CELL PHONES
» Coming soon
» Top 15
» Best-rated
SMARTPHONES
» Coming soon
» Top 15
» Best-rated
CAMERAS
» Coming soon
» Top 15
» Best-rated
REVIEWS
» Cell phones
» Cameras
» Camcorders
» Archive » Product Guide
» Compare » Expert guides
» RSS & Alerts » Ask The Editors
Home / Cell phones
Sony releases more T-series accessoriesBy Larry Garfield, Sunday 18 August 2002
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.
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
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.
Best Cell phones
Name Score Price Carrier
C
Nokia N95 8GB NAM 83% $450Unlocked
Apple iPhone 3GS 83% $200AT&T
Nokia N86 82% $500Unlocked
Nokia N85 81% $350Unlocked
RIM BlackBerry Storm 9530 78% $50Verizon Wireless
Apple iPhone 3G 77% $100AT&T
HTC Fuze 77% $300AT&T
RIM BlackBerry Tour 77% $200Verizon Wireless
HTC Touch Pro2 77% $350T-Mobile
Sprint Tour 77% $200Sprint
Click here to see full and advanced chart »
 
 
HOTTEST
Smartphones
 
Cell Phones
 
Upcoming Smartphones
TOP STORIES
Hottest Smartphones Set for November Release
 
Motorola Droid review
 
New Phones That Are Available Now
Upcoming T-Mobile Phones
 
New AT&T Phones
 
Upcoming Sprint Phones
Upcoming Android Phones
 
New HTC phones
 
New Nokia Phones
NEW CELL PHONE RELEASES
Motorola Droid
Samsung Moment
RIM BlackBerry Storm 2
Motorola Cliq
HTC Tilt 2
Sprint Hero
Samsung Intrepid
HTC Imagio
HTC Pure
CELL PHONE RESOURCE CENTER
Expert Guides
 
Advanced Search
 
Side-by-Side
IN-DEPTH REVIEWS
Cell Phones & Smartphones
 
Digital Cameras
 
Camcorders
NOW IN PHONES
Verizon Wireless unveils their Winter selection
 
Samsung Mythic tries to revive AT&T Mobile TV service
 
BlackBerry Bold 9700 review
 
Opera Mobile 10 beta for Symbian S60 Unveiled
 
Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Android Smartphone Announced
Motorola Milestone for O2, Vodafone Announced
iPhone Gets Five New EA Mobile Games
What's the best smartphone platform for developers?
Next 25 stories
MUST READ
CELL PHONES
» Coming soon
» Top 15
» Best-rated
SMARTPHONES
» Coming soon
» Top 15
» Best-rated
LAPTOPS
» Coming soon
» Top 15
» Best-rated
CAMERAS
» Coming soon
» Top 15
» Best-rated
INTERNET TABLETS
» Coming soon
» Top 15
» Best-rated
GPS NAVIGATORS
» Coming soon
» Top 15
» Best-rated
HDTVs
» Coming soon
» Top 15
» Best-rated
CAMCORDERS
» Coming soon
» Top 15
» Best-rated
About us | Site map | How to advertise | Feedback | RSS Feeds | | Archive
Copyright 1999-2009 © infoSync World