Sony CLI PEG-TJ35 review

Sony never lets you forget that it creates Personal Entertainment Organisers; Personal Data Assistants simply aren't trendy enough. But if you ignore the marketing, it rapidly becomes clear that the TJ35 is going head-to-head with the supposedly business-oriented Palm Tungsten E (see issue 110, p140).

Even their styling is similar, with a brushed metal look conforming to current PDA fashion. Where Sony wins is its clever fold-over cover, which gives the TJ35 the look of a diary when closed. It also keeps the CLI compact on the move, at 15mm thick, while the weight is a reasonable 170g even with the cover on (and 143g without).

We also appreciate the combined Hold/Power button. Switch this to the Hold position when you're listening to music and the screen switches off and all the buttons are disabled. This prevents accidental interruptions and maximises battery life - we squeezed eight hours, 45 minutes of music playback out it.

However, in order to listen to music on the TJ35, you'll have to buy both earphones and a Memory Stick. A 128MB stick is necessary for two hours of MP3s at 128Kb/sec, adding around £40 to the price. The Memory Stick is also necessary if you want to make backups; there isn't a backup battery in the TJ35 so this is essential as well. Still, it lasted for six hours, 34 minutes under light use with the backlight at its lowest setting, compared with four-and-a-half hours from the Tungsten E.

The screen itself doesn't compare favourably with Palm's device; even at the highest setting, it looks dull by Sony's usual high standards. Thankfully, colours are true, so photos look natural. Sony bundles its own app to make photo viewing easier, along with PicselViewer for viewing 'almost any document'. This includes Word and Excel files, but Palm bundles Documents To Go Professional 6 with the Tungsten E, allowing you to edit Word and Excel files too.

Both devices use Graffiti 2 rather than Graffiti, which many Palm die-hards are finding hard to get used to, but Sony also includes Decuma's handwriting recognition app. This works extremely well once you invest the initial time to understand how it functions. Another unique Sony feature is the Jog Dial, although it switches from the left-hand side of the device to between the four hardware launch buttons here. It isn't as intuitive, but it works.

We found both devices equally quick, in general use and in our benchmarks. This shows there's little difference between the Sony's 200MHz Motorola i.MXL chip and the 123MHz Texas Instruments processor in the Tungsten E.

Three other differences remain between the devices, and they all favour the Tungsten E. First, it has 28.8MB of memory available compared with 23MB on the CLI; second, the telescopic stylus in the PEG-TJ35 is more awkward than the solid metal stylus of the Tungsten; and third, the Sony is £25 more expensive. This prevents the CLI from claiming a place on our A List, but it's still a better choice both for looks and music playback.

Author: Tim Danton