************************
Sony CLIE UX100: 128 MB real RAM, OLED screen. All the PDA anyone really ever wanted.
Sony Clies
RE: Sony Clies
When my TH55 dies, which I hope is not too soon as it's a near perfect pda, I'll most probably switch to PPC or Symbian (the SE P910 looks sooo good!). P1, you have a couple of years to lure me back, or else....
It's a shame that PalmOS is running on such crappy hardware. If only they could get more 3rd party manufacturers like PPCs.
pen & paper -> m515 -> Zire72 -> TH55
RE: Sony Clies
To Mr. Voice of Reason: the Palm M515 was a beautiful device. Solid, heavy, tiny, and color. If Palmone would release that in 320x320 it would sell like hotcakes. And the T5 isn't that bad: super fast processor, big screen, bluetooth. I wish my NX70 was that thin.
Everyone on here is too feature-crazed. If your palm can connect easily to other machines, it shouldn't matter what device you own. The days of the Tungsten E (no WiFi, no BT) are over. Every other device is fine.
-- Happy with his little Zire 72
Nokia 3650 bluetooth magnate
RE: Sony Clies
But seriously, the only reason I would like to own the VZ90 is the battery life/OLED screen. It would be nice to be able to read ebooks for long durations without recharging.
I don't really care much about Wifi. BT is actually good enough for me:)
pen & paper -> m515 -> Zire72 -> TH55
Palm should email this guy's post to EVERY employee:
When my TH55 dies, which I hope is not too soon as it's a near perfect pda, I'll most probably switch to PPC or Symbian (the SE P910 looks sooo good!). P1, you have a couple of years to lure me back, or else....
It's a shame that PalmOS is running on such crappy hardware. If only they could get more 3rd party manufacturers like PPCs.
I wonder how many others have said this as well. Does Palm's Board really think that they can get away with selling c r a p p y hardware forever? Having a superior OS will mean squat if the the hardware is absolute garbage. Palm seems to be following Netscape's blueprint to oblivion. Their marketshare is roughly HALF what it was three years ago, and hardcore Palm fans seem to be preparing to dump Palm in disgust over the shoddy, overpriced, feature-poor hardware running PalmOS these days. These hardcore users are the pulse of the market, despite their small numbers. If the people who recommend PDAs to businesses and casual users alike are dumping Palm, what do you think will happen to the market share in a few months? WAKE UP, PALM!
And sorry, Palm but Treo 650 is not the Messiah!
******************************************************************
Sony CLIE UX100: 128 MB real RAM, OLED screen. All the PDA anyone really ever wanted.
This is typical of Gray Market
My guess is that $200 to $300 at best is going to the importer -- the rest is tariff. Get your economics right before you start to say someone is greedy -- but then, "... any price the market bares ..." has grown great countries and "fair pricing" has created collapsed countries and cultures. If you don't think that is right, get off your butt and do something productive other than slogging on Internet sites all day.
RE: This is typical of Gray Market
While an m505 with 320x320 might do well with a new release, the Tungsten E has already been there. Maybe a price reduction on the E is in order, it has been out over a year now. Pricing is the key point palmone seems to be missing. My Zire72 does seem priced right, though.
As for the vz90, okay, but I think I shall stay with portrait oriented PDAs with hardware buttons always accessible.
--------------------------------------
Using a Zire72 to post this for no apparent reason
European CLIE TH55 (Bluetooth + Wi-Fi) available in USA!
$684.95 - yes, Expansys is pulling a fast one on us but how else can you get one of these? Supply + demand + greed. Gotta love economics!
Once these are sold out next week, eBay will be the only place to find them. Don't say you weren't warned...
******************************************************************
Sony CLIE UX100: 128 MB real RAM, OLED screen. All the PDA anyone really ever wanted.
This handheld IMO is overpriced
My ideal Handheld:
Intel PXA27X
Built-In Jump Drive
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, both superceding IRDA
Stereo and Bose Surround
480x640 Resolution with 262K OLED Colors
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http://www.hyalineskies.com/