Hands on with the Sony UX90s
The Sony UX90s Hands on Review
There's nothing quite like having the delivery truck drop off a brand-spanking-new device, all sealed away in protective packaging. There's a certain joy that comes from cutting the security seal, opening all that static-guard plastic, and slowly peeling the scratch guards off the screen.* While I can't entirely share the experience with the UX90s, I can show you what to expect when you open the box. Sony tends to do a pretty densly packed box, so it takes some time to extract all the pieces. The pictures below show the process of opening the box, extracting the first level of contents, and, finally, the contents of the box, all laid out.
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Because the UX90 is intended by Sony for sale in the oriental markets, the included hardcopy manuals are written in Japanese. Conics provides English versions on the supplied CD-ROM. The CD-ROM also includes the full English version of Windows XP (Pro or Home, depending on your order), all device drivers, with text converted to English, and a "factory install" image that can be used to restore the unit to the exact configuration with which it is delivered to you. In addition to the manuals, there is the Sony UX itself, a standard battery, the power adapter that plugs directly into the Sony UX or into the docking station/cradle, the docking station (for UX50 and UX180 or UX90 if specially ordered) and the stand (for UX90), a small "dongle" that has VGA- and video-out and Ethernet connectors, a soft-sided carrying case withan over-the-shoulder strap and an around the waist strap, and a wrist strap for carrying the UX. If you order the UX180, you'll also get a Cingular SIM Card for the UX180 EDGE cellular module.
Sony sells the UX50 and UX180 with the port replicator included, but it's an option on the UX90. Some companies, like dynamism, bundle the replicator with all units. You'll need to check with whomever you order from. The port replicator makes the difference between the UX being a useful handheld computer and being a very functionaly entry-level desktop replacement.
Once you get everything out of the box and fully charge the battery,* the first thing that you see when you turn the UX on is a set of start up screens that prompt you for your personal details and offer some customizing of the pre-installed software. Since Conics had already configured my model, I didn't have to go through this process. I later went back and changed the "user" account name to something more individual and tweaked a number of other settings to my personal taste.
The UX180 and UX50 also include a number of pre-installed programs. To be honest, I'm not crazy about pre-installed software unless it is specifically useful for functions particular to the hardware. Thankfully, with the UX90, you don't get all that "value-added software" and you don't need to spend much of the initial set-up time with the unit, trying to figure out what you can safely purge. Other than the necessary drivers and support programs, my unit came with the the Sony Media Center software, Firefox browser and Thunderbird e-mail client preinstalled.
Let's take a look at some of the useful, device-specific software that Sony includes on all UX models beginning with a special features menu that allows you to quickly change hardware settings as well as get quick access to your favorite programs for e-mail, web browsing, etc.
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The Launcher applet provides a number of very useful functions with only two taps: One to pull up the Launcher and one to select the appropriate applet. My only issue with the Launcher is that it sometimes takes several seconds to load. I hate waiting for a program to load, just so I can switch a feature on or off.
In addition to the main set of Launcher applets, there are two panels, located off to the right, that provide screen re-direction and control and rotation.
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The top button toggles between display on the built-in LCD monitor, an external monitor (connected to either the VGA or A/V out), or both at the same time. Tapping the button once more calls up the Automatic Display Switching dialog that allows you to set whether the display will automatically switch when the UX senses an external monitor connected. You can also determine whether the automatic switch will enable both displays and whether a display switching window or balloon are shown to inform the user about what is happening.
Unlike the previous U series, the UX supports simultaneous display on both the LCD and external displays. In fact, like most laptops, you can set up the two displays to mirror each other, function as one larger screen, or function as two independant screens. This is a real boon for presentations, allowing you to read your notes from the UX display while displaying the slides on the external monitor. In mirror mode, you may find the results on an external LCD monitor somewhat less than optimum. This depends on whether your LCD monitor renders the atypical 1024x600 well.
Like Sony laptops, the UX comes with a phenominal power management utility. The Sony Power Manager shows you the power settings in an easy to interpret graphic.
