Sony Vaio UX previewed

Digital World Tokyo got an early hands-on look at the Sony Vaio UX50 micro PC when launched in Tokyo earlier this week. The obvious difference between this and those much maligned first gen UMPCs is the sliding keyboard. However, it's not  exactly a tactile wonder as DWT reports. The reviewer found the keyboard "difficult to use" as the keys are almost flush with the case and don't move much when pressed. Still, he managed to enter text without any misspellings. The 4.5-inch screen was "sharp and bright" and its 1,024 x 600 resolution (UMPCs go 800 x 480 on a 7-inch display) made full screen web browsing possible if you don't mind uh, "squinting" a bit with those "handy" buttons along the right-side of the case giving a quick zoom when necessary. Although the reviewer notably only had a few minutes with the device, it's certainly a promising start for this micro device with massive features mirrored in its expected $1800 price tag. We'll reserve judgment, however until some proper full-reviews hit the sheets or we nab a UX for ouselves when they drop Stateside in July.

[Martinp @ May 18th 2006 5:55AM]

Looks better than the rest of those "ultra" "mobile" PCs.

[adept1 @ May 18th 2006 5:59AM]

You misspelled "misspellings" :)

[DemiGod @ May 18th 2006 6:14AM]

Reminds me of SE K600

[Conrad Quilty-Harper @ May 18th 2006 6:14AM]

Check out how tiny the icons look in the taskbar! Windows just ain't designed for use on tiny screens: looks at OS X and 128px icon support.

[CB @ May 18th 2006 6:16AM]

Pff, my U70 is not afraid, slide out keyboards still needs a surface to rest device on....so just get a proper one, you know it makes sense.

[joe @ May 18th 2006 7:26AM]

1800 is a chunk of change..that much coin could buy a really nice laptop.

[nick_k @ May 18th 2006 8:03AM]

I'd totally get this if I wasn't picking up my Macbook today, but the $1800 is quite high, I get my laptop for $1100, and it's a pretty damn nice laptop.

Make it $900 and I'm all over it. (Wishful thinking...)

[Jeff Waters @ May 18th 2006 8:31AM]

That is amazing...

Though probably not very productive. The UMPC format is better suited for actual functional use. This thing is sweet though.

[Jason @ May 18th 2006 8:45AM]

this would be amazing if it was cheaper. Maybe the next version they can push under $1000.

If Sony is still around that is...

[John Doe @ May 18th 2006 8:57AM]

This thing is the poster child for those reports that are saying small screens are damaging our eyesight. The device is cool nontheless.

[bigmiz @ May 18th 2006 9:03AM]

to me, oqo still has the best form factor

[Daniel @ May 18th 2006 9:04AM]

First off, Sony and their Vaio U's were around long before all of these *said in mocking voice" "New and innovative UMPC's!!!OMGZOMGBRANDNEWUMPCSZOMGZOMG". Second, Consumer Reports says that Sony Vaio computers are only #2 in terms of repair needs (#1 being the fewest folks). Plus, only one forthcoming UMPC has a biometric scanner, but no integrated camera. Sony has a biometric scanner, and not one, but two cameras! Plus, interoperability with LocationFree TV, and a keyboard that is most definitely not the least responsive on the market, and a gaggle of other features. SIGN ME UP.

[John Doe @ May 18th 2006 9:06AM]

"Check out how tiny the icons look in the taskbar! Windows just
ain't
designed for use on tiny screens: looks at OS X and 128px icon
support."

Hey fanboi. Apple doesn't have a scaling UI. So other then pretty desktop and dock icons you wouldn?t have any better of a UI then Windows. If you go into the display properties you can change the settings for how the UI in Windows displays. Its not a perfect fix but its OK. Small tip for the Apple fanbois out there. Don?t talk about something you don?t know crap about.

[will chen @ May 18th 2006 9:09AM]

"Small tip for the Apple fanbois out there. Don?t talk about something you don?t know crap about."

lol...

[David @ May 18th 2006 9:18AM]

Not bad, one day someone will come up with just the stuff you need and make the price point come down. Nice intergration with EDGE though. I'm hopeful that the DS-Lite will have some kind of operating system on it and not only be able to browse via Wi-Fi but also have the ability to run contact/calendar programs.

[David @ May 18th 2006 9:21AM]

Did any one notice that it will support vista :)

[Fuman @ May 18th 2006 10:01AM]

Yikes! $1800!!! No thanks Sony...I'd rather get the new Macbook in Black!

[Derrick @ May 18th 2006 10:59AM]

What a loser user interface. Windows XP is not designed for a 4" screen. Nokia don't even squeeze an entire gnome into the 770 user interface. They have at least some sense to write a Hildon GUI kit for small screen interaction.

It is time the Windows XP fanboys realize that your Fisher Price interface don't work on very small screen even if you choose large fonts. WinCE interface is a different issue.

[gangbangmasingill @ May 18th 2006 11:28AM]

this product is designed for the on the go programer or web developer not the media centric. thats why the price is so high cus its built in our favor of needs. [e-mail]

[Joe C. @ May 18th 2006 11:31AM]

Looks pretty cool, like the one guy was saying about the U series PCs they've been around for a long time. They've been making them and selling them in Japan for a while. Over a year ago they where selling them in Sony Style stores and on their website. I've heard several people say that they where alot nicer than the OQO. I wasn't a big fan of the keyboard being external. I'm glad to see that they added the keyboard to the unit. Personally this looks like one of the U series Clie'Sony used to make mated with a U series Vaio.

