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In the Sharp Telios installment of "Nostalgia Notes," I introduced PDAs to everyone and shared the Handheld PC from Microsoft's camp. This installment of "Nostalgia Notes" will continue to share the history and related products of another camp in PDA handheld computers — Palm.
In the millennium years before smartphones became mainstream (around 2000), PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) was the primary choice for businesspeople. At that time, mentioning PDA was inseparable from Palm. From the Pilot 1000 (PalmPilot) in 1996 to the Palm TX (Palm T|X) in 2005, Palm spent nearly 10 years and, with "high efficiency" and "long battery life," almost became synonymous with PDA.
However, unlike Palm's approachable route on some product lines, one manufacturer resolutely chose the high-end route: it packed extreme industrial design, audio-visual entertainment, and a representative color high-resolution screen into this small handheld device. It is the protagonist of today's article — Sony CLIE (officially written as CLIÉ).
The history of CLIE can be traced back as early as 2000. In July 2000, Sony released two PDA products in Japan: the PEG-S500C (color LCD screen) and the PEG-S300 (monochrome LCD screen). Both products were based on Palm OS 3.5, and they were also the first handheld devices Sony named CLIE.
The official breakdown of the word CLIE is: Communication, Linkage, Information, Entertainment. In Sony's eyes, CLIE is a PDA and even more a "Personal Entertainment Organizer," emphasizing that on the basis of "efficiency" and "battery life," it should also focus on "multimedia" and "entertainment."
At the same time, CLIE also had many product lines, with positioning covering everything from mass-market entry-level to high-end flagships. Each series had its corresponding main functions and distinctive highlights. This time I selected two representatives with exactly opposite positioning: one is the NX70V from the high-end flagship NX series, and the other is the SJ33 from the mass-market entry-level SJ series.
PEG-NX70V
The NX70V was released in October 2002. It was the first machine in the NX series and also among the first Sony CLIE handheld computers to carry Palm OS 5.
Appearance
Holding this machine, you can tell at first glance that the NX series is positioned as a high-end flagship — the most eye-catching part is undoubtedly the silver shell made of magnesium alloy, which feels substantial in the hand.
Opening the device reveals that the NX70V uses a clamshell design, with a 3.8-inch color touchscreen in the upper half and a QWERTY keyboard and shortcut keys in the lower half.
There is also a built-in CMOS camera of about 310,000 pixels at the hinge, supporting 260-degree rotation and capable of shooting still images and MPEG-4 videos with audio.
Upon closer inspection, it is not hard to find that, in addition to the clamshell, the NX70V's screen also supports 180-degree rotation and can be flipped over onto the keyboard; at this point, you can operate the device using the touchscreen.
This dynamic metaphor is intended to emphasize the freedom and multiple usage forms brought by the design. But this clamshell-plus-rotation design was not new on Sony CLIE — it first appeared on the earlier NR series, and officially it was called: "Wing Design" (ウイングデザイン). At the press conference at the time, a Sony executive further explained the inspiration for the name: "'Wing Style,' inspired by a bird spreading its wings in the vast sky" (大空を羽ばたく鳥をイメージした'Wing スタイル').
Specifications
In addition to the eye-catching design, the NX70V's specifications were also very impressive among Palm devices at the time:
- Operating system: Palm OS 5, compatible with Palm OS 4 applications, and with native support for wireless communication.
- Processor: Intel PXA250 (200MHz), a major upgrade from the previous generation's Dragonball processor.
- Display: 3.8-inch foldable portrait widescreen color TFT LCD, resolution 320×480, supporting 65,536-color display.
- Camera: A 260-degree rotating camera with a built-in CMOS sensor of about 310,000 pixels, supporting still images and MPEG-4 videos with audio.
- Expansion and connectivity: Built-in CF Type II card slot (usable for PHS communication cards or wireless LAN cards), plus USB, infrared port, and headphone jack.
Among the first batch of NX series released, besides the NX70V in my hands, there was also the NX60 without a built-in camera. This kind of functional trade-off was also reflected in the NR series; for example, the NR70 had no built-in camera, while the NR70V had a built-in 100,000-pixel camera.
While looking up information, I saw an article from 2003 online, which was a review by a domestic media outlet of Sony's latest CLIE PEG-NX70V as soon as it was released. The media evaluation at the time was: old bottle with new wine, lacking innovative styling.
But I think that after actually experiencing the NX70V, this evaluation is still debatable. Indeed, at first glance, the NX70V and the earlier NR series both use "Wing Design," and both bodies are silver. However, the most obvious change in the NX70V's appearance is the newly added CF expansion card slot on the back of the machine. Compared with the NR series, which could only use Sony's own Memory Stick, the NX series also supports CF card expansion.
Although the supported range is very limited, according to the information I found, the NX series' CF expansion card slot has a "whitelist." CF cards outside the whitelist, whether storage cards or expansion devices, cannot be properly recognized by the machine. But later, through software cracking, some CF storage cards could be recognized normally.
In addition, I think the internal upgrade points are the most important. The Palm OS 5 on the NX70V is a considerable improvement over Palm OS 4 in both expandability and system appearance.
