Introduction
My current palmtop is a Sony PEG-N610C. It has 7MB of internal RAM and I have an extra 8Mb in a memory stick. I use only about 4Mb of the whole thing, even though I am a heavy Palm user. I first got hooked onto the Palm pilot when Ajay got the IIIx, on which he had set up his Address book and Schedule. It was an elegant setup, in which his Linux machine talked to the Palm pilot, taking backups and keeping the address book current. Last year, I began using a VIIx, which I was gifted, and then the Sony Clie. The big advantages to the Clie are it's color screen, and USB, which sync's with my computer (Apple iBook running Debian Linux), and is much faster than the sync using a serial cable.
My brother gifted me a Sony Clie PEG-NR70V/U. I am very happy with my Sony Clie PEG-N610C, and had my setup perfected for it. Also, with the falling prices of the Sharp Zaurus SL 5500, I was keeping an eager eye out for them. And luckily, I happened to have all three, so I could carry out a nice comparison between them all.
The players
- Sony Clie PEG-NR 70V/U (Called NR70). This is a little PDA running Palm OS. The main features of this computer include a 1 Mega Pixel camera, wonderful sound (with speakers built in), keyboard and a very clear color screen.
- Sony Clie PEG-N610c (Called N610). This also runs Palm OS. The big features of this computer include a nice screen, and a small casing. Very good to carry around in your pockets all day.
- Sharp Zaurus SL 5500 (Called Zaurus). This computer runs Linux on the Intel Strong ARM chip. Features include sound (without built-in speakers), a keyboard and a color screen.
Cost
The first criterion for me is: cheap. I do not want to spend too much money (or want someone to spend too much money on me) for just a palmtop. $200 is the max I will pay for any PDA. The NR610 costs about $100-$150 on eBay. The NR70 costs about $150-250 on eBay and the Zaurus is about $200 on eBay. However, tigerdirect also sells a refurbished Zaurus for $200. Store prices are irrelevant to me since they are hiked beyond belief, and then the customer is lured with freebies, and rebates. You might want to check current prices.
So on price, they are just about equal. The N610 is the cheapest.
Application support
The basic features of all PDAs are an Address book (Shelly Rush: (850) 323-231) , a Scheduler (Meet Eric for dinner), a To Do list (Got to do laundry before Sunday), and a Memo pad. All three PDAs have this functionality. The Clie's share the same programs since they both run Palm OS. The Zaurus has it's own programs to do all these.
Lots of software for the Palm Pilot as well as the Zaurus is available online.
Choice of OS
The Clies run Palm OS and the Zaurus runs Linux. Why is this such a big deal? Why should it matter what your PDA runs as far as it has the usual programs?
- Capability: What your PDA can do is limited by what the OS is capable of doing. Palm OS does not support multitasking, and so you can only run one program at a time. This might seem reasonable, but when you combine your pda with a MP3 player, this means that you'd have to stop playing music to look up a telephone number.
- Applications available: There is a host of Palm Pilot software. However, most of the gratis software is given in binary form, and is not very polished. The Palm Pilots (and clones: Sony Clie, Handspring visor) are the only devices that run Palm OS. Linux, on the other hand runs on a variety of hardware, and there is already a wealth of software available for it. Further, most of the software is open source, and can be modified to suit one's needs.
- Programmer tools: The Palm OS SDK is freely available, and runs on
a variety of hardware. Yet, it is painful to debug and the programmer
tools available are a fraction of what is available on Linux. All
this makes a difference to the large pool of hackers who are eager to
scratch their itch. Linux on palmtops is a relatively new platform
compared to the Palm OS, and yet the amount of applications available
are impressive. In most cases, they are Linux or UNIX programs which
have been modified to run on the palmtop. In most cases, the
modifications are minor compared to the effort it would require to run
the programs on Palm OS.
For Linux, one can do all development and testing on a normal Linux box, and when the application is ready: port it to the Zaurus. This sounds like more work, but is faster than the compile-debug cycle on the Palm pilot due to the additional hassle of having to use POSE to emulate the palm.
- Clean design: The Palm OS was designed to be a PDA OS, and excels in a few things. A lot of thought went in the User Interface (UI) issues, and it shows in how elegant and clean the interface is. It is not weighed down by features which might not be required on a PDA. However, palmtops today are more powerful than the original machines used to develop UNIX, so the question of lack of performance is less relevant.