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Pre-selected power settings are easily selected from a drop-down list. The Advanced button allows you to tweak the pre-selected settings to your liking or create some of your own. You can select one scheme for when the UX is plugged in and another for when it is running on batteries. When you change settings, the graphical display shows you the difference between the current settings and the changed settings before you press the Apply or OK button. The Power Manager gives the user complete control over every aspect of power use on your computer. As far as I'm aware, nothing provided by other OEMs compares to Sony's Power Manager.
Sony provides Protector Suite QL for working with the built-in fingerprint reader. The software allows you to log into Windows using any enrolled fingerprint (you can enroll all ten if you wish) instead of a typed in password. It does a lot more than that, though. When you swipe a finger across the reader when Windows is already logged in, you get Protector Suite's "Finger Menu."
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You can set one of your enrolled fingers to lock the computer when you swipe it. You can set "Registered Pages" in Internet Explorer which will allow you to use finger-swipes instead of entering the password for those pages. You can do the same for program windows that may require a password. You can use your finger to unlock your "Safe," an encrypted portion of the hard-drive for secure storage. Finally you can call up the Settings dialog that allows you additional options:
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The tabs of the Settings dialog allow you to enroll your fingers. It takes only three swipes to enroll a finger. The "Applications" tab allows you to launch an application with the swipe of an enrolled finger. (Possible jokes abound at this point.) The "Options" tab selects between locking, launching, or opening registered pages when you swipe your finger. The Password Bank contains passwords for the registered pages. The "Registrations" tab allows you to add or delete registered page information. My Safe lets you create, delete, and change the size of your encrypted safe area. Finally, the "Scrolling" tab sets the speed and acceleration for finger-swipe scrolling and the hot-key you use to switch on or off finger-scrolling.
Other bundled programs include a touch-screen calibration utility, which I've only had to use once so far, KeyTweak, a utility that lets you re-assign keys to different functions or characters, a Memory Stick utility to allow you to format Memory Stick cards, the Hardware Diagnostics application, and a software keyboard..
Sony also provides a utility for taking handwritten notes and drawings called PenPlus. It appears as though this utility does not support handwriting recognition however. The Conics folks made a better choice, I think, by providing EverNote's ritePen. ritePen allows you to write anywhere on the screen, meaning that you don't cover up important parts of the screen with an input panel. It also allows you to write whole sentances at a time. It's very good at recognizing all types of writing, including cursive, as well as some of the more common punctuation marks.
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My only fault with the ritePen software is that it's "Trial-ware." You get 30 days to decide whether you'll pay for it and keep it. I understand the theory behind this. I don't want to pay extra for my system just to get a bunch of extra software I really don't want. On the other hand, it's a bit of a hassle purchasing the licenses you want within a month of getting your new machine.
One of the more interesting features of the UX series is a dual set of cameras, one mounted on the front for viewing the user, and a higher resolution one, mounted on the back of the screen, for viewing anything else.
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To work with both cameras, Sony includes a Capture Utility that allows easy switching between the front and rear mounted camera.
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The utility allows you to take stills and video through either camera. Stills can be up to 1280x1024 for the rear camera and 640x480 for the front camera. Video is 320x240 for both. There is even an option that allows you to imbed a GPS location, from an attached or Bluetooth GPS unit, into captured pictures. The Advanced Settings button allows you adjust contrast, brightness, saturation, hue, and other aspects of the picture. The cameras are also used in Sony's custom screen saver. The image from whichever camera was last used is displayed as part of the screen saver.
On the other side of video, Sony provides a couple of specialty programs for audio and video downloading and playing: VAIO Media is Sony's version of an iTunes-like program, allowing you to download audio, video, and even TV, for a fee, from Sony's web site. The VAIO VIdeo Downloader is another utility specifically for downloading videos.
Also provided is Sony's SonicStage. Users of previous Sony products may react to SonicStage with much fear and loathing. Apparently Sony realized how horrible the user interfaces were in previous versions and did quite a good job of making the current version easier to use. Unfortunately, SonicStage is one of the applications that remains in its original Japanese so you won't be able to read the help or prompts unless you know that language.
