Introducton
The PEG-SJ20 is Sony's latest entry-level model, coming in at $200. It is a jump up from the newly released, and less expensive, SL10, with more memory, an internal battery, and a better backlight.

I've only had an SJ20 since Wednesday so I don't feel ready to do a full review. However, I'll cover some of the points that people have been asking about now that Sony will let me talk about it.

The Screen
When I first heard Sony was releasing another hi-res monochrome model, my first thought was "I hope it's better than the T415." I didn't enjoy it but I was one of the people who had to pan the T415 for having a screen that was just too dark. In my review, I suggested to Sony that what the T415 needed was a white backlight, not a green one, and to have the backlight be on by default. I don't know if someone was listening or not but that is exactly what the SJ20 has, and it has saved the model.

While the SL10 and SJ20 have the same screen, the backlight makes all the difference in the world. I think the SL10 is still too dim but the SJ20 isn't at all. The strong white backlight gives it good contrast and a fairly white background. In fact, it is brighter and has better contrast than a Palm m505

However, the screen isn't perfect. Like the SL10, it suffers from "ghosting". This means that moving items on the screen leave a trail behind them. While this won't affect most applications much, it does cause real problems for fast-moving games. You can definitely play Kinoma movies, though some moving things do get blurred.

For eBook reading, this ghosting will also limit how fast you can have the text scroll before it becomes unreadable. I tried it and found text was OK as long as it moved at a slow to moderate pace. Anything you might describe as even sort of fast was unusable. Nevertheless, the good contrast and bright screen make me think the SJ20 would make a good eBook reader for most. Just use the Jog Dial to change pages.

Like I said, the backlight saved this model. Without it on, the screen is too dark in all but the brightest lighting conditions so expect to have it on pretty much all the time. You can, however, use the SJ20 in direct sunlight without problems.

Shape
The shape for the SJ20 has turned out to be a bit controversial. It is significantly shorter than previous Sony models but it is also thicker. If you want to be exact, it is 4.1 by 2.9 by .7 inches. It weighs 4.5 ounces.

I think this general shape came about because of the SL10, the SJ20's sister model. It uses AAAs, which limits how thin it can be. I'm guessing someone at Sony made a decision that all these models would be the exact same size.

This has advantages both for Sony and for us end users. Sony gets interchangeable parts between all three models, which can really cut down on production costs. We get some of this savings passed down to us, plus cases designed for any of these models will fit all of them. This is a real advantage. For example, Palm made the m500 thinner than the m505, which seemed like a good idea at the time. Have fun finding a hardcase that fits the m500 well. They are all designed for the thicker m505, leaving the m500 to rattle around inside.

As you can probably tell, I've got no problem with the slightly thicker casing, for the same reason that I don't object to the shape of Palm's m100 series. What fits best in your pocket isn't what fits best in your hand. In your pocket, the thinner the better. In your hand, a bit of thickness makes a handheld more comfortable to hold.

And it isn't like the SJ20 is huge. The thickest part of the SJ20 is .1 inch larger than the thickest part of the T665C.

Battery Life
This is usually one of the major areas of my reviews but I haven't had the SJ20 long enough to be able to tell you anything very useful. So far, though, it looks pretty good. At this point I've been using the SJ20 for 4 hours and 30 minutes since the last recharge and the battery is at 50%, even with the backlight on the whole time. Battery levels don't drop consistently so don't read too much into that but I'm hoping for 7 or 8 hours of use before I have to recharge it.

Monochrome models generally have much better battery lives than ones with color screens and I doubt this one will be any different. Long battery life, and lower prices, are the compensations for passing on a color screen.

Etc.
I'm not going into it in depth here but I thought I should at least mention that the SJ20 runs Palm OS 4.1 on a 33 MHz Dragonball chip. It has 16 MB of RAM, which is as much as you can have.

It has a Jog Dial and, in an improvement over the S360, a Back button, which makes the Jog Dial much more useful.

The SJ20 has the same HotSync port the T- and NR-series models do. There are some differences about the shape of the bottom of these various models so I'm not going to say that all peripherals will work with all models but things look promising right now. I've tested the SJ20 with various cables designed for the T series and haven't run into any that won't work yet. This is important because the SJ20 doesn't come with a cradle, just Power and HotSync cables. If you want a cradle, you'll need to buy one from another Sony model.

The Memory Stick slot seems unusually slow. I haven't had a chance to explore this in depth yet but I promise I will in the full review.

What It Doesn't Have
Usually reviews focus on the features that are included in a handheld, but I think its necessary to go over some features that the SJ20 doesn't have.

It does not have the enhanced speaker from the T and NR series. It has the standard "beep-beep-beep" one most Palm OS models do.

It also doesn't have the enhanced infrared port first seen on the T series, nor does it come with the Clié Remote Commander application. This means you won't be using this as a TV remote unless you buy a third-party app for it.

These aren't complaints; I understand this is a low-end model and some features have to be left out to keep the price down. But people keep asking whether these features are included and I want to be sure people know they aren't.

Speaking of not complaining, it also doesn't have the godawful buttons from the T series. I won't be sad when we see the last of those. The ones on the SJ20 are slightly concave, plastic, and are fine for gaming or just launching applications.

Conclusion
When Sony announced the SL10 and said it would be replacing the S360, I was a bit nervous because it didn't seem like a step in the right direction to me. The SL10's 8 MB of RAM and dark screen made it suitable for entry level users but not people who wanted something more towards the midrange. Sony seemed to be ignoring the people who are looking for a fairly loaded handheld but don't want to take the price and power hits that come with a color screen.

That's why I was so glad when info about the SJ20 first began to leak out. And I'm even happier now that I've had a chance to play with it.

Update: Part II of this review is also available.

Review: Sony PEG-SJ20, Part I http://www.palminfocenter.com/news/3999/review-sony-pegsj20-part-i/

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