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Music Media Portables Hardware

A Raft Of New Products From Sony Japan 172

Posted by timothy from the holding-out-on-us dept.
my1wong writes "Sony Japan has launched a DoVaio campaign which features a lot of new stuff. ... Main new stuff included wide screen notebooks ( E series), multimedia desktop replacement ( A Series), long-awaited evolution update to the ultra small U101, and this time it's a tablet indeed ( U series). Last but not least, the expected challenger to iPod, it's called VAIO pocket, VGF-AP1. All very sexy... Guess Sony has been woken up by Apple's success with iPods and Powerbooks."
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A Raft Of New Products From Sony Japan More

A Raft Of New Products From Sony Japan

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  • The march of technology (Score:4, Insightful)

    by JosKarith ( 757063 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @07:49AM (#9115268)
    God I love seeing shiny new gizmos coming out.
    Not cos' I can afford them by any stretch of the imagination, but it means that the thing I've been wanting for the last 3 months is soon to be that much closer to my budget cos' it's becoming outdated...
    • You have to love the people that purchase the products as they come out. This brings the price down into manageable levels.

      I had a person who bought a digital camera as they came out and paid some huge amount of money for a 1 megapixel monster that sounded like it used a steam boiler to power the camera. Brought back memories of the old room-sized computers. People like him make it easier for the rest of us to purchase technology that would normally be out of our reach.
    • Yeah, but I don't really see this taking down the iPod. Sony is jumping into too many things at once, and eventually, they are not going to accomplish much. Sure, I like the idea of the PSP, but this? Eh. Not that I hate it, I just don't know if it's worth it...

  • Video (Score:3, Interesting)

    by sheriff_p ( 138609 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @07:50AM (#9115269)
    It looks like their iPod clone has some funky screen on it - is that a video player of some description?

    • Re:Video (Score:2, Informative)

      by Surlyboi ( 96917 )
      Not video, so much as a color menu screen with appropriate graphics for whatever artist's song happens to be playing.

      The menus are nice and I like the industrial design on the thing, Sony knows their shit in the ID department. Alas, as has been said elsewhere, the ATRAC kinda kills it. Drop that, give me the 20 hour battery life, and we're good to go.

      Will it be an iPod killer? probably not, but it'll definitely turn a few heads.

  • Very Sexy (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Moblaster ( 521614 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @07:50AM (#9115270)
    Except for the proprietary ATRAC format killing of your poor MP3 world.

    Ever notice that if you choose Sony, everything seems to work really well with if it is also from Sony? In their hardwary kind of way, they are getting as hegemonous as the big M.
    • Yea, everything looks great, fits well with other sony stuff, and is pretty cool all around. Till a few months after it's warranty wears out and it falls apart as my 2 vaio's that are running server duty with dead monitors will attest to.

    • Re:Very Sexy (Score:2, Interesting)

      by flewp ( 458359 )
      I've never had any problems with my Sony Minidisc player and it using ATRAC.

      I actually think it's a good thing Sony focuses on making their products work together. Sure, you might get locked into owning nothing but Sony, but I've never had problems with Sony hardware and everything works together nicely. Now, if they focus on making crappy products and leave you with no alternative, then you have a problem.

      • wait till it goes wrong. (Score:4, Informative)

        by RMH101 ( 636144 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @10:21AM (#9116320)
        faulty laptop? sony *won't* sell you the spares. they don't even provide *drivers* for some of the suckers, as some different model numbers merely denote different OS's installed at delivery, and they won't let you change and keep support. they're legendary for the quality of a support - just not in a good way.

    • Re:Very Sexy (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Let's see what happens if you switch a few words...
      Except for the proprietary
      DRM'ed AAC format killing of your poor MP3 world.

      Ever notice that if you choose Apple, everything seems to work really well with if it is also from Apple? In their hardwary kind of way, they are getting as hegemonous as the big M.

      • Re:Very Sexy (Score:4, Informative)

        by hype7 ( 239530 ) <u3295110.anu@edu@au> on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @08:41AM (#9115467) Journal
        Let's see what happens if you switch a few words...


