Roughly the equal to the palmOne Zire 71 is the newly released Sony Clié TH55. Sadly, we come to praise the Clié and to bury it, because while the Clié line presented a worthwhile alternative to palmOne and Pocket PC devices, it failed to catch hold in this country. Sony will continue to sell the Clié in Asia, but this is the last model we'll see in the U.S.

That will likely diminish sales, which is a shame because the TH55 is a powerful little machine. Its 320x480 pixel display offers a big, razor-sharp picture that looks as clear as laser printed paper. It has 32MB of memory, all of which is usable. This model offers Wi-Fi, but curiously no Bluetooth, and sells for $400.


Clié TH55

The TH55 measures 4.9 x 3.0 x .6-inches, and feels slender in the hand. It comes with an attached flip cover to protect the screen, and a design that places buttons all around the exterior. Controls for turning the machine on and off, and using the camera and the voice recorder are on the left side, while four application buttons line the bottom. Be careful when holding it or you could easily press a button you didn't mean to press.


Clié TH55 with Protective Cover Down

The handheld also features a 0.3-megapixel camera on the back. That isn't high resolution, but we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the pictures it took. A useful control on the left side lets you open and close the lens cover. You'll also find a slot for Memory Sticks on the left side.


Rear, Showing Digital Camera

The TH55 also comes with built-in WiFi, which is easy to set up. We were able to connect to our home network in seconds and surf using the included NetFront 3.1 browser. You'll also get CLIE Mail for e-mail and Picsel Viewer for viewing all manner of attachments.

This handheld is built on the Palm OS 5, but you can hardly tell. Clié's own organizing tools do much of the work, and the interface looks nothing like the found in palmOne's devices, with tabs running along the right side to let users switch applications. The Clié Organizer features such novel additions as letting you jot freehand into your calendar or attach voice notes to entries.


Clié TH55 with Protective Cover Up

The only serious misstep here is the lack of Bluetooth. In a $400 device, a user should get both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. While Wi-Fi is certainly more useful than Bluetooth, it's not a substitute.

With its dedication to innovation, the Clié has won a firm following over the years. We're sorry to see that come to an end, at least in the U.S. market, and hope the Clié will soon make it's return.