Sony's Vaio TZ Wonder-Notebook

The previously import-only Vaio TZ was just announced for US shores. That's good news, because its predecessor, the Sony Vaio TX, was one of my favorites subnotes ever. Like the TX, I love the TZ's LED-backlit screen, usable keyboard, built- in EVDO Rev. A by Sprint, and nearly 8 hours of battery life. The TZ's improvements include Core 2 Duo Chips, a Macbook-like keyboard, better specs all around, and a Limited Edition Carbon Fiber model in jet black. Here's a quick rundown of how the TZ's design and specs stack up against the older TX.

Sony Vaio TZ Hands On

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•It becomes a hair thinner, but reaches deeper than the TX. For practical purposes it is the same size. It's 2.7 pounds, compared to 2.8 from before. I wonder if that comes at the expense of battery life (more later.)
•It gains a gappy, Macbook-styled keyboard, which is reinforced for when you're pounding on the keys.
•The screen is still LED-backlit, 11-inch 1366 x 768. But the carbon fiber lid is also reinforced to protect the LCD, and it has a user-facing webcam running at 0.3MP.
•LCD catch 22: It's so sharp, you want to get closer to read text. When you get too close, your viewing angle naturally increases, so the edges of the screen start to color differently than the center.
•It still has EVDO revision A by Sprint, but loses the external antenna which often broke anyway, and gains N on top of WiFi A/B/G.
•The TX's Core Solo U1500 processor gets upgraded to a Core 2 Duo U7500. Or in the jet black Limited Edition TZ, a U7600 at 1.2GHz. (On top of 32GB of SSD instead of a HDD, for $3000.)
•The limited edition also has a clear gel coat of paint, which shows off the carbon fiber beneath the surface. Very cool.
•Unfortunately, battery life is rated at 7.5 hours vs the 10 hours in the TX. (Contradicting that stat, later the press materials say 11.5). I'd like to know the truth—my favorite memories of the TX involve almost 8 hours of straight EV-DO trapped on Route 80 during a Tahoe snowstorm.
•Good lord. It comes preloaded with tons of craplets. One piece of ware is a locationfree TV client, to coincide with a VAIO-branded, component input base station I will tell you about in a later post. As far as craplets go, this is a screenshot of first boot. I kid you not.
•Video is handled by the same Intel 945GMS integrated chipset, with a VGA out for a secondary monitor.
•The media controller, which could play back DVDs/CDs/photos without Windows is now able to run MP3s from the drive, and presumably memory stick. The media keys are on the front face of the device, and the fingerprint reader is in between the mouse buttons. These last two changes are bad.
•There is an ExpressCard/34 slot now. But there are SD and memory card readers, 2 USB ports, Ethernet (now Gigabit), modem, and a 4-pin FireWire port, like before. I would beg for an HDMI port.
•The touchpad has a textured, rubbery feel that gives good tactile feedback without catching your finger. I love it.
•The power button is, unwisely, on the side of the hinge, putting it in a prime spot for accidental clicks as you move things around the desk or grip the laptop for movement.
•The hard drive, as before, has head drive parking when it detects an impending shock.
•The "DVD±R Double Layer/DVD±RW" drive is tray loading, like before. The non-Special Edition models come with 100GB 4200RPM HDDs.
•There are 3 models. The VGN-TZ150N/B and VGN-TZ170N/B are identical, except the 150 comes with 1GB of RAM versus the 170's 2GB of RAM. Both come in silver, black, and purplish-red. The VGN-TZ191N/X comes in that clear gel coating that shows off the carbon fiber underneath, and again, has 32GB of SSD, and a faster U7600 Core 2 Duo chip running at 1.2GHz. Death to Sony's naming schemes!

