It's the last saturday before March. (The first of March the shops add a 'recycling' tax on all new Electric goods here in Norway :-) It's my last chance to get a MD player for the old price...
I finally decide on the Sony MZ-R50. Back at the GadgetCave!™, I dig out my fathers old Sony MZ-1 to do a little 'on the spot' comparison.
| MZ-1 | MZ-R50 | |
| Looks | Stylish black metal | Even more stylish silvery metal |
| Size | Big/Lumpy, with its own shoulderbag | Small/flat, fit in my shirt pocket |
| Batteries | 6V 600mA Ni-Cad, lasted approx 1 -1,5 Hour. Possibility for external batt. pack(optional extra) | 3.6V 750mA. approx 7Hours. External battery pack(takes 2 AA's) included |
| Text input | 3 letters on each key... | spin wheel |
| Digital Connectors | Both input and output | Input only |
| Other | Motorized Loading | Remote on the headset cable |
Other than that, the MZ-1's battery alone weigths almost as much as the MZ-R50...
I could not do any comparison on sound quality because the MZ-1's magnetic head is broken so that it can only play prerecorded disks...
On my way to my parents for Easter, I have to use a ferry. (No problem since I have the timetable as a Sheet :-) I go into the saloon for a cup of hot chocolate... There I notice a dude who's trying to impress people with his color HP LX something. Being a nice guy, I sit down and pretend that I'm impressed...
This lasts for 2 whole minutes, then I just have to ask one simple question:
- Why do you put a hand behind the screen all the time?
Stunned silence....
I try another question:
- Aren't those keys too small to type on?
I get an answer detailing the difficulties building reliable small keyboards, and a statement that this is the best ever...
I can't think of a good answer to that, so I pull out my trusty S5, and begin to edit my web pages...
More of the stunned silence, before the guy packs down his HP while claiming that the batteries are low...
Being a nice guy (or a complete bastard :-), I offer him my spare set of Alkaline AA batteries... The guy refuses because his can't use ordinary batteries. (As if I didn't already know :-) Victory in hand, I settle down to enjoy a quiet game of Psi-jong.
I just got the Psion Series II(POS 350) in the mail. I bought it from the nice guys from
They still have a couple of these nice machines...
Now for the details:
- 16 x 2 Character LCD screen. (the LZ have 4 lines though)
- Uses a 9V battery. Battery life is supposedly several months...
- This special model have a total of 96KB...
- In addition to storing data and files in RAM, it allows 2 DATAPacks.(ROM or RAM) This one came with 2 32KB ROM packs.
- It has the OPL programming language built-in... (Maybe I should port T5Mdb to it :-)
- It came with a nice leather case. (Black leather :-)
- There's NO backup battery, but if you're quick, you can change the battery without loosing any data! (Now, that's what I call low battery consumption :-)
- It have the essential programs:
- Diary: A simple agenda. You can add alarms to individual entries.
- Calc: A calculator. I have tried it with a formula with 8 levels of parentheses.
- Save and Find: These together make out a DATA type program.
- Alarm: Up to 8 separate alarms! To me it seems that it's possible to have repeat on the same Weekday, Hour or Minute! (Imagine a alarm going off 5 past every hour...)
- Prog: The OPL editor/translator/interpreter. (CE-owners can start crying now... )