        Except for the proprietary DRM'ed AAC format killing of your poor MP3 world.


        Ever notice that if you choose Apple, everything seems to work really well with if it is also from Apple? In their hardwary kind of way, they are getting as hegemonous as the big M.


        The huge difference being that the iPod plays MP3s, WAVs, AIFFs, and AAC.

        The Sony job only plays its own format.

        So your analogy is fundamentally flawed.

        -- james

      • Re:Very Sexy (Score:5, Insightful)

        by lpontiac ( 173839 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @09:04AM (#9115624)
        Except if you're ripping from your own CDs you don't get DRM'ed AAC, you get plain AAC (which is actually a Dolby format) in a Quicktime container. AAC inside a Quicktime container is actually MPEG-4.

      • Re:Very Sexy (Score:3, Informative)

        by clarkcox3 ( 194009 )
        Except for the proprietary DRM'ed AAC format killing of your poor MP3 world.
        What's this? Oh, look, I have thousands of AAC files ripped from CDs and LPs that have ... wait for it ... No DRM. And, last I checked, AAC was an open standard, available for anyone's use. I have no problems playing these AAC files on every computer I regularly use (Macs, Linux, WinXP).

        Please, keep your FUD to yourself.

      • I call TROLL! (Score:3, Insightful)

        by danielsfca2 ( 696792 ) *
        Dumbass troll. The sony converts (transcodes, even--ick!) YOUR music to DRM'd ATRAC, a format ONLY SONY [cares to] support.

        iTunes rips your CDs to whatever real format you want (MP3, AAC, WAV, AIFF, AL) and NEVER adds DRM. The only place there's DRM is in music you choose to buy from the music store. If you don't want DRM, use AllofMP3 or rip a CD. That's not Apple's fault, ask the labels why they won't sell it without DRM.

        The difference is that music you rip with iTunes is also compatible with any other

    • Re:Very Sexy (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Albanach ( 527650 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @08:04AM (#9115326) Homepage
      ooking at the specs it also plays MP3 files. Given my Sony Clie also plays both formats that's exactly what I'd expect, and doesn't lock me in.

      Sure Sony ties you to Sony, but so does every manufacturer in some way. Still, there's a huge convenience factor to keeping files on my memory stick, popping it out and into my Clie when on the move or into my Vaio at my desk. Take some pictures on my Sony Digital Camera, pop out the stick and straight into the front of my desktop. Everything works and some people are willing to pay the premium for the convenience. Apple also built a brand around that concept.

      Don't like it? Then Sony's not the brand for you.

      • Re:Very Sexy (Score:4, Insightful)

        by metamatic ( 202216 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @08:47AM (#9115515) Homepage Journal
        It plays MP3 files by converting them to ATRAC on your PC.
        • Yes, it plays MP3 files by automatically converting them to Atrac3+ while you are transferring the files onto the device. It's entirely transparent to the user.

          The only real benefit of this (from the consumer's perspective) is that the PocketVaio is able to play most file formats (including WMA) because it's stored as ATRAC in the machine.

          Think this could be an idea Apple could use for the iPOD, they could just have iTunes autmatically convert WMA files (or any other codec not supported) into AAC so to th
        • It plays MP3 files by converting them to ATRAC on your PC.

          In that case, I expect it to be a resounding success. Just like the NetMD was.

          The biggest problem Sony have is that anything cool they do, will get cripped by their music division to the point it's lost all of its cool-ness. They could have been a challenger to the iPod, but not with the current mindset.

        • It plays MP3 files by converting them to ATRAC on your PC.

          This may be what the device announced today does, but this isn't what Sony gear in general does.

          My Clie PDA can play MP3 files just fine, as can my wife's. The manuals these devices came with instruct you to use their [really effing annoying] media software to manage what ends up on the device, but there's nothing stopping you from popping the Memory Stick into a card reader and just copying the files over with normal operating system tools (Wi

    • Don't get me wrong, the last thing I think we need is another format. However, while the use of their own format may seem stupid now, I suspect Sony may get the last laugh if/when their PSP supports it and has sold a gazillion units. Considering how poor the music store is, the only reason I can think of for its existence is to plant the seeds for making PSP their true iPod killer...
    • But it's not. Microsoft is a Monopoly, Sony isn't. Sony isn't the only big company out there that makes good Stereos, or TVs or Laptops and PDA even. And besides, it's not like that thing plays ATRAC only, it plays mp3's as well.

