Sony has released two new hardware accessories for their CLIE Palm OS devices, a folding keyboard and a gamepad. Maybe Sony has finally decided that accessories are useful?
Sony may finally be beginning to realize the importance of hardware add-ons for PDAs. Traditionally there have been very few serial-port accessories for Sony's CLIE devices, due in part to Sony's continual form-factor changes. Only six weeks after releasing a thumb board for the CLIE T-series, however, Sony has released two new hardware accessories, one for work and one for play.
 | Is that a Stowaway keyboard, or Sony's own? Looks good either way.
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The CLIE PEGA-KB11 is a full size folding keyboard, much like the ThinkOutside Stowaway keyboard. In fact, it looks exactly like it, and apparently folds into quarters the same was the Stowaway does. That raises several questions, as ThinkOutside recently announced that they were planning to release a version of the Stowaway for the PEG-T series within the next few weeks. Whether the PEGA-KB11 is truly a rebadged Stowaway, as it appears to be, or a Sony clone of the Stowaway is not clear. Either way, it is compatible with any device using the now effectively standard Sony serial port, including the PEG-T, PEG-NR, PEG-SJ, and PEG-SL series devices, and runs off the handheld's power, so there is no need for batteries.
 | For the gamer who doesn't like the PEG-T series buttons, the PEGA-GC10
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For users who prefer their handheld as a toy to a business device, Sony has also released the equally well-named PEGA-GC10 game controller. The PEGA-GC10 clips onto a PEG-T, PEG-NR, PEG-SJ, and PEG-SL series over the Graffiti area, and then connects to the serial port of the device with a very short cable. The gamepad has a left-hand 4-button set of directional buttons, which is unusual given that a single disk-rocker D-pad is a much more common design. There are also two right-hand action buttons, A and B, and two thumb-buttons, X and Y. There are also two buttons for Home and Menu, though the other normal buttons Palm are not duplicated. The gamepad also has a Hold switch, though what purpose that has isn't clear, as most games have their own sound-off function and few people listen to the background music for games without playing them. The GC10 also runs off of the device's battery via the serial port. The gamepad ships with the game Columns from Sega. There is no word on when an SDK will be available to other developers to include support for the gamepad.
The PEGA-GC10 is not the first gamepad for a Palm OS device, however. World Wide Widgets produced a gamepad for the Palm III-series, and another gamepad was available for the Handspring Visors for a time.
The PEGA-KB11 keyboard is available now from the SonyStyle web site for $89.99 USD. The PEGA-GC10 gamepad is available now from the SonyStyle web site as well, for a price of $39.99 USD.
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