The answer to my dreams!!

Author's Rating:

Pros: An amazing PDA with tons of features for a great price.

Cons: Can't really think of any, but read the review for suggestions on slight improvements.

The Bottom Line: 
If you're looking for a PDA that can do it all, but keeps it within a small package, you've found your match. I'm speechless, SONY has a winner.

Author's Review
Where do I start? Everything about this PDA is amazing. I've been using this unit for about two months now and have not found one thing about it that I don't like.

My last PDA was a Visor Edge, which had 8 Mb of memory and a grayscale screen. About one year into owning that, I decided I wanted a color screen and more memory. Not only did I want that, but I wanted all of this in a unit that was no bigger than what I had and not too expensive. Well let me tell you, I waited a long time to find the Sony Clie TG-50 and it was well worth the wait!!

The color screen is brilliant, crisp, and clear. The unit has 16 Mb of onboard memory, but is expandable with Memory Sticks. I bought a 128 Mb stick for about $35. I've already loaded MP3's, movies, and pictures which all play and display flawlessly. The processor is FAST (200 Mhz) and I don't have to wait for anything. Text can be entered via the built-in keyboard (which is backlit) or Graffiti software that is already installed. The battery longevity is excellent, I haven't even come close to draining it even after using it for a couple weeks straight.

With the software bundle that comes included with the unit you can do almost anything you want. Basic things like calendar, address book, and to do lists are trivial at this point. Other software includes document readers, image viewers and editors, movie player, univeral remote, internet browser, audio players (including general MIDI), voice recorder, and flash player. See Sony's site for a complete list.

Here is a list of things about the TG-50 that will make you want it:

- Movies play flawlessly
- Can double as a MP3 player with incredible sound
- Also has a headphone jack for listening to audio
- Voice recorder lets you capture sound anywhere with two recording qualities
- Plays general MIDI which takes up very little memory and allows you to use it for alarms (Your favorite songs can be downloaded for free at various sites).
- Navigation is a breeze with the "Jog Dial Navigator" and back button mounted on the side
- The keyboard is backlit and is easy to use
- Unit is very slim and light (I always keep it in my front pants pocket)
- Unit is durable with a hard flip cover
- Univeral remote is phenomenal (controls everything I have)

How's that for a list? There's even more, but I think you get the idea. As far as things that could be improved, the speaker is one. Its mounted on the back and sounds great, but it is mounted on the back. I don't even know if it would be possible to ever put them anywhere else, but it may make the sound more prominent at times. There's always the headphone jack, though. Also, the up-down button for navigation is like a little switch that sticks out of the front. Ergonomically, it probably could have been designed a little better, but who's complaining? ;-)

If you're reading this, just go buy it and quit contemplating. You WILL NOT be disappointed with this amazing, high-tech piece of equipment.