Customer Reviews
A giant peice of crap! 
2007-07-14
Sony has discontinued the entire Clie' line and with it, all necessary support. If you buy this know that Sony does not care if you have problems with it because they no longer work on the software updates to work out problems. If it cannot be fixed by third party you have no resolution at all.
Sony Clie PEG-N760C 
2003-07-15
Sony's Clie PEG-N760C is (or was) a winner. It is well made, easy to use, an met all my expectations. The MP3 player is outstanding in musical quality. Sony made a big mistake in dropping this item from their product line. The camera works well, but suffers some from low image quality. This is probably a software issue - hopefully Sony will rewrite the camera software.
don't let the battery run down... 
2002-12-27
or it will erase everything on it. and when you try to restore it from the memory stick backup, the datebook and phone numbers are restored but all the third party applications need to be reinstalled from scratch. in the 21st century with cheap static RAM (compact flash, smart media, memory stick!) this is inexcusable. oh, and another thing, you can't run an application from the memory stick. and the mp3 player doesn't read ID3 tags. overall this thin is a bunch of hype. i wish these handheld companies would take care of the basics before sticking on a digital camera or some other useless feature. still the palm platform is not as mature as my 10(!) year old Apple Newton...
Almost perfect 
2002-12-16
I love this PDA. It's quite a deal if you can get it less than $200. The high resolution color screen is perhaps the biggest selling point. Only the newest PDAs on the market, like the Palm Tungsten, can compare to it, and this model is 2 yrs older than them.
The MP3 function is very useful, but the 8MB card provided is insufficient for this purpose. I suggest buying a 128MB stick made by a third-party, like Lexar, for around $50-60.
Battery Life:
Since I bought my model refurbished, I don't know how the PDA would perform if it were new. I am suspicious about the battery life. Sony promises something like 10hrs of performance with the screen off for the mp3 player, but it's more like 5 in real life. What this means is that you only get 2-3 days of use off a full charge. I mean, this is plenty for me for day to day tasks. However, I hesistate to take it with me in a long flight or overseas because it's difficult to recharge. I wish it came with a removable, rechargable battery.
Construction:
The construction is really nice, but don't drop it. I dropped it from about 2-3 feet onto carpet and while it still works, the memory stick slot doesn't hold the card in. It uses spring action, so now to keep the card in, I put a piece of tape over the slot to secure the stick.
Its fairly sturdy, but after repeated use, the screen loses some accuracy. It's some sort of two layered plastic which can, over time, cause innacuracy in pointing at things. Graffiti works fine though. Just be sure to buy a protective cover. I didn't and now I have scratches in the grafitti writing area which is
Also, it looks metallic, but only the front plate is brushed aluminum. The backside is painted plastic.
Accessories:
The lack of accessories for Sony handhelds is a problem, so don't expect to upgrade it in any way. I would like a hardcase, but no one, except hobbyists, make them. Also, until very recently, there was no keyboard for the CLIE. The one they have now is a thumb keyboard and that's no good at all.
Wonderful handheld with plenty of power 2002-11-21
This unit is probably the closest thing you can get to a Pocket PC without having a Pocket PC (this is a palm on steroids!)
The built-in mp3 player is wonderful (nice remote and headphones too) and the screen is just phenominal. The screen is at least as great as my computer screen (the high resolution and 65,356 colors). It has a fast processor as well. I really appriciate the expandable memory stick slot as well. The software Sony put on this is really great, the picture viewer and movie player
(this thing even came with two music videos!). It's one of the best Palm-OS units you can buy in my opinion. It also looks really cool with that brushed aluminum!
Correction - Playing MP3s in background is possible 2002-10-31
The PEG-N760C combines leading-edge technologies to bring you a full multimedia handheld organizer. The 65,000-color, high-resolution LCD display turns your CLIE handheld into a personal photo and video gallery. MP3 audio playback, with included remote control headphones, lets your handheld double as a personal stereo.Of course, the PEG-N760C comes complete with all of the standard Palm OS applications you need for organizing your life. Plus, it's fully compatible with hundreds of add-on applications available for download.
Best PDA I've ever owned! 2002-10-18
I've owned Palms (and even Pocket PCs) almost as long as they've been around. I was very excited when I first saw a Palm in color...the Palm IIIc. Paid the price and got it home only to be disappointed with the look of the screen with the big pixels and the poor visibility outside. Tried an HP jornada for some time and loved the color, hated the OS. So went back to a plain Palm. Finally the Sony came out. Beautiful color AND high res! This was what I wanted!! And I've not been disappointed. Let's look at the pros of this device:
1. Excellent color screen indoors and out
2. Good MP3 player
3. Memory stick expansion so you can load tons of programs, songs, and now video too
4. Nice looking device
5. Good stylus
6. Excellent battery life
7. Decent buttons
8. Nice software bundle
Cons
1. Memory stick is proprietary and expensive (but Lexar sticks are fairly cheap)
2. Sony support not real great
3. Newer models available
Why should you choose this model over some newer ones? Well, you might be able to get a better price on it, and the battery life is unmatched by newer ones. If I were buying a new Palm. I probably would get a newer one. But I have yet to see a model that truly has convinced me to switch.
