Sony VAIO UX Premium VGN-UX390N

When we first reviewed Sony's VAIO UX180P Micro PC, we were impressed with its sleek, innovative design and robust feature set. However, we had issues with the keyboard and the slow built-in EDGE data connection. The latest version, the VGN-UX390N, doesn't address those complaints, but it delivers a more powerful CPU, Windows Vista Business Edition, a new solid-state hard drive, and some very cool features. So is it worth the hefty $2,500 price tag?
 
Like its predecessor, the UX390N  weighs a mere 1.2 pounds and is only 5.9 inches wide and 1.3 to 1.5 inches thick (depending on battery size); a little too big for pocket travel but still highly portable. This model sports an all-black casing and features a brightly lit 4.5-inch widescreen touch display with a 1024 x 600-pixel resolution. The screen slides up to reveal a 64-button keyboard that is certainly spacious enough for thumb typing but lacks tactile response. That, coupled with the fact that the keys are virtually flat against the surface, makes entering keystrokes with any kind of speed difficult. On the upside, the keyboard is backlit, making it easy to read in the dark.
 
To the left of the display are three mouse buttons, a Launcher button, and a switch for enabling the 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi adapter. The Launcher feature activates the Touch Launcher screen, where you can easily access such things as My Documents, e-mail, music files, and photos, as well as adjust the volume and brightness settings. You can also change the orientation of the screen for vertical viewing. On the upper right is what looks like a small patch of Velcro but is actually a mouse control pad that works wonderfully. You can also use the stylus and touchscreen to access desktop items.
 
Below this pad are two zoom buttons, which come in handy for magnifying the screen image, as the smallish display can be very difficult to read in its native viewing mode. Desktop icon labels and dialog boxes are particularly hard to decipher. Unfortunately, images become too big for the display when zoomed, and viewing the contents of the entire screen requires horizontal and vertical scrolling. Some screens that were never meant to fill any screen-and therefore don't have scrollbars-bleed off the display and become difficult navigate.
 
The UX390N contains two Motion Eye digital cameras; one is mounted on the upper front screen bezel for easy Web conferencing, and the other is mounted on the rear for capturing motion and still images. The image quality of videos and photos image wasn't stellar, but it's still superior to most cell phone cameras and is a cool multimedia feature.
 
To protect your data, Sony includes a fingerprint reader in the upper screen bezel, and the top of the unit holds a Memory Stick reader and a focus selector, as well as a capture button for the cameras. A single USB port is located on the left rear of the device next to a flip-up wireless WAN antenna for connecting to Cingular's EDGE network, a great feature for those who want wireless connectivity beyond hotspot range. Still, we'd prefer the speed of an EV-DO network. Wi-Fi performance, however, was strong and consistent, with the unit delivering 14 Mbps of throughput at both 15 and 50 feet from our access point.
 
The UX390N is powered by a 1.33-GHz Intel Core Solo processor and 1GB of DDR2 memory. New to this model is a 32GB flash memory drive rather than a traditional spinning hard drive. In addition to improving battery life and enabling faster access times, the solid-state drive is less susceptible to data loss, as there are no moving parts to worry about, which has long concerned users of portable devices. Vista doesn't run MobileMark 2005, but we were able to run 3DMark03 on the UX390N , with a score of 588-still far below acceptable when compared with any ultraportable and even below the previous version's score of 886. On the other hand, the UX had no trouble opening and running several applications at the same time.
 
We managed 3 hours and 40 minutes of battery life under normal working conditions, which included wireless Web surfing, exploring the features of Vista, and snapping the occasional photo or two. We even managed to view a few streamed videos, which looked great on the little widescreen display. Another plus: The built-in speakers sounded surprisingly full and can compete with output from many full-sized laptop speakers.
 
The UX comes with a docking station that provides three additional USB ports, a FireWire port, a VGA connection, an A/V output, and a wired Ethernet port. You also get a soft carry case and a Cingular SIM card, and Sony covers the unit with a one-year warranty with toll-free technical support.
 
The Sony VAIO VGN-UX390N  may be expensive, but it is a powerful handheld PC that will certainly turn more than a few heads. However, we prefer the OQO model 02 because of its better keyboard and its fast EV-DO connection.