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Other connectivity is more impressive: a standard IR port is nearly invisible on the right corner of the TH55, and under the hood we find both Bluetooth (in European models only) and Wi-Fi included, complete with WEP. This means that aside from Consumer IR and a second slot, there's nothing really we can ask of the TH55 that it can't do. Wi-Fi performed acceptably for a handheld, with reasonable signal and only occasional hiccups when using the power saving mode.
 | Sony's new Organiser suite of PIM applications lends a friendly eye to multimedia
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Specifications
The PEG-TH55 uses the same processor found in the UX50, dubbed the Sony Handheld Engine. It auto-throttles between 8 MHz and a modest 123 MHz, but provides more than enough power to drive normal applications at this resolution with music in the background. Web pages draw smoothly in the NetFront browser and generally there can be no performance complaints.
The TH55 offers 32 MB of user-accessible RAM, with a 32 MB ROM - a decent amount, but not top-of-the-range, and users will want to take advantage of the Memory Stick Pro slot. A 16 MB card came supplied with our test unit, but that may vary by market.
Battery life has been an area of concern on recent high-end CLIE's, particularly the UX50, which shares a processor with this model. However, we are extremely happy to reveal that the battery life of the TH55 is excellent, even despite the small size, large screen and wireless capabilities of the handheld. Even with medium use at full brightness, with occasional wireless and picture taking, we barely made an impact on the battery, with overall life stretching past a week. This more than makes up for the fact that the Lithium Ion Polymer battery isn't easily user-replaceable. High marks to Sony on this aspect, at last.
Software
Sony has loaded the TH55 with Palm OS 5.2.1, but as usual have made some serious additions to the platform. The virtual Graffiti area, as with some earlier models, includes both Graffiti 2 and Decuma Latin support as well as Sony's toolbar. Programs are launched from Sony's own jog-dial-friendly application launcher, familiar from other CLIEs. One omission from this implementation of Palm OS is screen rotation - the TH55 is portrait only.
A huge range of other applications are found in the ROM, the first of which manages the VGA camera. The camera is activated by opening its protective lens cover, and software-wise offers a decent viewfinder rate as well as a preview of the last three pictures. Thanks to the hard button for taking photos, the camera can be operated in landscape or portrait with the cover closed, which makes things easier. Output was decent, although not up with the best VGA cameras we've seen. It supports 2x digital zoom and a timer, but no video recording.
The usual set of Sony utilities are included, such as CLIE Files, MS Backup, CLIE Mail (which is POP-only), Flash Player, the NetFront web browser, Picsel Viewer, and so forth. More interesting is CLIE Viewer, which serves as a catch-all program for pictures, voice memos, Quicktime movies, and even notes. Curiously, Sony also includes a separate Movie Player, which seems somewhat redundant.
The major software innovation of the PEG-TH55 is CLIE Organiser. CLIE Organiser replaces the standard PIM tools with a more media-led angle, allowing pictures, notes, sounds and digital ink to be dragged into appointments and scattered around the day. The multi-tabbed layout is cluttered with icons and is frankly a little bewildering at first, but does bring the power of the camera and screen into full effect.
The tabs are aligned down the right side of the screen, offering access to the Date Book, photo Address Book, hierarchical ToDo List, Free Note application (for handwritten notes), Memo Pad, Viewer (that can view anything made by the CLIE), References (conversion tables etc), and Applications (a launcher). It's not only exhaustive, but also rather exhausting. That doesn't mean it's not good - we rather like it, especially the ability to litter the day with pictures and scribbled notes. However, we're not sure how useful it will be, and we've never been fans of Sony's organisation - there seem to be far too many ways to view a picture on the TH55, and that's inefficient. Nonetheless, in combination with the jog roller it's a very effective way of managing both PIM and media, and for those who can't handle it, the original PIM apps are there too. Lastly, DataViz Documents To Go is included to handle Office-type files.
Availability
The Sony CLIE PEG-TH55 is available now at a suggested retail price of $399 USD.
Price and availability
The will start selling for TBA () in November 1999.
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