      • Re:Very Sexy (Score:3, Insightful)

        by sql*kitten ( 1359 ) *
        Microsoft is a Monopoly, Sony isn't. Sony isn't the only big company out there that makes good Stereos, or TVs or Laptops and PDA even.

        And Microsoft isn't the only big company out there that makes OSs, office suites, or compilers.

        But, just as Microsoft products work best with other Microsoft products, so do Sony products work best with other Sony products. If you buy a Sony device, you have to use Sony's MemoryStick, not the Compact Flash that is most common. If you buy a Vaio laptop, you're buying suppo

  • WARNING - SITE NOT SAFE FOR WORK (Score:3, Funny)

    by Realistic_Dragon ( 655151 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @07:52AM (#9115282) Homepage
    At least not if you have your speakers turned on.

    Could it be I'm falling in love? No I don't bloody well think so.
  • From the images, it looks rather complex. Somewhat hard to change songs driving down the road.

  • Sony Vaio Pocket VGF-AP1 vs iPod (Score:5, Informative)

    by jsinnema ( 135748 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @07:53AM (#9115287) Homepage
    The 20 GB Vaio is heavier and bigger than the 20 GB iPod.

    Great advantage: battery power for 20 hours instead of iPods 8 hours
    • When your battery is twice the size of an iPod... ;-)
    • Does a battery life of 8 hours vs 20 hours make much of a differenece. Not, when it's twice the size. The nice thing about the iPod is that it is so small and light. I charge my iPod every few days. I can deal with that for something so small and light.
    • Is the battery replaceable, or is it like the old iPOD battery?

    • Re:Sony Vaio Pocket VGF-AP1 vs iPod (Score:4, Informative)

      by g0_p ( 613849 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @09:39AM (#9115901)
      The IPods not much smaller than the Sony player. Sony's player has the following dimensions:
      11.5 x 6.3 x 1.7(cm) as compared to 10.4 x 6 x 1.57 (cm) for the IPod (20 GB)

      It weighs 195gms as compared to IPods 158 grams.

      Read short writeup from The Register [theregister.co.uk]

      Not sure if the Sony player plays video though.. It has a color screen and 20 hours of battery life. May give some competition to the IPod if the ease-of-use factor does not suck.

      Oh yeah, and for all those nay-sayers who say that this will crash and burn, dont be so hasty. I know people who will buy a gizmo only because its a Sony. It has a good reputation that it will cash in on..
      • I like my 20gig 3G iPod, but the battery life is nothing short of an embarassment. I would gladly add less than 2 ounces and 25 cc to increase the battery life. I feel lucky if I can really get 8 hours of my iPod or even 2 1.5 hour sessions over a period of days without charging.

        What's most distressing about the iPod isn't necessarily the lack of long runtime but the lack of charge holding ability. I'll use my iPod, from a full charge, for about 45 minutes and then carefully shut it down and lock the co
      • You say "not much smaller" - but what is your reference. That whole centimeter taller & those few mills wider and thicker will actually be quite noticable.

        For example the original iPod was 1.8cm deep - the new ones feel like they're half the thickness.

        I'm sure some people won't mind, but really - it's much bigger, and much heavier (all things being relative).

  • OQO's response? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by FrenZon ( 65408 ) *
    I wonder what OQO's response to the U70 will be? The U70 is totally capable of acting as a desktop system as well, whereas the OQO was kind of underpowered in the same role.

    Anyway, as a consumer annoyed by its vapourware status, I just have to say "IN YOUR FACE, OQO!"

