Sony's ClIE PEG-NX80V and NX73V handhelds build on the revolutionary design of the original models in the NX series, the NX70V and NX60V, which were first released last year. At the time, the NX series' combination of a digital camera, powerful processor, huge 320x480 resolution display, integrated keyboard and swivel screen was truly startling. Sony took it to the next level with the bulky, heavy and expensive NZ90. The newest models take these features and refines them, however, making the NX80V, in particular, a PDA that can accept the label "jack of all trades" and do them all efficiently.

For those not familiar with the swivel design of the NX series, it allows you to use the device as kind of a min-laptop or tablet style like most other PDAs. The Palm OS 5 NX80V also features a 3.8-inch, 320x480 pixel and 65,000 color display that can stand toe to toe with the screen on any other PDA. It is 50% larger, resolution wise, than any other Palm OS handheld except for Palm's new Tungsten T3.

The handheld uses Graffiti 2 (based on CIC's Jot), the latest version of Graffiti that accepts strokes closer to real world handwriting than original Graffiti. Users can write on a virtual graffiti writing area at the bottom of the screen or choose to write anywhere else on the display. Speaking of handwriting recognition, Sony bundles another application called Decuma, which allows you to write in a manner even closer to they way you would on paper. It is also customizable and allows you to create shortcuts. The device also features Sony's unique application launcher that is more pleasing graphically and functional than what comes standard in the Palm OS. The launcher runs as a shell on top of the operating system.

The NX80V includes a powerful 200MHz XScale processor, which nevertheless is half the speed of the CPU found in the Palm Tungsten C and Tungsten T3, and has 32MB of RAM, half that of those two Palm branded handhelds. 16MB of RAM are available to the user, while the rest is used as what is referred to as heap memory, helping applications to run more efficiently, which is important for a device like this one, which excels in multimedia.

It weighs 8 ounces and measures a not very compact .8 x 2.8 x 5.25 inches, but is far less bulky than the earlier NZ90. Anyway, if you take into consideration how many features are crammed into the NX80V's shell, it is not very big at all. The power button is located on the left side of the NX80V just bellow a jog dial and back button that are used for one hand operation of the device and its applications. While we like the jog dial, some users prefer the 5 way navigation button found on the more recent Palm handhelds. There is also an application ribbon that rests at the bottom of the display and serves as kind of a start menu found on a PC. On the right side of the unit is a button to launch the voice recorder application and a jack for stereo headphones.

As for the thumb keyboard, it is comfortable to use, though the buttons don't stick out as far as with the Tungsten C's keyboard, an implementation we prefer. However, the Tungsten C's keyboard doesn't have a backlight like the NX80V. The light makes typing in the dark easy. To capitalize a letter on the Sony keyboard you need to press a shift key like a regular full-size keyboard, which is not very efficient when thumb typing. With the Tungsten C, for example, all you have to do is hold down a letter to capitalize it.

In regards to memory expansion, no other Palm OS handheld currently offers what the newest NX series PDAs do, dual expansion. Like all other Sony CLIE's, the NX80V has a Memory Stick slot, in this case located on the right side of the unit. But unlike other Palm OS devices, it also has a Compact Flash slot, which is uniquely designed so it retracts back into the device, hiding a memory card after it is installed. This Compact Flash slot is an improvement over past Sony implementations in that it accepts some, though not all, memory cards instead of just Sony's proprietary Wi-Fi card, which runs about a $150. In addition, you can't play MP3s directly from Compact Flash but only from Memory Stick.


Tablet Style

In terms of multimedia, the NX80V includes a good digital camera implementation that is as easy to use as the one found in Palm's Zire 71. All one has to do to launch and use the 1.3 megapixel camera is to press a Capture button located on the top left side of unit. 1.3 megapixels lets you take pictures at up to a 1280 x 960 resolution. The camera itself is located on a hinge, above the application buttons situated north of the keyboard, for close to 360 degree rotation, There is also a second set of application buttons conveniently placed just above the display.

Instead of bundling a power hungry flash, a chief complaint of the NZ90 and its 2-megapixel camera, the NX80V's camera uses a capture light. Though the light isn't good enough to take pictures in a dark room, a limitation, it is useful for adding some light to a dim room. There is also a button for a filter on the camera itself that is helpful on bright days. Another nice feature of the digital camera is the ability to capture low resolution video.

The CLIE NX80V combines a large number of features elegantly. It is worth considering for those who need an excellent PDA, good MP3 player and a digital camera in one device. The chief caveat on the device is its $600 price. For those who are a little more budget minded, the NX80V's sister model, the NX73V, costs $100 dollars less, but offers only a .33 megapixel (310,000 pixel) camera for 640x480 pictures, no capture light and half the amount of RAM.