Hardware
The first thing you'll notice about the Sony UX is that it's all curves. The only flat surface on the entire machine is the display. Part of the curved design is to allow the UX to fit easily into the hand (or both hands for two-handed operation). Sony's casing design may give you a little pause if you're used to the beige brick design of the OQO or the ice-cream sandwich style of the cPC. It's black-and-silver curved surfaces may seem a bit more at home in the consumer electronics area than in an enterprise situation. In fact, a few potential users have expressed concern that the UX might be confused with a games or video machine. That seems possible, but once seen in action, it's clear that the UX is capable of serious business computing as well as some fun on the side.
The UX system is built around the Intel Core Solo processor with a reference design from Intel as well. This includes the Intel 945GMS Express Chipset and the Intel 950 Graphics Media Accelerator. One advantage of going with the Intel reference set is that the work of integrating all of the components has already been done. Another advantage is that the UX can sport the Windows Vista Ready label well in advance of the final release of the new operating system.
The display on the Sony UX is top-notch. Sony uses their proprietary XBrite technology to give the UX display crisp, clear, and exceedingly bright colors. In nearly all lighting conditions the display remains not only readable, but stunning. The only exception would be bright, direct sunlight. In that case, the sunlight tends to reflect off the shiny surface of the display, making it less easy to read. However, since the display is readable from a variety of angles, it's easy to reorient the display to eliminate those reflections.
At the top of the display is the fingerprint reader and the "motion eye" camera that is directed toward the user. I've discussed the fingerprint reader and cameras in the software section.
To the left of the display are the mouse buttons, the menu button, and the wireless on/off switch. Further back, on the left side of the case are the built-in USB 2.0 port and the Compact Flash slot on the UX50 and UX90. Sony nicely includes not only right and left mouse buttons, but a middle button as well. It may seem counter-intuitive for the normal configuration to place the middle button below the right and left buttons (and for left to be top and right to be bottom), but I at least, quickly adapted to it. You can change the configuration in the standard Microsoft Windows mouse control panel applet.
The menu button calls up Sony's Launcher program which I've discussed earlier.
The wireless on/off switch is Sony's way of allowing the user to quickly save on power use by only turning on the wireless radios when they are needed. Again, by using a physical control, Sony doesn't force the user to use on-screen controls or navigate through various dialogs just to turn the radios on and off. On the minus side, if you only want Bluetooth active or only want WiFi active, you have to go through a settings program to disable whichever you don't want.
On the right side of the screen is the cursor control. It uses a textured rubber cover that reacts very well to finger pressure without slippage that is common with the smaller "furry eraser" track-point buttons. Sony includes a couple of spare covers in case the one already installed becomes worn or lost.
Below the cursor control are the "Zoom" buttons. These buttons allow you to quickly move from 1x to 3x display magnification in increments of 0.5. While zoomed, the cursor control will allow you to move around the zoomed display. The Zoom and Pan display operations happen very quickly due to the UX's graphics accellerator. The Zoom function doesn't simply expand pixels. It actually magnifies graphics and fonts so the magnified images remain crisp and clear. Since the goal of zooming is to improve readability, the lack of "jaggies" on the edge of text and graphics is greatly appreciated.
Below the Zoom controls is the power switch. The switch has a multi-mode operation that is common with desktop systems. Sliding the switch up momentarily will send the system into Standby mode. Holding the switch up for four seconds will shut off power completely. Sony adds a third function: Sliding the switch down "locks" the buttons on the outside of the machine as well as the touch display so they won't react to accidental pressure. Locking also puts the computer into a low-power mode similar to standby.
I have two final words about the placement of these controls: First, I appreciate the fact that Sony placed the buttons outside, where they are easily available. This eliminates the need to resort to onscreen taps or sliding the screen up to get to the most common operations. Second, it's clear that the placement of the controls works well with the unit held in landscape orientation as it most commonly is. However, the UX comes with built-in rotation control which allows portrait orientation as well. This is a great feature for reading e-books and other "tall" media, but the placement of the controls are a bit less helpful when portrait orientation is used. In portrait mode, you have to reach across the unit to use either the mouse buttons or the cursor control. Like the older Sony U-Series, the UX has an option that automatically reassigned controls for more optimal use switching orientations. It helps somewhat, but the controls are still more intuitive in landscape.
