Anthony Newman has spent time with Sony's high-end, tablet-style CLIE PEG-TH55, and reports that there's plenty to get excited about with this design.
Sony's CLIE line has come to show what can really be done with Palm OS devices in terms of cutting-edge design and the 'wow' factor. With the PEG-TH55, Sony's first tablet-style handheld with a virtual handwriting area, Sony shows that they can still innovate within a tried-and-tested formula - and the result is a great success.
 | The PEG-TH55 comes with a protective, transparent flip lid
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Design
The TH55 starts with the usual tablet design, measuring a comfortable 121 x 73 x 16 mm and a middleweight 185 grams. It is constructed out of textured black plastic, which is very scratch resistant, with a gunmetal gray frame. At only 16 mm thin, combined with the large screen and minimalist buttons, the device gives the general feel that the user is holding nothing but an attractive but minimally-framed screen.
The screen is covered by a smoked flip-lid, which is removable with difficulty and snaps back to about 150 degrees: it won't fold all the way around. The display is exceedingly impressive, as usual. Running at the now-common 320 x 480 resolution, it's a 16-bit, 3.8-inch transflective unit in portrait orientation, with soft graffiti area, offering perfectly satisfactory levels of brightness, colour saturation and viewing angle. The touchscreen has average travel, but Sony has included their horrible telescopic stylus, which is just too short and thin for comfortable use. Incidentally, the end of the stylus activates the reset hole on the bottom of the unit.
The TH55's buttons are a very mixed bag. To keep the front face as minimalist as possible, Sony has shunted the four application buttons to the very bottom edge. They're tiny, nearly invisible and offer practically no feedback of any kind. On the plus side, they're unobtrusive and can be used with the flip-lid closed, and were by no means insensitive. By default, they're mapped to Sony's CLIE Organiser, Free Notes, Memo Pad and Sony's Menu app, which interacts with the Organiser. The default function is etched on the bezel above the button.
The left side of the unit is crammed with sliding switches, which are Sony's latest obsession. There are switches for the camera's shutter and lens cap, the power and hold switch and the voice recorder. In the middle of these is the Memory Stick Pro slot, which is now covered by a closing hinged door that completely clovers the slot, preventing accessories from fitting. On the whole, the sliders are well implemented. The voice recorder is a little poorly placed, but shouldn't be accidentally activated.
Sony's trademark jog dial has moved to the back top edge of the device, flanked by left/right buttons, which should lie directly under the user's index finger when cradling the unit. With the exception of the force required to press the buttons at certain angles, we found this very intuitive design, and especially welcome given the increasingly crowded nature of modern PDAs. On the flip side, since the buttons are on the front it is absolutely impossible to use the device with one hand alone.
Sony's usual back button is also on the back of the handheld, but sadly placed for exclusive use by right-handed people, who'll hold the device with their left hand. For those who prefer to hold the unit in their right hand, the button is very uncomfortable to use, which is a shame.
LEDs are provided along the top edge of the bezel, taking the form of illuminated words inside a clear strip. From left to right they indicate power (green when on, orange when charging, flashing when a button is pressed while the hold switch is activated), voice recording, Bluetooth and WLAN.
Audio is provided through a microphone mounted on the front and a speaker grille on the back, both of which performed just fine: audio volume wasn't stellar, but more than adequate for voice notes and notifications. A headphone jack is also available on the top-right side, providing the sort of decent performance that one would like. Sony's Audio Player 3.2 takes care of music playback.
Connectivity
Expansion includes the usual Memory Stick Pro slot. Should the slot be able to take Memory Stick peripherals, it couldn't anyway due to the hinged cover that protects the card when inserted, which is very unfortunate. The usual Sony two-part power/HotSync cable is included, but no cradle.
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