  • IPod vs.the rest: 120 - 0 (Score:3, Insightful)

    by winchester ( 265873 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @07:58AM (#9115303)
    So far, no one has come up with something that can even remotely stand up to the iPod. Its very easy... the iPod design is better, its user interface is better and, last but not least, it functions great with iTunes (gee... I wonder why :-)

    I for one, am a happy Ipod owner. I am very happy that the device will let me play music files. I do not need to watch videos on it, i do not need to call with it or whatever else manufacturers want to sell me. I just want to listen to music with as little fuss as possible, and the ipod serves that purpose admirably. Not to mention it integrates great with my operating system :-)

    • I'm also a happy iPod owner. That said, I am going to disagree with your choice of words. There are a great many portable music players that are better than the iPod in one or a few key areas. Many have better battery life, some have a clever UI quirk, a growing number have support for oddball music formats, like OGG or lossless FLAC, etc. But none of them have everything (though I hear the Rio Karma is coming close, good for them), that's ultimately what puts Apple on the top of the heap. For now.
      • Wih the iPod's drives getting bigger with each generation, I'm wondering how long it will be until the iPod supports the lossless compression scheme Apple unveiled in its lates iTunes update.

        On another note, I'm stil trying to figure out what the "Apple Lossless Codec" actually is. Anybody know off hand?

    • For those that don't use iTMS and don't consider their mp3/whatever player part of some elitist artistic style, Creative's Zen line is great.

      Same quality, more space (60GB vs 40GB), better battery life (14hr vs 8hr), and the Zen is still $100 less. Creative also has a SDK for their jukeboxes, however fugly and COM-based it may be.

      Though, the Zen does have some downfalls:
      No sexy scroll wheel (who cares?)
      Crappy, bloated software. And by crappy, I mean VB-trained monkies trying to write C++ crappy. But th

  • Not-so-attractive (Score:5, Interesting)

    by antic ( 29198 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @07:59AM (#9115305)
    I'm all for competition and for things looking desirable. But I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed with the two products I checked out (the tablet and the iPod-competitor), especially considering that Sony have a pretty decent reputation for product design.

    I own an Archos Jukebox from a couple of years back. It's not the most attractive device. More recently (when I was passing through Singapore and Hong Kong) I got to see and hold the new Archos devices and they are a vast improvement.

    From Sony, with a substantial budget and existing stable of industrial designers, I expected a lot more. The buttons are an absolutely crucial component of a device's usability and appearance, and I don't think these two products really stand out. I have an iPod 40GB (thinking of selling it because I don't really need it; but the design and usability is excellent) and it's a very attractive object. I guess I expected Sony to challenge that a little more -- to provide more competition.
    • For the Type U, unlike the Archos the Sony is a touch screen that runs Windows XP. Would you want to navigate XP with iPod or Archos buttons? It would be more convienent to just navigate with a touch screen like a tabletPC or PDA (which this does). Main advantage of running XP is that it can run any codec and any format that Windows can; which is vastly superior to the Archos.

      As far as the PocketVaio goes, the iPod competitor uses a system called the "Touch Pad", which is really interesting. So the pad o

  • One Vaio problem... (Score:4, Informative)

    by Mantrid ( 250133 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @07:59AM (#9115306) Journal
    Just got a Vaio for our President, one of the small ones, he loves it and all, but the problem I have with the Sony's is the sheer amount of crap they install on the machines - the thing just seems to really drag its feet due to all the unnecessary software installed. I got rid of most of it anyways, but what a pain.
    • "Too much software"

      I agree that a lot of it won't be used, but I do think it's good that they add enough software so that you can use all the machine's options right out of the box :)

    • the problem I have with the Sony's is the sheer amount of crap they install on the machines

      Yeah, like Windows.

      In all seriousness, if they sold VAIO systems without Windows, I'd have bought one.

      • Re:One Vaio problem... (Score:3, Interesting)

        by vondo ( 303621 ) *
        I won't get into "Why worry about the $30 you're spending for Windows" and just say that, in my experience, Vaio's are not the easiest/best to install linux on. My latest excercise was an R505 with the "Docking" platform that attaches to the laptop via Firewire. A nice little machine, but very difficult to get everything working with Linux. (Mandrake, actually, which has good hardware detection). I used another Vaio before that, and that one was not a snap either, from the Linux perspective.