Almost unnoticable unless they're operating, on the bottom of the display are a number of status lights. These lights inform the user when Bluetooth and WiFi are active, when the hard drive is being accessed, and when VGA output is being sent to an external display. The presence of a hard-drive access light is a real plus. The system is quiet enough that I
The screen slides up to reveal the keyboard. The sliding mechanism seems sturdy and well-built. It locks in place at the fully-open and fully-closed postitions. It requires slightly more pressure to move the display from either locked position so it won't accidentally slide.
Thankfully, the 69-key keyboard is configured in a standard layout. You won't be hunting around to find the "%" symbol on the UX. I should note here that the UX180 comes with a US standard keyboard. The UX50 and UX90 come standard with a "Japanese" keyboard, but the Sony allows buyers to order them with a US standard keyboard as well. The difference between these two keyboards is that the Japanese keyboard has 14 columns of keys to accomodate two additional keys that allow the keyboard to enter Japanese unicode characters. There is also some subtile rearranging of symbols so Shift+2 gives the double quote and not the "@" sign. Sony has apparently learned from earlier experience of selling Japanese keyboards into US markets. I like to see companies offering pre-sale configuration options to their customers.
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The Sony UX also comes with a hardware feature that is fairly unique among handtop, but so useful that you wonder why other manufacturers don't do it. It comes with a built in stand that folds out of the back. The Samsung Q1 also comes with such a stand, but, before you say that Sony "stole" the idea from Samsung, before Sony left the Palm PDA market, they produced a very high-end Clie. One of the nifty features of this unit was that it came with its own built-in stand. Sony didn't forget that feature and it's a part of the UX series as well. The UX built-in stand folds out and locks to hold the UX up at a fairly good viewing angle. I can only find two negatives about this built in stand: First, it only comes with the UX90 version. There isn't even a way to special-order it for the UX50 or UX180. To further confuse the matter, some re-marketers package the cradle with all units sold. Second and more importantly, if you use the UX while it's plugged into power, you can't use the stand. The power adapter plugs into the bottom of the UX and tilts it to an odd and percarious angle if you try to use both at the same time.
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In addition to the built in stand, the Sony UX also comes with the docking station/cradle I've mentioned before. In addition to holding the UX up at a decent viewing angle, the docking station, also called a port replicator, adds a number of additional ports and features: There are three additional USB 2.0 ports, an iLink/Firewire port, a 10/100 Ethernet port, a VGA-out port, and an A/V out port. This makes it very convenient to use your UX portably as needed and quickly shift over to a desktop replacement, connected to an external monitor, keyboard, mouse, and Internet/LAN connection just by placing it into the docking station.
One important aspect of being able to take a computer with you is how you carry it. I've discuss the question of "pocketability" elsewhere. Here I'd like to take a look at the methods Sony provides for toting your UX: First, Sony includes a carrying strap, like you'd use for most high-end cameras, which allows you to carry your UX on your wrist. The strap is sturdy and well designed, but there is an issue: The UX is unprotected and subject to the slings and arrows (or at least the knocks and dents) of outrageous fortune. To prevent your screen from shuffling off this mortal coil, Sony also includes a simple carrying case with a belt loop. This case has soft sides, but also has extra padding and protection in front of the screen. There is also an optional leather case for a more "executive" look.
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In addition to the carrying case, Sony protects the UX system in another way as well. Instead of constructing the UX casing out of metal, which can be expensive and easily scratched, or plastic, which can shatter on impact, the UX casing is built from a cabon-filiment composite material. This material takes bumps and scrapes in stride and also acts as a heat insulator. As a result, even when the UX is running "full-bore," it isn't very hot to the touch. I hope you'll understand, as the UX I'm using for this review is for my personal use, that I didn't subject it to impact and drop tests.
While on the subject of impact and dropping, I should mention that the UX has built-in hard-drive protection to protect the drive in case of an accidental drop or bump. When the UX registers more than a threshold of movement, it will automatically park the hard-drive. The threshold is user configurable.
