Digital Trends

Sony CLIE PEG NX80V

August 17th, 2003 | by Brandon King

Introduction: Models models everywhere but not one that is just right!

On the heals of the NZ90's luke warm acceptance, Sony released the NX73V and NX80V as a compromise between size and camera quality.  But before we could get our hands on the NX80V, they announced ANOTHER Clie line, the UX40 and UX50.  Confused?  We all are.  Here's the rundown of the recent Clie Model madness:

Does that make it easier?  No, it really doesn't.  Let's make it more difficult.  Check the website and you will see that the memory stated above is not what is listed.  Sony has made it a practice to confuse the amount of actual memory you can use.  Above is listed the ACTUAL USER ACCESSIBLE memory.  Some programs that ship with the unit reside in RAM, and in the case of the UX series, the system has 16 MB of memory to perform an emergency backup, should the power drain completely.  Not confused enough?  Okay.  What if I told you that the CF slot cannot be used to play movies or music?  And the recently introduced car charger with built in GPS and FM transmitter cannot be used with the UX series.  If you were looking at any of these models, you have undoubtedly slammed your head into the desk by now.  Fear not, we will try to clear this muddy water.

Upgradeability

The first questions we had to ask, is where the NX80V fit in this lineup.  The one component that sticks out is the camera resolution, which unfortunately cannot be upgraded.  From there, the NX80V niche falls into place.  With no built in wireless options, but two media slots, anyone looking to later upgrade to wireless technology, but not sure which one, has two open routes.  Either the Sony WL100/WL110 802.11b CF card or the Sony Bluetooth Memory Stick.  Unfortunately, there is no combo card sporting either standards or one plus extra memory, so choose wisely. 

Music can be played off the Memory Stick Pro compatible slot, but a hack is required to the same with the Compact Flash slot.  Also, it is worth noting that Sony uses proprietary DSPs for MP3 decoding, so Palm OS based MP3 playing applications available on non-Sony devices will not work.  But this could be for the best.  The Clie sound quality is light-years beyond the current Palm offerings, and the Clie NX80V is bundled with ear buds and a remote for easy playback.  The ear buds are the typical low quality variety, but the headphone jack on the remote is a standard one, so the user can use any set of headphones they please.  MP3 playback can be set to the background, so you can still use the device while listening to your music.