Software
Sony customized many software programs specifically for Palm OS 5. Here I will focus on CLIE's original startup launcher, CLIE Launcher.
CLIE Launcher is an operating interface specially customized by Sony for its own CLIE handheld computers, and it was also one of the biggest differences you could see at the time between Sony handheld computers running Palm OS 5 and other Palm devices. Comparing it with the traditional Palm OS 5 interface, the difference is clear; the CLIE Launcher interface design is more complex and divided into multiple functional sections — the upper left corner is the function area, the lower left corner is for resident software (you can put frequently used functions or software here), and the long column on the right is for built-in system software and installed third-party software.
You might think this kind of complex interface would be hard to operate on a handheld computer using a resistive touchscreen at the time. The answer is yes, but the Sony CLIE handheld also has an "exclusive" control button: the Jog Dial. You may have an impression of this button, because in a previous "Nostalgia Notes" I shared with you the VAIO laptop Sony launched around 2000; VAIO computers at the time also had a Jog Dial.
What is this button for, and how do you use it? You can think of it as the scroll button on a mouse. Sliding the Jog Dial up and down on the CLIE lets you select the corresponding software and files.
Usually there is also a Back button below the Jog Dial. Looking back at the design of the CLIE Launcher, it is obviously meant for users to operate together with the Jog Dial.
Besides the built-in software, Palm OS 5 itself is a very mature system, with plenty of third-party software and games to choose from.
So where do you find resources nowadays? Here I recommend two websites: PalmDB and Internet Archive. The former specializes in various Palm resources, including software and games. The latter collects various ancient and scarce resources from the internet; many of the device systems and software resources in "Nostalgia Notes" were found on this website.
Syncing software and games to a Palm device is also very simple. You only need a data cable (not a charging cable), or a sync cradle specially designed for Palm devices. For detailed steps, refer to my NX70V: turn the device on, connect the data cable, find HotSync on the device and select the middle sync button. Then watch the computer; as long as "Palm Desktop / HotSync Manager" has been installed in advance and is running in the background, you will see a sync progress bar appear on the computer.
If this is the first sync, the software will ask you to select or enter an account, and then it will automatically sync the data. If you want to install software, you need to first open Palm Desktop on the computer, select Install, add the corresponding software to the list, click Done, then you can close Palm Desktop and select HotSync on the device to sync once more.
Isn't it very simple? Besides installing software this way, if the Palm OS on the device is in English, Japanese, or another foreign language, you can also add a Chinese system through syncing. What I chose is CJKOS, and the operation is also simple: unzip and open CJKOS on the computer, select the language to sync to the device (Chinese), and select the device model before syncing. For example, mine is an NX70V with Palm OS 5, so I select the corresponding model.
If the model or system version is different, syncing is not really recommended. Not to mention whether it will succeed, different device models, resolutions, and system versions may all cause software syncing to fail and the add-on Chinese system to fail.
I installed several pieces of software and applications on my NX70V here, and will briefly share my experience:
- Bejeweled: a very classic casual little game on Palm, with very interesting gameplay, somewhat like today's match-3 games: among rows of gems, select adjacent gems of the same color and tap to eliminate them.
- Zuma: an even more classic game, developed by PopCap. I have played it on Nokia Symbian, Apple iOS, and even Palm's webOS. The fact that a game can span so many platforms itself says a lot about how classic it is. The gameplay is very basic and requires no brainpower: control the toad in the middle of the game to spit marbles and stop the chain of balls on the track from reaching the skull hole at the end. Eliminate all the balls on the track to clear the level.
That's basically it for the NX70V. It represents CLIE's high-end flagship; next, let's turn our attention to the other end of the product line—the mass-market entry-level SJ series.
PEG-SJ33
The SJ series is positioned for the mass entry level, and some models are the cheapest among CLIEs. This series includes both color-screen machines and monochrome-screen machines.
The SJ33 is the last machine in the SJ series, released in January 2003. On the SJ series you can see that even for devices Sony positioned as entry-level, there is a whole set of "marketing" and "feature highlights" for them.
Sony's corresponding press release introduced the SJ33 this way: design and entertainment. Also, interestingly, the SJ33 and NZ90 were actually products of the same period.
The NZ90 is Sony's product following the NR and NX series; the difference is the increased camera pixel count (with a built-in xenon flash), and the exterior design has slight changes compared with the previous generation (though it is still "Wing Design").
Colorful color schemes
Back to the SJ33: because it is positioned as entry-level, its specs were not particularly impressive among Sony's handheld devices of the same period in 2003, so this device leans more toward external marketing. The initial release of the SJ33 had only one standard color, black, and the official later added two limited-quantity colors, blue and orange.
Later, because blue became very popular, the official made blue a standard color just like black, and at the same time added another standard color, white.
In addition, the SJ33 has a flip-open transparent acrylic protective cover; when not in use, it can protect the device screen. The transparent acrylic design also lets you see some useful information on the screen.
Multiple accessories
The official press release explicitly stated that "the SJ33 transparent acrylic protective cover is an accessory, and multiple limited color schemes are also available."
