Sony adds video, Net-access features to Palm unit

Sony adds video, Net-access features to Palm unit
TOKYO — Sony Corp. has taken the wraps off its version of the Palm PDA, with a small, lightweight device featuring an ability to playback video, view still pictures and connect to the Internet via a cellular phone.

Sony's Personal Entertainment Organizer uses the Palm OS and has many Palm-like attributes, including Graffiti handwriting input capability. However, Sony officials here emphasized features that go beyond the core scheduling and address storage functions of Palm. Sony has been working with Palm Inc. since last year to create its own spin on the handheld device.

During a presentation this week, Sony officials drew most of the attention to the PDA's video play-back capability, showing clips of dolphins cavorting and the intro to the upcoming movie Charlie's Angels. The video playback appeared jerky and slow, but Sony officials said they were able to get playback speed of four-to-10 frames per second using a standard Dragonball EZ CPU that was tuned up from 16 to 20 MHz and had 8 Mbytes of DRAM. "It was easy to do and we were able to maintain reliability," said Masafumi Minami, a Sony general manager overseeing software development.

To enable video playback, Sony installed a third-party software viewer called gMedia, which reformats and plays back digital camera video files, AVI, MPEG-1 and QuickTime. Minami said the company is also looking to incorporate other video compression standards into future PDAs, such as MPEG-4, which is favored by cellular phone makers for third-generation phones. "Our strategy is to support all different formats for video and audio," he said.

For now, however, Sony's PDA will not play compressed audio files such as MP3 or AAC. Though the PDA includes a slot for Sony's Memory Stick flash storage card, it does not accept the white-colored version of the card with copy protection features. Audio playback will be added to future versions of Sony's Palm PDA.

The Sony Palm device comes standard with 4 Mbytes of embedded flash memory and an 8-Mbyte Memory Stick. With a 64-Mbyte Memory Stick, there is enough capacity to hold two-to-three hours of video or some 2,000 still images.

In the future, Sony will use the memory card port for connecting I/O devices such as a GPS receiver, a camera or a Bluetooth module, according to the company.

To connect to the Internet on the go, Sony added a wireless phone adapter that's compatible with the major wireless phone standards in Japan. Sony is also in negotiations with carriers abroad to make this a standard feature in markets outside of Japan.

Under normal operation, the Sony Palm can run for 15 days before its embedded lithium ion battery must be recharged. To curb power consumption, Sony outfitted the PDA with a transflective display — also known as a half-transmissive LCD — which uses reflected light under bright conditions and a backlight when it gets dim. Sony is offering a 256-color screen and a black-and-white version of the PDA.

As for design, Sony claims to have to slimmest and lightest Palm PDA on the market. The Personal Entertainment Organizer measures 70.9 x 114.7 x 15.2 mm and weighs 120 grams. One other slick feature is a jog dial on the upper left corner of the PDA that allows a user to quickly scroll through menu options with the thumb and make a selection by pushing down on the dial.

Slated for introduction in Japan on September 9, the color-screen version will retail for about $560 and the monochrome version for about $514. The company is planning to roll out the products in the United States later in the fall.