Sony Vaio TZ Press Shots

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SONY'S LATEST ULTRA-PORTABLE VAIO NOTEBOOK TURNS HEADS WHILE TURNING UP PRODUCTIVITY

SAN DIEGO, July 18, 2007 ⎯ Sony today took the wraps off a new line of richly-designed, high-performance ultra-portable notebooks.
The VAIO® TZ model incorporates the power of a larger PC into a small, portable form factor. Luxuriously sleek, it weighs just 2.65 pounds and measures less than 1-inch thin.
The notebook is available in a classic black, premium carbon, champagne gold, and hand-painted Bordeaux. The unit has a carbon-fiber casing that contributes to its light weight, extra-slim figure and durability.
The model incorporates an energy-efficient 11.1-inch widescreen display (diagonal) with Sony's original XBRITE-HiColor™ LCD technology, producing images in brilliant detail for razor-sharp viewing on-the-go.
"Sony is known for miniaturization and being an innovator in design, but this time we have really out done ourselves," said Mike Abary, senior vice president of VAIO product marketing at Sony Electronics. "This new notebook is an engineering marvel that I believe is one of the best looking PCs on the market."
Designed for ease-of-use, the keyboard's keys are raised slightly above an attractive piano-black bezel layer producing a user-friendly touch. An extra support layer has been added to increase the stability of the keys, giving them an unwavering motion for quieter typing.
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Mobility and Performance
The notebook packs the latest Intel® Core™ 2 Duo ultra-low processor designed for high performance and low power consumption-- perfect for advanced multi-tasking, and four to 7.5 hours of standard battery life on a single charge.
The unit's built-in 802.11n wireless LAN capabilities make it faster and easier to connect to compatible wireless networks with greater performance and range. Whether surfing the web at the office or a local coffee shop, you can connect to compatible hot spots with greater ease and wirelessly stream video at high speeds.
The PC also integrates a wireless Wide Area Network (WAN) technology provided by the Sprint® Mobile Broadband Network and its latest mobile network technology, EV-DO Revision A. A separate Sprint service subscription is required.
This technology supports faster data rates than Release 0 and higher system capacity enabling users to send and receive large amounts of data at broadband speeds. These faster speeds will enable customers to take advantage of large file uploads, video telephony and video messaging for blazing-fast wireless access beyond hotspots.
The new notebook features integrated Bluetooth® technology for wireless communication with compatible Bluetooth-enabled devices. Sony's SmartWi™ technology has also been added for a seamless experience navigating between wireless WAN, wireless LAN and Bluetooth technologies.
An optional MOTION EYE® camera with a microphone built into the razor-thin LCD panel lets you video conference with colleagues, families and friends. It requires a broadband connection and VoIP services sold separately.
For security, an integrated biometrics fingerprint sensor has been added so you can access password protected content with the touch of a finger. The PC comes pre-installed with the Microsoft® Windows Vista® Business operating system.
LocationFree Entertainment
The TZ unit also comes loaded with LocationFree® software. This allows you to "place-shift" live television broadcasts, access a personal video recorder or DVD player, and view that content on your notebook via the Internet with broadband connectivity. A new VAIO-branded LF-V30 base station, with enhanced functionality, is required and will be sold separately starting in September.
The notebook is equipped with Instant Mode so you can go straight to watching a movie, playing music or viewing photos at the touch of a button-- without having to boot-up the operating system.
The included Click to DVD® software and DVD±R Double Layer/DVD±RW drive can be used to create customized DVDs, dynamic presentations and manage multimedia files.
A flash-based model will also be available. This unit will provide a rapid boot-up and quicker access to applications, while reducing the risk of hard drive damage--an ideal feature for travelers in situations where sudden movements are common.
The standard VAIO TZ notebook will start at about $2,200, while the flash-based model will go for around $3,000. Both models will be available online at HYPERLINK "http://www.sony.com/pr/tz" www.sony.com/pr/tz. They will also be sold at Sony Style® stores, military exchange bases and select retailers around the country beginning in August

source gizmodo.com

Sony SZ Laptops Launched

Sony is updating its SZ5 laptops to SZ6 designation. The laptops have Santa Rosa chips, 13-inch LED backlight LCDs, and up to 200GB hybrid HDDs (which have 256MB of flash).

source gizmodo

Intel 45nm Processors

According to motherboard manufacturers, Intel will debut their first 45nm processors at $999 in Q4 of this year. Initial stats will include 3.33GHz, a 1333MHz front side bus and a 12MB L2 Cache (up from previous reports of an 8MB cache). Sources also claimed that two higher performance quad cores with the new architecture would be released in Q1 of 2008.

