Sony Clie NX73V

The new Palm-based Clie from Sony appears, at first glance, to have everything a handheld computer owner could possibly want. There is a built-in camera capable of taking still images at resolutions of up to 640 x 480 and movies at 160 x 112. There are both Compact Flash and Memory Stick expansion slots, and Bluetooth is built in.

The excellent screen is capable of displaying at a resolution of 320 x 480, and you can remove the text entry area in some applications so they can use all of the display area. There is an MP3 player built in and plenty of other software comes already installed.

The design is exemplary. This Clie sports a clamshell case where the screen opens to reveal a small keyboard. The screen will also swivel 180 degrees so that the NX73V can be used in 'tablet' mode.

While all of these are positive features, and are fairly impressive too, you have to weigh them against a few negatives. For example, there is only 11Mb of the 16Mb of memory actually available for your own data.

This won't matter if you don't mind using expansion cards but if you want your essentials in memory, it might. Also, the software that plays music doesn't like reading from Compact Flash cards, so you'll need Memory Sticks if you want to carry tunes around. The keyboard, which at first might seem like a good alternative to handwriting recognition is, in fact, pretty difficult to use unless you have long nails with which to stab at the keys. Finally, there is the overall size, which is large and heavy in comparison to many handheld computers.

These negatives balance out some of the positives. On the other hand, if you are looking for a handheld and want something that can do a great deal the moment you take it out of the box, Sony is your company. It provides a good bundle of software, including image viewing and manipulation tools, a good document reader called Pixel Viewer, a universal remote control, voice memo manager, email and SMS tools. The Clie NX73V is not perfect - it's certainly not cheap - but it has plenty to offer.

Contact: Sony 0870 542 4424
www.sony-europe.com/clie