[Jan @ May 18th 2006 11:35AM]

- It is stupid to comment that you could get a laptop for that amount or a lot less. If you need a laptop, get a laptop. This is a teeny weeny device and small = proprietary = expensive. If you need teeny weeny, get this. The ONLY alternative is the OQO right now and that is just as expensive.
- XP is indeed not for small RESOLUTIONS, i.e. at 800*480 not all GUI elements of pop-up windows show. At 1024*600 this will probably be OK. Only problem is that everything will be small as in very small and even a lot smaller than 800*480 on a 7 inch screen. My answer: zoom with your arms, the device is light enough to bring it closer. The same advice I give to people who are afraid of prime lenses on an SLR -- zoom with your feet instead of the lens. I know this is not as good as a custom large-icon interface, but if you want that, get a PDA... they do exist...

[John Doe is a 'tard @ May 18th 2006 11:51AM]

"So other then pretty desktop and dock icons you wouldn?t have any better of a UI then Windows"

Ummm, he said how small the icons looked in the taskbar. Non-scalable taskbar, scalable Dock....you figure it out.

"you go into the display properties you can change the settings for how the UI in Windows displays. Its not a perfect fix but its OK."

So your plan is to make the resolution what, 800x600??Apparently your solution is to take a high-res screen and turn it into a low-res screen just to select an icon.....nice solution!

"Small tip for the Apple fanbois out there. Don?t talk about something you don?t know crap about."

You win on this one....apparently you know crap much better than any Apple fanboy.

P.S. The contraction for "it is" is "it's", not "its"

[Aaron @ May 18th 2006 12:02PM]

Kind of reminds me of the old Sony PEG-UX50. Man...I REALLY wanted one of these.

http://www.pda-finder.com/images/products/sony_ux50.jpg

[zorg @ May 18th 2006 12:04PM]

"Small tip for the Apple fanbois out there. Don?t talk about something you don?t know crap about."

Dear John Doe,

I'm perfectly willing to leave that to you!

[Jamar @ May 18th 2006 1:03PM]

Can anyone tell if the Japanese version will have wireless WAN connectivity (PHS/UMTS/GSM/CDMA)? It sems to be lacking the antenna of the US version. It also seems to be lacking the high price tag of the US version, being a few hundred dollars cheaper. I will be going to Japan soon, but if the Japanese version only has WiFi, then I need to plan for that.

[Jan @ May 18th 2006 1:14PM]

No WWAN on the Jap. version...

[leyland @ May 18th 2006 4:19PM]

IMO the icon size should be fine. If you look at other PDAs or even the nintendo DS (Animal Crossing comes to mind :)). Although for that size, it looks like stylus only touching, the UMPC finger stuff would probably be way to sloppy.

On the other hand Mac applications may port better to stylus interface, they use one mouse buttons right?

[richard @ May 19th 2006 12:04AM]

Not gonna replace my Psion

I want color (colour for some of you)
Instant, f'ing on!
A keyboard
And quick - keyboard search of my 2000+ best friends (contacts)
It needs to sync w/ Outlook and pick-up e-mail.
I don't need to surf the web - nekked girls is too small to see on that screen anyway. I don't need to edit powerpoint - Geeze - I'd like to see when I'm 60 - previous comment on nekked girls not withstanding and I don't need to run project or excel.

Oh! Yeah! A couple weeks on AA's wouldn't hurt either.

Better, smaller, faster more? Forget it! Give me something that works. Does the basic filofax thing and e-mail (HTML) well and that nobody can write a virus for. I mean, by the time a PC boots, loads it's anti-virus stuff, it's anti adware stuff, it's anti-spam stuff, it's time for coffee.

[Ima Pseudonym @ May 19th 2006 12:44AM]

ahhh, but can it play quake3??
THAT'S the question!

[leyland @ May 19th 2006 2:30PM]

In terms of boot time, there is always standby and hibernating (which I do often with my laptop). It's faster then restarting the operating system. Standby drains battery (keeping ram powered) but is more instant, hibernating just dumps the ram to disk and then just loads it back in when you power it on again (more ram the slower the save/load time). Both are way faster then a complete shutdown/restart. And stability is not that much of a problem, once in a while with my laptop I have to do a full restart, but usually I hibernate.

I don't know if the UX supports this but the OQO, is nice that you can dock it and it becomes a regular desktop computer (minus higher performance of high end desktops), so you can use the little screen when you are doing things on the go and a larger screen when you are at home or work.

I consider these convergence devices, rather then having several different devices for different purposes with your data scattered across them, you have a single device that does just about everything you need and holds most if not all your data.

[Sandra Johnson @ May 23rd 2006 10:27AM]

Have more of a question than comment...If given the choice to purchase the Japanese model with a "compact flash card" or the US model with the SIMS card built in and EDGE, which should one chose? Is it possible to achieve Internet access "anytime/anywhere" with a compact flash card?

[Cristian @ May 24th 2006 5:04PM]

I looked up the hdd model number and it is a 1.8" 30GB hdd made by Toshiba.

[Cristian @ May 24th 2006 5:06PM]

Here is the link:
http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=818200000007000000010000659800001516/818200000b0c000000010000659c000026bd/8182000000e6000000010000659c0000279e/818200000c59000000010000659c00002c38/818200000c5b000000010000659c00002c3a

[Cristian @ May 24th 2006 7:44PM]

The specs page is here, available for pre-order

http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_DisplayProductInformation-Start?CategoryName=&ProductSKU=VGNUX180P&TabName=specs&var2=