- Open-ness: Linux for the Zaurus can be modified since the full source code is available. One can modify it easily to suit one's needs in ways that is not possible of Palm OS.
Host Computer Support
The N610 is very well supported in Linux. The NR70 also works with Linux, though I had to obtain a kernel patch, and it took a little effort to get it working. Pilot-xfer did not work, and quite some time was wasted before I figured out that coldsync does the job. I did not spend enough time with it. People have got it to work perfectly with Linux. The Zaurus is most interesting of the lot. It connects using a USB cable, and on Linux, a special patch makes a module called 'usbdnet.o'. This module exhibits a network interface for the Zaurus. So the Zaurus is a proper Linux machine attached via a USB network to the host computer (Apple iBook in my case). Then, the Zaurus is a full TCP/IP host, and one can telnet, ftp, ping back and forth.
All three are supported in Windows.
Interface
The Palm OS has a very elegant interface. The built-in applications make frequent tasks very easy and accessible, and the screen layout and button positions are beautifully designed. Both the Clies inherit this great layout. I like the N610 more than the NR70, partly because the N610 was pure Palm, while the NR70 had a few more additions which were clearly made by Sony, and infringed upon the design principles of Palm OS.
The Zaurus runs Qtopia on Linux. The software is very well done, but they have ignored some simple guidelines that the Palm follows. Frequent actions are not always most accessible. Quite some screen space is wasted, as in the Terminal program. There is a list of frequent commands which takes two whole rows of precious real estate. This could easily be smaller, or eliminated altogether. The calculator program has quite a simple interface, and pales in comparison with the Palm's calculator. The programs also have considerable screen clutter compared to their Palm counterparts, in part because they have many more features. However, the programs are available with source, and so one can easily modify it. (Yippee)
Input
The Palm OS uses graffiti, which is a commendable technology. With little practice, one can enter quite some information on Palm machines without errors. The Zaurus uses it's own handwriting recognition. I do not know why Trolltech (developers of Qtopia) did not license graffiti from palm, especially since it is quite polished, and does not require much CPU. This bothered me initially, since I am a heavy Palm user. However, the handwriting recognition on the Zaurus is very usable, and is more intuitive than graffiti to the beginner.
The keyboard on the Zaurus is about as usable as the one on the NR70: good for small quick entries. Both have minimal keys, which is great. The problem with NR70's keyboard is to use it, the NR70 unfurls (like a cell-phone) and is unbalanced. You cannot place it flat on a table, and use it with just one hand. And if one has to use both hands, then the keyboard should have been designed with that in mind.
Performance
Recall that Palm OS is single threaded, something that is not a problem yet, but will soon become one. The NR70 boasts of very good sound output. Often, you'd want to play music, and look up someone's address (or write a note) at the same time. This is not currently possible. (Correct me if I'm wrong)
The Zaurus, running Linux can do multiple threads and programs.
However, for PDA's performance is not such a big issue. They are supposed to be lightweight assistants, and not for data crunching.
Features
The NR70 has beautiful sound output (mp3's work perfectly) and a cool camera. It can also show videos. The camera is very usable, and a good feature. When not in use, it can be turned off, and turned inside so that it does not get damaged. The NR70 has 16MB built-in.
The Zaurus has sound hardware, but requires you to plug in a headphone for music output. The built-in speaker is only good for simple one-frequency tones. The Zaurus has 64Mb built-in
The N610 lacks sound, video, and camera. However, keep in mind that keeping a PDA free of features is a good goal. Even with the NR70, it is doubtful that one would not own a better camera (3 mega pixel or higher) for better quality images. So while device convergence (your toaster plays you music) is good, it will really work when it leads to an elimination of devices. The N610 has 7Mb built-in.
One can plug in only memory sticks in the NR70 and the N610. The Zaurus only accepts SD, MMC, and Compact Flash.
Small Stuff
The main screen on the NR70 moves 180 degrees, and can be turned around, and is a clumsy addition. The idea behind this is so the NR70 can be opened (much like a cell-phone, or a laptop) to reveal a keyboard and a screen. Or the screen can be flipped (like some web tablets) and can be used as a PDA. Look at the pictures below (which refer to Clie in tablet mode, and Clie in laptop mode) to see what I mean. However, in tablet mode, the screen is unprotected. Thus, to store it, it has to be turned into laptop mode (with screen facing keyboard). This is very clumsy, since it cannot be used for quick one-hand queries.