    • Re:One Vaio problem... (Score:4, Funny)

      by babbage ( 61057 ) <cdeversNO@SPAMcis.usouthal.edu> on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @09:21AM (#9115753) Homepage Journal
      Just got a Vaio for our President, one of the small ones

      Was it Jimmy Carter [indiatimes.com]? I'd guess James Madison [tall.org], but he probably doesn't use computers.

      Or is your President Kim Jong Il [boston.com]? Would he [freenorthkorea.net] dare to use a Japanese computer? Wow, what a thought...

  • Cripple-Pod, more like it. (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Like Toshiba, I imagine Sony will cripple an otherwise decent piece of hardware with some sort of DRM scheme. Besides, it looks too complicated to be of much use as audio player and too geeky to be bought by anyone other than otaku and clueless salarymen.

  • First thought on the VAIO pocket, VGF-AP1: (Score:3, Interesting)

    by burgburgburg ( 574866 ) <splisken06NO@SPAMemail.com> on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @08:00AM (#9115310)
    Bumpy
    (that would be the G-Sense instead of the flywheel).

    Second thought after viewing feature intro:
    Why horizontal instead of vertical and are color album cover icons a good usage of space/processing? Especially if it doesn't have Firewire.

    Third thought after seeing more features:

    Why are these the only approved OSs:
    Windows XP Professional/Windows XP Home Edition/ Windows 2000 Professional/Windows Millennium Edition/ Windows 98 Second Edition

    • "Why are these the only approved OSs:
      Windows XP Professional/Windows XP Home Edition/ Windows 2000 Professional/Windows Millennium Edition/ Windows 98 Second Edition"

      Probably so they won't have to support any other OS that could be installed on the device. Just a normal case of preventing annoying/too difficult support questions.
    • Why are these the only approved OSs:
      Windows XP Professional/Windows XP Home Edition/ Windows 2000 Professional/Windows Millennium Edition/ Windows 98 Second Edition

      Because those are the only operating systems that Sony computers ship with.

  • Regarding the user interface... (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    25+ buttons? Do they not know that people like(d) the ipod for ease of use, amongst other things?
    • 25+ buttons? Do they not know that people like(d) the ipod for ease of use, amongst other things?

      I've thought a lot about the iPod UI, and it's neither as easy nor as powerful as I would have liked. I wrote this [demon.co.uk] about it.

      Most of what I'd like fixed would be easier to do with a couple more buttons. 25 does seem a little excessive however...
    • ...but rather a 5x5 button area that allows for 'gesture' type navigation. Check out the animation here [sony.co.jp]. Personally I think this could be quite intuitive yet powerful. (I'm a great fan of mouse gestures in Opera.)
      • Holy shit that looks really hard to use. I especially liked the menu you had to pop up to change tracks or volume! Sweet Jesus what were they thinking. And if they wanted to go with gestures, why not just use a trackpad instead of 25 buttons? This just all seems too Japanese, even for Japan.
        • And if they wanted to go with gestures, why not just use a trackpad instead of 25 buttons?

          A 5x5 matrix gives you tactile feedback as to where you are, mirroring the on-screen interface, e.g. it's much easier to "go down two steps and then over one", etc. It's an improvement on a trackpad for this type of interface, e.g. a menu based interface where you don't actually have to manipulate a mouse pointer. From the animation I think this would actually be very easy to use. The problem with the iPod is that yo
          • Yeah, it is a lot of work to change the equalizer on an iPod, but iTunes lets you set an equalizer preference for every song(as well as adjust the volume), so you can experiment in iTunes with what equalizer you want, and then send it over to your iPod so you rarely ever have to mess with the equalizer on the device itself. Don't know if sony lets you do this.

  • Isn't Hi-MD one of the iPod killers? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Isn't sony's line of Hi-MD players, found here [sony.net] their first line at hitting the iPod?

    I mean, even though a disc only stores 1 gig, I'd take removable media with $7/disc cost, ability to double capacity of old minidiscs, and a very long (minidisc standard) battery life over the iPod. This of course all before we even compare the cost of the units.