A second, very important issue with portable systems is how long they can last on batteries and how long it takes to charge them. You'll find that information here, compared to the OQO.
Another possible issues with handtops is that they display the same icons, text, and windows that desktop systems show on a 17 inch monitor and display them on a screen that fits into your pocket. Windows elements can seem awfully small on a 4.5 inch screen. Sony provides a means of getting what they hope is the best of both worlds: They have a set of dedicated keys that allow you to "zoom" into the display, magnifying up to 3.5 times. While zoomed, as you move to the edge of the visible portion of the desktop, the display will pan to show you the un-displayed portion. While this obviously isn't as seamless as using a large monitor, at least it gives those of us without perfect eyesight a means to clearly see important messages. This is one of the features that shows the wisdom of including a graphics accellerator in the design of the UX. Zooming and panning is quick, nearly instantenous. Even when working with maximum magnification.
Almost everything about the UX hardware looks and feels well-constructed. The only exception is the mini-stylus that comes with it. In spite of the fact that the UX is long enough to hold a full-sized stylus, Sony chose to supply a collapsable stylus that fits upright into a compartment in the back. It seems to be the same stylus Sony used with its PDAs. It is certainly an improvement over the odd pea pod-shaped stylus of the earlier U-Series, but the UX stylus still doesn't feel as high-quality as the rest of the unit. Fortunately, because the UX uses a passive touch screen, you can use any after-market stylus intended for use on PDAs or UMPCs. You can even use your finger or just about any rounded-point object.
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I did one final test of the UX, at the request of a fellow member on handtops.com: Previous Sony U Series models with CF slots actually worked slower out of the built-in slot than with a card reader attached to the USB port. I tested the UX to see if that was the case and, sadly, have to report that this appears to be the case for the UX series. These results strike me as odd, as the UX is using the TI CardBus subsystem to drive the card reader. It's not just a USB reader masquerading as a built-in. I've also included the statistics using the USB card reader on the OQO for comparisons sake. These statistics come from SiSoftware's Sandra 2007.
CF Benchmarks |
UX built-in |
UX USB |
OQO USB |
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512 B File Test |
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Read |
398KB/s 2x |
4017KB/s 26x |
1113KB/s 7x |
Write |
130KB/s 0x |
212KB/s 1x |
140KB/s 0x |
32 KB File Test |
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Read |
398KB/s 2x |
3731KB/s 24x |
1150KB/s 7x |
Write |
132KB/s 0x |
211KB/s 1x |
141KB/s 0x |
256 KB File Test |
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Read |
614KB/s 4x |
10974KB/s 73x |
4868 KB/s 32x |
Write |
495KB/s 3x |
1498KB/s 9x |
977 KB/s 6x |
2 MB File Test |
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Read |
785KB/s 5x |
16176Kb/s 107x |
10684 KB/s 71x |
Write |
693KB/s 4x |
4747KB/s 31x |
2935 KB/s 19x |
64 MB File Test |
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Read |
1092KB/s 9x |
17476KB/s 116x |
13107 KB/s 87x |
Write |
1092KB/s 9x |
7646KB/s 50x |
5461 KB/s 36x |
Endurance Test |
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Sector ReWrite |
14KB/s |
14KB/s |
13 KB/s |
Sequential Write |
416KB/s |
806KB/s |
255 KB/s |
Random Write |
13KB/s |
13KB/s |
13 KB/s |
I said that this appears to be the case because other measures of the internal vs USB reader times come out vertually identical. For instance loading Portable Open Office takes about 5 seconds and loading Portable Firefox takes about 8 seconds, regardless of whether you use the internal reader or a USB reader.
I'll make one final note about the UX hardware: The UX currently comes with either a 20GB or 30GB hard-drive. Soon, an option for a 16GB solid state disk will be available as well, but only on the "custom" UX90 model. This solid state disk will significantly improve battery use times, especially when there are a lot of storage and retrieval operations. 16GB is a bare minimum of storage, considering the operating system takes up to 4GB of it. Users will probably find themselves using the built-in CF or Memory Stick readers to augment the remaining 12GB.
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