So the comparison is very clear: when the product is positioned as entry-level and the price is low, Sony will "go to great lengths" on the machine's appearance and marketing, while also launching a series of optional peripheral accessories.
Appearance
When I first saw the actual SJ33 in person, I actually didn't think it looked cheap at first glance. It may also be because mine is the limited-quantity blue version from that time; compared with glossy black, the blue version is more eye-catching.
The front of the device has a very traditional "Palm layout"; when you light up the screen, you can find that although it is an entry-level product, Sony also chose a color high-resolution screen, only cutting some things in places you can't see.
Specs
For example, a device from 2003 was still using Palm OS 4.1, and the CPU was also a Dragonball Super VZ 66MHz. There is no physical keyboard and no camera. The biggest highlight is that you can plug in headphones to listen to mp3 music, and a corresponding player is built in.
Because the system is not Palm OS 5, the Sony launchers specially customized for the new system that I shared earlier, as well as the software, cannot be experienced on this device.
Rather than saying the SJ33 is Sony's mass-market entry-level handheld computer, I think it is more like Sony's "return to essence" for its own CLIE. After all, at that time the vast majority of Palm devices were still using color high-resolution screens as a highlight, and "efficiency" and "battery life" were still among the main selling points; you can also see these characteristics on the CLIE SJ33.
Palm Zire 71
Speaking of Palm devices using color high-resolution screens as a highlight, in 2003 Palm's own PDAs also entered the "color screen era," and most mid-range and high-end products were equipped with color high-resolution screens. Among them, I think the most worth discussing is: the Palm Zire 71.
The reason is simple: at the time, people's first impression of Palm was that it was the mainstream choice for business office workers, with average entertainment value. But the Zire 71 broke that impression; Palm equipped the Zire 71 with a 0.3-megapixel camera. The way to trigger it is also interesting: push the screen upward, and the hidden camera is revealed on the back of the machine; at this time, a separate camera button appears at the bottom front.
Article title: Nostalgia Notes | Sony CLIE: The High-End Palm OS PDA of the Millennium
Body: The Palm Zire 71 was not just a PDA with a built-in camera; it was positioned in the mid-range, yet it came equipped with a color high-resolution screen, a built-in camera, a headphone jack, SD card expansion, and the Palm OS 5 system. As a PDA from 2003, these were quite "enough to look at." At the same time, Palm itself was trying to differentiate its product lines with different highlights.
From the Zire 71, one can also see that Palm itself was trying to differentiate its product lines with different highlights. Bringing our attention back to Sony CLIE: after 2003, the CLIE story did not end. Sony still released many handheld devices that made people's eyes light up.
The Aftermath of CLIE
Around 2004, Sony released the TH55, TJ27, and TJ37, and these machines are often considered Sony's last models for the global market.
But there was another special machine that also belonged to CLIE, one that is less well known and was sold only in Japan: in September 2004, the PEG-VZ90 was released, and the VZ90's biggest highlight was its organic EL (OLED) display, which was extremely rare among PDAs at the time.
Its exterior design was also rather different from previous CLIE models; personally, I feel it leaned more toward the "digital photo frames" Sony had released at the time. In February 2005, Sony officially announced the termination of the series and planned to end production of all models in July of the same year. With that, Sony CLIE—the Palm OS PDA that made people's eyes light up with its exquisite industrial design—officially disappeared from the public eye.
I have to admit that this retrospective made me realize that the ideas and designs on Sony CLIE that made people's eyes light up back then were continually absorbed and refined by others and have long since been integrated into common digital products. At the beginning of the article I said that the PDA was a product between the traditional laptop and the mobile phone before smartphones became widespread. Looking back at these devices now, beyond nostalgia, it is also more about making up for the regrets of those years.
Next Issue: Palm Pre and webOS
The story of Sony CLIE has been shared, but Palm's story continues.
In the PDA era, Apple's Newton tried to make the machine adapt to people's operations, while Palm chose Graffiti to make users learn a fixed set of "gestures" to control the device. This approach was later carried over to Palm's smartphones.
In the next issue of "Nostalgia Notes," we return from CLIE to Palm itself and talk about the Palm Pre and webOS: a slider phone with a full keyboard, a system centered on "card-based multitasking" and gesture operations, and a transformation Palm made in the face of the iPhone.
"Nostalgia Notes" Column Creation and AI Statement:
Text: 随便好啦; part of the historical materials in this article were retrieved and assisted in verification by DeepSeek, and the ending preview was polished by DeepSeek
Images: 随便好啦; some images in this article are from the internet, copyright belongs to the original authors; contact for deletion if there is infringement1
- Sony official press release: PEG-S500C / PEG-S300 announcement (July 13, 2000)
- Sony official press release: PEG-NX70V announcement (October 2, 2002)
- Computerworld: NX70V launch report (October 2, 2002)
- Sony official press release: PEG-SJ33 announcement (January 27, 2003)
- Nikkei xtech: Sony confirms CLIE production ends (February 22, 2005)
- Sharp Telios: More than 20 years ago, the "minority" among Handheld PCs
- From a mini computer that can take photos to a notebook in your pocket, how Sony made computers smaller and smaller
- The first-generation iPhone: What was Jobs's ideal phone like?
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