The large and in charge Sony Clie NZ90 was a businessman’s Swiss Army Knife, in every sense.  If the UX50 we previously covered was the ultimate Palm OS PDA, then this was the device that usurped it and took over as supreme PDA.  The NZ90 was the culminating point for not only Sony’s lineup of N-series portrait tablet Clies, but also for Palm OS devices in general and PDA’s at large.

When it was launched, the Clie NZ90 was the equivalent of an electronic  Maybach.  (It was big, expensive, packed with technology and did not sell particularly well.)  To start, the NZ90 was an inch thick, over 5.5 inches long and weighed 10.3 ounces.  It also cost $799 at launch.

The grandiose shape and extravagant price meant that this device was packed to the gills with technology.  It had a 320 x 480 display that lifted, flipped and twisted, just like a narrow tablet PC.  On the bottom portion of the clamshell was a full QWERTY keyboard.  In between the two halves, on the hinge, was a 2 megapixel digital camera with a full xenon flash.  That is something that most cellphones today do not even have.

The NZ90 was powered by a 400MHz Intel XScale processor, the top-of-the-line chip at that time.  It also had both CompactFlash and Memory Stick slots.  Interestingly though, the CompactFlash slot could only be used to add Wi-Fi to this Clie.  Adding storage had to be done with Memory Stick.  In fact, it is amazing that Sony did not include Wi-Fi out of the box, since the NZ90 already had Bluetooth.  Perhaps they could not find any room after making sure the Clie NZ90 could take quality pictures, play video, listen to music, manage contacts, hold appointments, and do everything else a PDA could.  It ought to shame the iPhone to know that even back in 2003, this Sony could play Flash.

The Sony Clie NZ90 was an engineering achievement on many fronts.  In fact, it was one of the few color screened Palm OS devices to have a virtual Graffiti area.  However, as you can imagine given its high price, it was not a sales success.  Especially considering the nascent development of the smartphone, it is clear why the NZ90 was a commercial flop.  However, it did provide standalone PDA’s with quite a swan song.  In fact, it is Evan’s favorite Palm OS device of all time.

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