  • Ipod killer?... (Score:1, Insightful)

    by dncsky1530 ( 711564 )
    Every mp3 player that has come out in the past two years has been dubbed an "ipod killer" but it seems the competitors dont understand that people dont just buy and ipod for the 20gigs. You buy it because of the look the feel, the adds, the feeling of going to the apple store and knowing your part of something.
    i like sony and they make great products, and the video playback looks great but i cant see it beating the ipod.

    my (22/7) cents
    • Actually, I bought an iPod because it was seemless. How do you get music into the Sony? Is it as easy as plugging it in and it downloading all your songs and your contacts and your calendars? Does it charge itself through the bus, or do you have to plug something else in? And what's with all the buttons? If I want an MP3 player, I don't want buttons; I want something that's durable, fast, and intuitive. And the iPod gave me that and more.

  • Tablets (Score:4, Interesting)

    by wpiman ( 739077 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @08:09AM (#9115341)
    Well- if my partial reading of partial Japanese is correct, the tablets are not laptop replacements.

    When will some company take a decent processor and throw it into a tablet? I used a Fujitsu tablet the other week and loved it. It makes alot of sense to me to be able to flip the thing over and read like a book. Great for kicking back and reading datasheets. Now, if it just had some gusto- I could put a bunch of design tools on it.

    It is all Japanese to me.

    • But it sure would make a nice PDA replacement.

      Ever since I got my iPaq and started using it to take notes in class, I've been looking for something similar in a paperback book form factor. I love the iPaq, but it would be nice to be able to write more than 5 words on the screen at a time before I have to wait for it to figure out what I wrote and clear the screen so I can start writing again. As a girl, it's not about does it fit in my pocket, but does it fit in my purse anyway. I've got room for a slig
      • I use an Apple Newton 2100. The screen is a nice 320*480 pixels at 100 DPI, so that's 3.2" by 4.8" or 5.8" diagonal. Certainly large enough to read eBooks and such. It's got a nice anti-glare coating, only uses around 4 mA to keep the screen static, and mine's backlight is quite bright (though some of them are dimmer). The memory is a bit lacking (only 4 MB of storage), but it can use Compact Flash cards, WiFi, Bluetooth (still a work in progress), and best of all, it's got full screen handwriting recog
    • True, doesn't look like a laptop replacement.

      Now ... the X505 [sony.co.jp] looks beautiful!

  • DRM anyone? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by WordODD ( 706788 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @08:11AM (#9115345)
    I can't wait to see what horrible DRM Sony includes with its newest music player. If the past is any indication the DRM will be the products major stumbling block. The Sony version of iTunes is already riddled by DRM issues and I can't imagine that this player would be any different. One of the major benefits of the iPod and iTunes is that the DRM is not a hinderince to the overall product, this is what needs to be copied by the other music players in order to be as successful as iTunes. A slick player with a slick interface will only get you so far if you cripple the right of the people to do what they want with the things they purchase.

  • bang for your buck (Score:5, Insightful)

    by millahtime ( 710421 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @08:16AM (#9115364) Homepage Journal
    The real question is bang for your buck. One of the big things with the powerbooks is what you get for what you pay. You almost always come away with a better deal with a powerbook. The best I have seen is another laptop come even.

    THe other big plus in the powerbook is a BSD based OS. Not windows so there isn't as much crap (virus, worms, etc) to deal with.
  • i expected a lot from this Sony device, especially in terms of design ... but after seeing the mini-Vaio, one thing is clear : iPod is still alone in his category - which is at least 2 levels above everything else ... at least in design

    and don't get me started about the name ... just try boasting to your friends that you own a "Sony Vaio Pocket VGF-AP1" .. they'll fell asleep before you finish spelling the damn thing!

