Rating: 
Summary: Decent PDA, but extras left me wanting.
Review: The Sony TJ37 is my fourth PDA since 1998, when I jumped on the bandwagon with the first Palm III (since then: IIIxe, Clie SJ30, and now Clie TJ37). Back when I first had the Palm III, I wrote a memo to myself entitled, "When this technology will be worth it" The items I wanted in this palm-sized device were:
1) A full-fledged desktop computer with unrestricted internet access
2) A radio
3) A TV
4) A telephone
5) A weather station (therm., baro.)
6) GPS device
7) Almanac
The TJ37 offers none of those. It does have 802.11b support, which comes in handy if you're at a hotspot. The bundled browser is a passable solution for on-the-go email checking, although it doesn't work with certain websites, like Gmail). Other bundled software is appreciated, but not the boon to the PDA industry it should be. PicselViewer is the only stand-out among the new Sony-specific applications (a multi-format document viewer). I still found myself going back and installing apps that go above and beyond the limited offerings of programs for DateBook and the like.
The biggest selling point for me was the inclusion of MP3 support (via the slick-looking AeroPlayer) and the digital camera, both of which excited that part of my brain that's excited about convergence of technologies. But, as with all Swiss-Army-Knife-style gadgets, the add-ons were underwhelming in their functionality.
AeroPlayer is limited to how much Memory Stick storage you have available (an empty 64 MB stick will get you less than a full album's worth of songs) and the anemic battery life while playing the music.
The camera is likewise underwhelming, performing particularly poorly in low light situations. Exposure time is automatic, with no user control available, so unless you have a steady hand, you'll find yourself with grainy, blurry, yellow-hued pictures more often than not. Pictures in settings with more ambient light fare somewhat better, though the low resolution makes this camera far from a replacement for the dedicated digital cameras on the market now (even the cheapest ones have resolutions four times higher than the Clie's highest resolution setting. Still, the camera is good to have in a pinch.
The TJ37 was my first exposure to Palm OS5, and I found the OS unable to meet the hype of its rollout. It includes a new Grafitti handwriting-recognition algorithm that more closely resembles normal handwriting. The downside of this only occurs to folks who have become used to the old style of Grafitti. I found myself unable to create captial letters, T's, I's, L's and K's properly until I forced myself to relearn the system. But that falls under the category of annoyance more than debilitating feature.
In terms of form factor, it's almost exactly the same as my previous Clie, the SJ30. The JogDial has been moved to a position of prominence between the four hard-wired buttons below the silkscreen area, a change I appreciated very much. Flanking the JogDial on either side are a pair of navigation buttons that would be extremely helpful if they'd been used by more applications. Perhaps the best feature in the case is the addition of a "hold" position to the power button. This prevents the Clie's power being sucked dry by a accidental pressing in a pocket or purse. The new stylus design did not bother me as much as it has some other reviewers, and indeed I appreciated the engineering it took to get a full-sized (if telescoping) stylus in to the case. The drawback is tha tif you lose it, you're pretty much out of luck, as it's a stylus design common to no other PDA.
All in all, the TJ37 seemed to promise much, but the overall execution left it wanting. The new features, while appreciated, were carried out in the lackluster manner that befits a line of products that Sony is phasing out of America.
Rating: 
Summary: Great PDA
Review: The time had come to replace my aging Palm IIIe. My immediate instinct was to replace it with a Palm Zire 71 or 72. But, after reading some not so favorable reviews of Palm's spotty quality these days I decide to broaden my search. I looked at the Clie TJ27 & TJ37 as well as iPaq's and the Toshiba Pocket PC. Though I liked the way the PocketPC's sounded on paper, a few trips to the store demo'ing them cured me. I know some people swear by PocketPC , but it seems too awkward to me.
So, I was back down to the Zire 72 or the Clie. I decided on the Clie TJ37 because of the built-in WiFi, which is more useful to me than the Bluetooth on the Zire. I have been very happy with the PDA. Here's my Pros/Cons list:
Pros:
1. Great screen, very sharp and nice colors.
2. Super fast when running 3rd party apps.
3. Decent battery. When using under normal PDA use I get about 1 week per charge. Note that using the WiFi drains the battery within about 2.5-3 hours.
4. WiFi! It's great to be able to send/receive email and do a little surfing. Email is definetly more usable than surfing, simply because of screen real estate.
5. The camera is really quite good. It is LOW RES, so it's not suitable for print quality (even little 4x6). However, it's perfect for taking shots that you are going to email or put on the web. And with the WiFi capability you can snap a photo and send it from the PDA. Very handy if you happen to work on the road a lot. The ergonmics of the camera are quite good, much nicer than the Palm models.
5. The built-in software, Picsel, is quite good. It reads a variety of documents, PDF, Image files, HTML, etc. from your memory stick. I like the rest of the bundled software too, DataViz's Docs to Go is essential and it's good that they included it.
Cons:
1. The stylus is just to small. Sony obviously had to make it a telescoping stylus to fit the camera, I just wish it was fatter.
2. For $300 it would be nice to have a case. The cover is good, but a carrying case is necessary.
That's my 2 cents.
Rating:
Summary: great price, great machine
Review: This machine is great -- WiFi that's easy to use, great Sony type programs like Piscel viewer that lets you see any document as it actually might print -- sort of like having Print Preview on your handheld. Good controls, nice programs, light weight, camera is just ok -- but you are not buying it as a camera. My gripes are these: screen could be brighter and the stylus is annoying -- it's like it is built for a 5-6 year old. I like a sturdier stylus. Also, bluetooth would have been great. It's more useful on a handheld than WiFi is. I am sure they could have charged the same but kept the Wifi out and used Bluetooth in its place.
Rating: 
Summary: Sony Customer Service
Review: What a nightmare. The Clie I had purchase from Amazon.com was a TG50. I had bought it less than a year ago when it refused to stay on. After several trying to do a "hard boot" on it and having to constantly restore my data from my back up I called what Sony loosely refers to as Customer Support.... What a misnomer. It took me approximately 10 days just to get a person on the phone that understood the problems with my Clie and agree to let me send it in for warranty repair. I found the Service Tech's rude and very hard to understand. I needed to repeat what the problem was with the unit several times and was told it wasn't under warranty. I had to prove to them the date of purchase...not a problem.
Once they got their hands on it they decided that it had physical damage that caused the problem. I had had an area on the screen that had faded for at least 1-2 months before the problems began on a unit I used several times a day. After 10 days they phoned me back to say it was physical damage and they needed $138.00 to cover the repair and shipment of my unit. After I had paid the ransom for the return of my Clie to me it took another 15-20 days of constant phone calls to get status of the repair. Once they stated it would be sent the next day and to call for a tracking number. Once that they were waiting for parts, then that it was in for exchange due to the fact they were unable to keep it booted. This was my initial problem. The excuses and phone calls were and still are endless. Finally after over a month of hassle I had someone call back from Sony San Diego stating that they no longer made my model and want to send me a sub-standard unit to replace it. If I want them to replace mine with a like unit that had the equipment on it I once had I would have to give them another $60.00. If I didn't take the sub-standard and be glad of it they would just simply send back the one that is broken and state the problem was physical damage. This is impossible. They have little respect for their customers and have no qualms in using the old it was physical damage to make up for a poor warranty service. To this day I still have nothing resolved. I would give anything to have bought from any other company than Sony.
J. Peterson R.N.
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