What's the difference between a Sony Clie 710C & 760C

[Paul]

Besides PalmOS versions... are there any physical differences?

 

[Zim Hosein]

Paul, here's a link to the 760C http://www.sonystyle.com/micros/clie/760specifications/PEG-N760C.html & here's a link to the 710C http://www.sonystyle.com/micros/clie/models/710.html . Like you said the 710C uses Palm OS® software version 3.5.2, while the 760C uses Palm OS® software version v.4.1. Other than that, I believe they are the exact same form factor. Maybe someone else will see something we're missing

 

[DieselMan]

The only three differences between the two models (very little differences) are the following:

1. The clip on the remote control; the 760 has a spring mechanism to clip onto your clothes while the 710 is a static clip (like on a pen cap).

2. The flip screen cover on the 710 is purplish; the one on the 760 is silverish.

3. The OS on the 760 has been upgraded (you can do this on your own or pay Sony for peace of mind since it's like flashing a bios; once it's flashed successfully, everything will be fine) to 4.1 instead of 3.5.2. You can download all the upgraded software for the upgraded 710 (in other words, get the software that comes with the 760) from Sony's web site.

OS 4.1 makes it much easier to connect to Windows XP, and I believe the OS supports more color displayed on the screen than OS 3.5.2 (256 vs 16-bit); USB connection is also supposedly slower on OS 3.5.2 for Clie because it is simply an emulated serial port (so I have been told; Handspring is the one that innovated the USB connectivity concept). If you have the capability to do the upgrade yourself, it's probably better to just get a 710; same identical ELECTRONIC hardware.

You can't go wrong with either, they're great PDA's; by far the best Palm-based PDA's on the market, and the best resolution for this kind of products (320 by 320; you get beautiful sharp pictures you can carry anywhere). The only thing the Clie doesn't do too well yet, and we know it has the ability because there are tricks (a bit inconvenient), is to play good videos. Someone like Teal ought to take advantage of that great sound chip the Clie is gifted! I read somewhere of a way to manually sync a video stream from Teal, and playback the audio in mp3 format via the audio player (must sync voice and video manually). So you can get 25fps at 160x120 video (256 colors though) with 128kbps mp3 audio. gMovies can handle about 16fps on 16-bit color.

 

[The Sauce]

Becuase of the OS, the 3.1 does not allow launching apps off of the memory stick directly without a third party program (none of which I tried were without serious problems). You can launch directly off the memory stick with the 760 which is a huge bonus.

 

[DieselMan]

Snatchface,
Good point!

And there are probably other shortcomings due to changes made to the OS Kernel between the two versions (such as limit of 256 color display in 3.5.x), and Internet related stuff.

 

[Paul]

Maybe I should hold out for these

Click for pics

 

[DieselMan]

They were both announced yesterday, and they look great to me, especially because I have been holding out on getting a T-series one because they lack mp3 playback capability. Total size, volume-wise, should be comparable to the N series, but for all the features you get (built-in digital camera, built-in voice recorder <-- not confirmed, built-in mp3 and video playback, and 66Mhz dragon processor).

Since their color T-series have just been recently released, I would expect Sony to wait another 3 months or so before this one is brought out to the US.

If the N710/760 and T615 hadn't done so well (in fact the T615 is now the top seller PDA in several stores), then Sony, as in the past, would have abandoned the idea of bringing out the product to the US market (these toys do cost $400+); but since it's not the case, you can bet it's only a matter of weeks before we get our hands on them!