The N610 has brilliant screen design. Nothing moves, except for a cloth and cardboard flap which covers the screen. Low tech, and perfect.
The Zaurus has a translucent plastic flap to cover the screen like the N610.
On the moving parts scene, the NR70 fares badly. The moving screen is shaky. I've had a bad experience with another NR70U (does not have a camera like the NR70V/U) which had a shaky screen, and was just unreliable. I still cannot imagine why the good designers at Sony would put such a clumsy arrangement on an everyday palmtop which goes through hell in terms of usage.
The Zaurus has a sliding button platform over the keyboard, which is bothersome, and adds to the moving part problem. One can only hope that it is rugged enough to be used for many years.
The N610 is perfect, with no moving parts.
Screen quality
I am picky about the screen. All three boast color screens with brightness controls. However, there are differences in the screen quality. The Clies have a much better screen than the Zaurus. At full brightness, the Clies are sharp and a pleasure to read. The Zaurus is still a bit on the dim side. Pulling the brightness down to minimum on the Clie, they are still considerably bright. This must drain the battery faster, but the screen quality is impressive. On the Zaurus, the screen brightness is on when you power it on. You can turn it off by holding the menu button for a few seconds. Holding down the on/off button for a few seconds does this on the Clie, and is a very good feature.
The images show the Zaurus on the left and the NR70 on the right. When there are three machines, the N610 is the leftmost, the Zaurus in the middle, and NR70 the rightmost.
Zaurus (left) and NR70 (right). Brightness at max, with the Clie in tablet mode. |
Main display |
Battery life
I did not keep the computers long enough to track how long their batteries last. The N610 goes for about two weeks without a recharge. I am guessing that the Zaurus and NR70 give comparable performance. If you have numbers, I would love to post them here.
The Zaurus has a removable battery pack. The clies have built in batteries which are not meant to be pulled out at whim.
Dimensions
It is surprising how important dimensions are in Palmtops. The N610, being just a bit smaller than my Palm VIIx, was immensely more usable, since it would fit in my jeans pockets (front and back), and is a pleasure to carry around. It wins hands down in the dimensions section. It also has a nifty flip cover, to protect the screen. This is good design.
The NR70 is the thinnest but also has larger footprint. Unfurled, it is the biggest, (and I am tempted to say ugliest) of the lot.
The Zaurus is of medium dimensions, thicker than the NR70, thinner than the N610, and has a footprint about equal to that of the NR70. The Zaurus has a collapsible top, which reveals a keyboard underneath. This is also good design, since the keyboard is not required most of the time.
Both unfurled, with Clie in laptop mode. |
Both with keyboards revealed |
Here are both the computers' back sides and thicknesses. As you can see, the Zaurus is significantly fatter.
Back sides. |
Width |
Now see them in comparison to the N610. The N610 is the thickest but has the smallest footprint. This is exactly how palmtops should be. Thickness is not as important as footprint. Say that again. I don't know what possessed Sony to make the NR70 unlike the N610. The Zaurus is reasonably small, and handy to carry.
N610 (leftmost), Zaurus (middle) and NR70(rightmost) |
Thickness |
Conclusion
I prefer the Zaurus, mainly because it is running Linux, and is an interesting platform to a hacker. The N610 is a close second due to it's extremely high usability. It is the best value for money, and a rock solid PDA. The NR70 figures third.
Biases
These are a set of biases. Factor them out of the commentary above.
I am heavily biased in favor of Linux, which I use on all my computers. I enjoy the Palm OS because of its elegant design and simplicity. Having used Palm OS for a while now, I am biased in favor of Graffiti (text entry system) since it comes naturally to me now. I enjoy machinery with zero moving-parts. Small is good. Simple is good. Vendor Lock-in is bad. I positively dislike Windows, Windows CE, ME, NT, and derivatives. Open Source is good. Free Software is better. Open standards are good. Standards compliance is good.
One shouldn't have to take care of electronics, and so fragile things disturb me.
Post Script
I have been using the Zaurus for a few months now, and it is wearing well. The most annoying problem with the Zaurus is the buggy battery display. It shows nearly full battery till it is almost dead. Also, the battery life of the Zaurus is markedly shorter than that of the N610, and is an issue to someone who travels a lot. I am told that OpenZaurus' OS is a lot better than than the one that ships by default, and am looking into it with interest.
This page was last modified at: Tue Oct 25 21:00:17 PDT 2005