  • Check out the VGC-RAxx desktops... pretty slick looking. Looks like there is some crazy cooling scheme going on too, with air intake slots in the middle of the chassis and a heatpipe CPU cooler; check out these pics [sony.co.jp].
  • I have a Sony Vaio laptop (it's beast-sized with a 15" screen) and it's been a good product to me - I have no complaints about it. I'm interested in the wide screen laptops, but the photos on the website looked like full-screen ones to me. Although I do like the fancy orange one at the bottom... All in all, I think Sony makes decent laptops and it's good that they're looking at the competition's success and offering the public more choices if Apple's not for them.
    • The screen resolution on all of them (from what I can tell) is only 1024x768 -- big disappointment when the submitter referred to them as "widescreen". I liked the orange color too -- pretty funky.

      Their "A" series have higher resolution screens, but since I don't read Japanese, I'm not sure if they're laptops, or home all-in-one units.

      Chip H.
    • Yes, apparently the submitter apparently can't read the numbers in the boxes... It's their S type laptop that has the wide screen: S Type . There you can see the screen is 1280 x 800.

  • Guess why Apple is king (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Industrial design is just so difficult.

    How many ugly little stickers adorn your laptop when you take it out of the box? Three? Four?

    And LED indicator lights on laptops that shine right into your eyes? That's just plain daft. My clamshell iBook has zero battery/HD indicator lights, just one that is on when it's asleep... and it pulses. There is a little ring around the hole which you plug in the AC connector, to the laptop. When the power's on, again, no harsh lights. They've made the side of the laptop a

  • Sony laptop support (Score:5, Interesting)

    by n8ur ( 230546 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @08:37AM (#9115444) Homepage
    I have a Vaio laptop (don't remember the number, but 700MHz PIII in the slimline case with external CD and floppy). It's a really nice machine, but when I went to replace the hard disk I discovered something: Sony tech support is useless. The only thing their hardware support page tells you is where to send the machine back. No service documentation available, and no spare parts.

    Contrast this with IBM, where you can download PDFs with full disassembly instructions and parts lists. You can order parts from IBM for reasonable prices, and they show up in a couple of days. They're actually *helpful* on the phone -- I bought a refurbed Thinkpad that had a European keyboard, and they cheerully talked me through finding the US replacement.

    Can't tell you if other vendors are as good as IBM, but I can tell you that if you plan to touch the hardware at all, avoid Sony like the plague.
    • sounds like an SRX. you're both right and wrong about the sony tech support. on the surface they're awful. I have a sony sr11k lappie that I got without a harddisk, but when the HD was taken ot of it, they also took the custom ide cable too.

      I figured that getting just the custom ide cable from sony would be impossible but after some searching I actually found an irc like helpline on one of sony's support pages and after I convinced the guy what it was I actually wanted, thyey sold me just the cable. mind y
  • On the DoVAIO site it mentions a "Type X" computer that is in development. It includes over a terabyte of disk space and can handle 7 different HDTV tuners at the same time. According to the info it will be able to hold a full weeks worth of 7 different stations allowing you to watch past and present shows as you like.

  • consistency (Score:2, Insightful)

    by cinnamon colbert ( 732724 )
    when a major multinational corporation, releases "new products" that are over priced and are "cool" because they have decorations that amount to 5 cents of shiny plastic,and a few hours with solidworks (=common cad program) /. drools. When a major multinational corporation releases a major upgrade to an OS used by millions,and distributes the upgrade for free, they are the evil empire. seems to be a lack of consistency here

  • VAIO Pocket's new interface (Score:3, Interesting)

    by amichalo ( 132545 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @08:47AM (#9115512)
    The VAIO Pocket Interface [sony.co.jp] (play movie to view in action) does not seem very good to me.

    For those who won't watch the above link, there is a grid of 5x5 'buttons' you run your finger up and down, left to right to simulate scrolling and navigating menu levels. The problem is, what if you want to go down more and you run out of buttons because you initially positioned your finger wrong? Maybe you can just pick your finger up, but I would think it easier to use the touchpad a la notebooks (and what Apple derived for the iPod) that we have been used to using for years.

    There is also a rather large color screen whcih looks like a nice power drain to me, especailly when the thing is playing in my pocket, displaying a color albumn cover.
  • It's nice to see new gadgets, sure, but this new products every few months thing is a real PITA from a commercial point of view. I've been caught out by Sony several times in the last few months... I buy a laptop or a projector or a tape recorder or something for someone at work. A month later, someone comes to me and says "I need a tape recorder" so I say "Go and check out what Bill got, and if you like it, I'll get you one. When I go to Sony and say "Giz another one of those", they do what is effectively the old bait-n-switch... "Sorry Sir, that product has been discontinued, but we have this new model, only $100 extra".