Hold Button for MP3 2002-10-15
As a correction to my previous review of 7/12/02, I just discovered that the Sony Clie PEG-N760C does indeed have a "hold" button which locks the keys while the MP3 is playing. This prevents the MP3 player from stopping if any of the buttons are accidentally depressed; and -- by turning off the display -- it keeps the batteries from draining too quickly.
I apologize for this omission in my earlier review.
Not very impressed 2002-07-19
When I first got this Clie, I was very impressed. Overall it is a good product, but putting songs on the memeory stick was a huge hassle with Sony's check in/check out program. I finally found out how to attach it as a drive to my computer and then you can just copy songs very easily. One month after I purchased this product, Sony came out with two new Clie's, though they seem to be priced to high, I felt cheated. I would recommend getting a Palm m515. First I like the idea of media cards where you can upload a map or whater you want. Also, most other accesories are geared towards a Palm product. I wanted to get a cheap GPS add-on for the Clie and it doesn't exist. Altough I have seen one for a Palm. Once again, I feel cheated out of a cool feature. I think I will sell it on Ebay and get a m515.
MP3 is a Very Nice Feature 2002-07-12
Since trying out new PDA's is part of my job (life is tough, huh?) I recently had the opportunity to sample Sony's new Clie N760C.
The color screen is outstanding, especially for displaying digital photos. Downloading photos with the included software was very easy and intuitive. The Clie will display snapshots (in a set) in 10 second, 30 second, and 5, 10 and 30-minute intervals. This is great for using the Clie as a mini-digital photo frame (setting the unit in its charging cradle); but the 10 second interval is a little slow for hand-holding the Clie and showing off one's photos like a brag-book. The Clie will display photos in alphabetical order based upon its file name, so it's important to choose the file names carefully if showing the photos in a particular order is important. The Memory Stick expansion is really handy since photo files tend to fill up the Clie's internal memory rather quickly. (Overall, the photo quality and sharpness are a little better than what I get on my Palm 515 using MGI's Photosuite Mobile.) Women in my office (and father's with young children) loved this feature.
I also purchased the accessory digital camera (which plugs into the Memory Stick slot). The photo is captured by tapping the screen which, unfortunately, isn't as intuitive as holding the unit up to your face and pressing a button (as you would for a film or digital camera). The camera also flips around to face the user (and rights the image) so taking one's own portrait is feasible. Images can be uploaded to one's PC and then printed. Unfortunately, the picture's resolution is extremely low so the camera is usable, in my opinion, only for sending digital photos via e-mail or as a conveniently available digital photo recording device of last resort. If printing the images for viewing is one's objective, this camera will prove to be highly unsatisfactory. Since I already own a digital camera (and numerous film cameras), I found the Clie accessory camera to be a novelty at best.
The most outstanding feature of the Clie, though, is its ability to play MP3 recorded music. Not wanting to use Sony's cumbersome check-in/check-out music program, I opted to use the more open RealJukebox software instead. Unfortunately, the instructions that came with the Clie were very incomplete. After much trial-and-error (which literally took me weeks to figure out), I finally discovered that the RealJukebox website had a very thorough set of instructions for loading music into the Clie. The PC screen controls for the program, unfortunately, are not very intuitive. It's necessary, for example, to use (somewhat hidden) pull down menus to import music, add the RealJukebox/Clie converting software, and then download music to the Clie. The music transfer rate is extremely slow (seemingly slower than real time). The music can be loaded into the Clie via the docking cradle, or directly into the Memory Stick itself -- provided one has an accessory USB (Memory Stick) reader or a Sony Vaio (desktop PC) with a Memory Stick slot. Unfortunately, loading the songs into the Memory Stick directly (via either method) is not any quicker.
The audio quality of the Clie's player is outstanding, but I was disappointed to discover that it wouldn't play while another application is running (so updating my Palm's to-do list while listening to music, for example, was out of the question). The included remote is convenient for using the Clie as a portable MP3 player, but the inability to lock the Clie's buttons during play causes the unit to shut down if any button is accidentally depressed, which is a huge shortcoming. A 128 MB Memory Card will hold about 40-50 songs (pretty much equal to other MP3 players using a memory card-like storage media). Since you'll always have it with you, the Clie is a very convenient MP3 device; but a dedicated MP3 player, by comparison, is easier to use and much more versatile.
The Clie's other shortcomings include the screen's two-layer laminated construction which makes tap screen usage (which I do) not very positive. (One must press both layers of the screen together in order to type.) Graffiti usage is unaffected. There are also very few accessory modules available for the Memory Stick slot -- unlike for the Palm, which has dozens. I use a dictionary/thesaurus and a Bluetooth module (for wireless printing) on my Palm 515, neither of which are yet available for the Clie.
Overall, the best reason to choose a Clie N760C is for the convenience of having a built-in MP3 player (and for its very cool styling). If one doesn't need this feature, though, I would strongly suggest buying a Palm 515 instead. The Palm 515's color screen (even for digital photos) is almost as good as the Clie's; tapping on the screen to input data is much more positive; and the greater availability of SD (Secure Digital) card programs makes the Palm 515 much more indispensable, especially for heavy PDA users (like yours truly).