While the intel on the Intel is technically unconfirmed, nothing here sounds all the shocking

source

gizmodo.com

AMD Quad Core Phenom Gaming System

We just got the chance to play around with AMD's newest quad core system, the Phenom RD790 and a pair of ATI HD2900XT graphics processors. There's a whole lot of cooling going on, thanks to John Woo's new game Stranglehold. The system managed the Havoc physics engine with ease, jumping into sepia-toned "tequila" time and into a zoom mode that gave a bullet's eye view of the action. The experience was mesmerizing, right up to the point where one of the bad guys in the game took a bullet in the nuts, and I actually felt his pain. Wanna see?

I PHONE REVIEWED

Greetings irrational fanboys and apple haters! 10 days and 12,000 words later, our iPhone review finally done. It is a stone-cold look at what it means to own an iPhone today, no BS. Before we get to the in depth hands-on, here's the verdict I'd give any good friend: Wait to buy the iPhone.

Wait for What?
Wait until Apple updates the software on this iPhone. That was a hard sentence to write, since I'm thumbing through my own iPhone like a teenager with his first Playboy. This is what the phone of the future will look like, and Steve Jobs and Apple should be proud. iPhone of 2010 aside, this model must be judged on what it is today. Like every other journalist will tell you, its multitouch UI, browser and iPod are all pants-worthy. But as the honeymoon sets, I find myself left with a phone that could be a lot more functional. I could make comparisons to high-end Nokia or Helio phones that have endless lists of wonderful features like GPS, YouTube video uploading and more. But only a douchebag would tackle the iPhone for lacking esoteric tricks; things that belong on a Wish List for v2.0.

So what's your main problem with the iPhone?
The real elephant in the room is the fact that I just spent $600 on my friggin' iPhone and it can't do some crucial functions that even $50 handsets can. I'm talking about MMS. Video recording. Custom ringtones. Mass storage. Fully functioning Bluetooth with stereo audio streaming. Voice dialing when you're using a car kit. Sending contact info to other people. Instant friggin' messenging. Sending an SMS to more than one recipient at a time.

You are Missing the Point, Lam.
I know these minor things don't sound like much to bitch over, but the negative sum of these granular functions really bites into my satisfaction; I've come to miss the little things as I live with this superphone and realize its staggering shortcomings in the practicality department. And while writers are covering these facts in a glancing manner, alongside the quirky QWERTY, lack of 3G, and weak email support, I feel like they are under emphasizing the flaws in light of the shock and awe of the phone's Wonders. This isn't anything as sinister as journalistic corruption; I believe we all are genuinely impressed. But maybe lots have forgotten what it is like to camp, buy, sign a contract and depend on a lone phone for many years. I'd trade fancy Cover Flow for that list of basics any day.

Are you going to ignore the good stuff just to be a contrarian prick?
Anyone decidedly anti-Apple who is grinning at what I've written so far should also know how much this is NOT a takedown; likely, you are using a handset I wouldn't even pee on. I'm being hard on this phone because I have profound respect for this device, and want it to do better. In homage, let me quickly rehash the ass-kissage which has been told many times before: I have spent many long minutes fingering the LCD, enthralled by multitouch's effortless ability to zoom into photos and scroll through long lists. It makes the 3.5-inch screen exponentially more useful than any 480 x 320 pixel LCD should be. What can Microsoft do with multitouch? They can put it in a friggin' $10k table for the Sheraton and T-Mobile. I love the buttonless design, and even if the keyboard is not as effective as a hardware model, it can be damn fast. While many tech luminaries have said they'd wanted to defenestrate the iPhone after struggling with its ghost QWERTY, people have been running at 35-40 WPM three days in. Safari on the iPhone is the best browser ever seen on a mobile, with or without Flash, because it actually renders everything "as it should". The iPod's use of Coverflow, coupled with decent battery life for media playback, and the big screen make it the best media phone the world has ever seen. I hadn't previously used an iPod for video, for lack of want, but I find myself loading it with home movies and photos just to celebrate the iPhone's talent. That EDGE connection we were all bitching about pre-launch? When reception is good, it's surprisingly decent for browsing and even YouTube. And as Jason Chen wisely puts it, "People who are patient enough to wait for a 3G version of the iPhone should theoretically be patient enough to wait for EDGE downloads." The hardware is wondrous; that LCD, covered in optical grade glass happens to be the brightest, most contrasty little screen I've ever seen. The minimalist design makes every other cellphone look as stodgy as a rotary phone. How's that for gushing?

