Well, I can sync just fine to my Mac OSX with the Clie... no such luck with the Zaurus. So, you definitely don\'t need Windows with a Clie (albeit, you do need to pay $29.95 for Missing Sync).
MPEG videos play flawlessly on the Clie... most require a change in size and bitrate to run on the Z (unless maybe there\'s another viewer I haven\'t tried that works better).
WiFi and Bluetooth works flawlessly. On the Z, I don\'t have any builtin software in the network applet to search for wifi networks. Bluetooth works perfectly on my Clie... on the Z, the bluetooth adapter I have needs tweaking. Oh, I don\'t have to carry 2 cards with my Clie.
Couldn\'t find a decent SMS app on the Z. The one that comes with the Clie works great.
No Sharp support in the US for the C750. Sony\'s support sucks, but at least I have it.
The Z is great. Awesome screen, better underlying OS. It\'s just missing some critical applications that are polished. So for me, someone who is using a PDA as a PDA first, the Clie works better. Maybe the next iteration of the clamshell Z will work out better. If it has builtin wifi and bluetooth and perhaps a camera/video recorder, I\'ll make the switch again.
Yes but like you say, to be able to sync requires more cash expenditure, we are not all living in the USA or have fat salaries. I don\'t know what Clie you have, but I can speak from experience from going FROM a NX70V to SL-5500, video did not play properly, 15 fps was the limit and the video was jerky, very jerky, as bad as one of those silly video phones at times. To get fluid video meant using another product, Kinoma, more money, no decent audio. And video DID have to be re-encoded to produce either Kinoma files or MQV\'s for the Clie movie player, no different to using a Z. MPEG-1 was poor, 15fps max again. I got excellent performance for movies on my 5500 video felt smooth, if you know what you\'re doing. PDFs had to be converted to a native format, as did many images, word/excel docs required conversion via Docs-to-go (Hancom is better for all my needs), only one product (more cost) supported native DOC/XLS files, but, would only open existing ones. The compact flash port was not supported then, needing 3rd party drivers (MORE cost) for buggy and unreliable results. The much praised camcorder was useless, my £25 digi-camcorder does it better. 5-10fps max. Took nice photos but the edges were blurred. A waste of my hard earned and saved money.
I am not sure why you bought a Linux device, you did know it was Linux didn\'t you? It was never intended for newbies or people who wanted point and click operation, it\'s a more advanced computer, I emphase - computer. I spent just as much on my new 860 as I did the Clie, the Clie was just a Palm, a simple PDA for people who need PIM functions, not a computer, when you break the arguement down, the comparisions are meaningless, you cannot compare the two.
I regretted buying every PDA I ever bought except: Sharp PC-3100, HP 200LX and 5500/860. But notice if you will, I prefer computers, not PDAs. :-) If a PDA is what you needed, why buy a Z? It is not a PDA.
People who say \"oh I bought a Z because of the screen\" or \"I like the hardware\" make me laugh, one needs a bit more than that to make a good purchase decision, these people obviously have made the wrong choice.
riki_nakamura my friend, fear not, there are more of us, than them. ;-)