    They've done it to me with a tape recorder and a laptop in the last couple of weeks. Numerous other crap before. It's reaching the point where I'm discouraging folks from choosing Sony, 'cos they can't even keep stock of a product for the lifetime of their 'Sony Style' magazine/catalog thing that they have here in Australia.

  • Nothing all that new here...

    Some general comments after reading the posts, and checking the links...

    It looks like the actual WideScreen offering from Sony is the S-series [sony.co.jp]
    (Link: http://www.vaio.sony.co.jp/Products/VGN-S70B/ [sony.co.jp]), not the E-series as mentioned in the post. Looks cool, but I think the WideScreen to buy if you are going to go ye old Windows or Linux route would be a 64-bit offering, like the current 64-bit AMD laptop [emachines.com] from eMachines.

    Glad to see that Sony lowered the resolution on the

  • VAIO Pocket - not for me (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Zog The Undeniable ( 632031 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @08:55AM (#9115568)
    $465, it only plays ATRAC 3 format and the looks...well, I'm not sure Apple have too much to worry about. I don't think the Sony brand has all that much cachet these days - they just churn out mass-produced stuff built down to a price, same as most other manufacturers. Shame - they used to be a bit of a Japanese icon in the days of the first Walkmans, when Trinitron was by far the best TV tube you could get.
  • and this time it's a tablet indeed ( U series).

    No, it's not, because it runs plain Windows XP Home and Pro - not the Tablet edition. The whole point of a tablet PC is the handwriting recognition, note taking, etc built into the XP TabletPC os, not just using a pen like a mouse. Nice try, Sony, but other vendors have tried the same routine and failed miserably.
  • Sony has been woken up by Apple's success with iPods and Powerbooks."

    Well, considering Sony INVENTED the portable stereo player, it's not clear to me who woke whom up.

  • Guess Sony has been woken up by Apple's success with iPods and Powerbooks.

    Considering that the first thin, square PBG4 [apple.com] (2001) was very similar to the thin, square VAIO notebooks that Sony had, at the time, been making for a couple years [blakespot.com] (1998) (scroll down), I would have phrased that a bit differently. Hit or miss, Sony's been making cool, small, sexy gadgets for years.

  • Two Versions; One plays videos (Score:3, Informative)

    by doctor_no ( 214917 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @11:15AM (#9116857)
    Yes this device does video. . .
    to be more specific there are two models:

    One that plays only music and displays JPEGs [impress.co.jp] and another that plays video [impress.co.jp]

    Picture [impress.co.jp]of the interface if anyone's interested

    Link to main article in Japanese [impress.co.jp]

  • Sony is doomed (Score:3, Interesting)

    by hidflect ( 769917 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @12:47PM (#9117897)
    I worked in Sony here in Japan. Every division except movies and PS2 is running at a loss. They have NO new ideas and the morale there is rock bottom. Everyone hates the President as an arrogant a*hole. 5 years from now they won't exist. It's goodbye Sony. They'll be bought out soon after they lose enough money... How many Sony appliances have YOU bought in the last 8 years? Not enough to keep them solvent.
  • Here's a nice gallery of U50/U70 photos [dynamism.com].

    Looks like a detachable pseudo-tablet unit about double the size of a Clie' with a docking station & keyboard. While there is a "fin shaped" stylus, it looks like the tablet unit is more designed for viewing than for interactivity. In other words, moving from "read only" to "read-write" on this thing probably is a lot easier if you have a desktop handy to put all the pieces on.

    Not quite the useability of a laptop or a desktop.

    The price is a little off-puttin

  • expected challenger to iPod: suports both MP3 and WMA. But don't hold your breath. Everything is converted internally to ATRAC format.

    Don't know if we have to laugh or cry.

    Does SONY have any sense of reality at all?

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