So what if I don't care about any of the missing features you mentioned? What else is there to keep me from buying?
Since launch, people have been ticked off about the battery's 300-400 charge rating, which will cost roughly $80 to replace. OK, but this is an iPod, you should not be surprised. The real battery issue is that many of the units are running far below rated capacity on day one. My phone only had 40% left after 4 hours of light to moderate use; the statistically significant evidence is that I personally know four other journalists to my knowledge, in different parts of the country, with this problem. Apple took the best care of me, as a customer and my second unit was better. But my point is that power management or manufacturing is not well in the battery department. Waiting for a software fix or a bad batteries to shake out of the stockrooms could be key here.

And then you'd be happy?
No. It has been raked over 1000 times, but let's talk about the missing SDK in a new light. I initially understood both sides of the argument. Devs and fanboys want crazy cool apps; Jobs was quoted as wanting system stability. Jobs has a great point. But, ironically, a 10-day test reveals another thing the initial reviewers missed -- this thing is not Mac stable, it is maybe Windows mobile stable (although no where near as laggy, thankfully). Apps crash out a few times a week, especially in the uncontrolled web, using Safari. To Steve's point, it does go down gracefully, with little to no collateral damage to the phone's core stability. Having just defended the iPhone's lack of an SDK, I will say this: The majority of the web apps are pretty lame compared to apps like the native Google Maps and the simple but satisfying weather widget. And the more robust these webapps get, the heavier they'll be while iPhone struggles to fetch both the logic and data over EDGE when Wi-Fi isn't around. I have three words for you, Apple: OS X Dashboard Widget Converter. Why would Apple not trust in the same external community of Apple-ites who developed iTunes, Coverflow, Multitouch, and Dashboard Widgets before you bought them out? These people are geniuses. Let them help the iPhone's feature set.

Is there anything that you think can't be fixed?
Yes. Rosie's O'Donnel's vagina. There are more complications that may never be resolved. Regarding the iPhone's network partner, Pogue cites Consumer Reports when he says that AT&T has the worst or second to worst reception in 19 out of 20 major cities. Pathetic. Jason's informal testing shows it to be fine, but sound quality for me has been not good; whether that is reception or hardware, it doesn't matter. Apple is in bed with AT&T for at least 5 years. Which circles me back to my metaphor. Signing up for the iPhone is like being tossed into a menage a trois with Angelina and Rosie O'Donnell. You want the beauty, you have to sleep with the beast. Like 3G, there's no easy fix for this one, but it's something I can live with, as long as AT&T continues to do their part. Their part being "drastically improving customer service, the data and voice network, while not jacking up pricing." This is nothing we should hold our breath for, based on historical evidence.

So are you returning this thing?
I should, but no. Don't look at me that way, let me explain. Look at other handsets from Nokia, Helio, Palm, Sony Ericsson, LG and Samsung; or anything running the vomit-inducing Windows Mobile. What they generally have over the iPhone, all these critical but technically minor functions, the iPhone could theoretically fix with a patch or two. Meanwhile, those companies in turn will never be able to make as great a UI and platform as the iPhone has the potential to be. Certainly we don't know what Apple has slated for updates, when those updates are coming, or if they'll ever come at all. (iPods and Macbooks aren't kitchen sink-ers and never will be.) So I hold it on faith, based on a trust that Apple will do what's right for us, not just what's convenient. I wouldn't make the same bet with your dollars, however, which is why I have to tell you to wait for those updates to come before you buy. But clearly, many feel the same way I do and have taken the dive; we all just have to ask ourselves what's right for us in this situation, like rational, intelligent, thinking, grown ups (or not, if you're a drooling fanboy.) And we should together ask Apple to roll the software updates soon and often. Steve Willing, Apple, please fix our Jesus phone.

One more thing. What took you guys so long to review this? And where are the fanboys I know and love/hate?
Like you, I've coveted the idea of an Apple phone since it wasn't any more real than a unicorn. And when it was delivered last Friday, almost seven months after the announcement at Macworld 2007, the hype and spin were so thick, there was no way anyone could write an objective review. Ten days after I camped, plunked down $600 for one, and signed the two year contract, I think I have the perspective to understand what it means to live with this phone. Many reviews abound, but I don't think anyone has written about it from the perspective of ownership yet. That's my take on it the situation. My mind is clear; this isn't a knee-jerk reaction.

source

gizmodo.com