Apr
9
2007
Sony VAIO Premium Series VGN-UX390N
Posted by luna6 11 Comments
Sony has recently updated their VAIO UX Micro PC line with the UX390N series. This little beast packs the power of a full blown Microsoft Windows Vista computer into a form factor of only 5.91″(W) x 3.74″(H) x 1.27-1.50″(D). When you first look at the palm sized portable device you may guess it to be a souped up version of the Sony PSP, but if you take a closer look at the $ 2,449.99 sticker price, you will probably guess it does a whole lot more. And that it does.
The amount of features packed into the UX390N is impressive in its own right. The unit comes with these features
Intel Core Solo Processor U1500 (1.33GHz, 2MB L2 Cache)
1GB PC2-3200 400MHz DDR2 SDRAM
32GB Flash Memory
Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection (802.11a/b/g)
Integrated Wireless Wide Area Network accessing Cingular Wireless National EDGE Network
Integrated Bluetooth Technology
4.5″ Wide SVGA LCD, Touch Screen, (1024×600)
2 Built-in Cameras (front: 0.3M pixels / back: 1.3M pixels)
Built-in microphone
Built-in monaural speakers
Microphone jack, Headphone jack
1 Memory Stick Media Slot
1 USB 2.0 port, port replicator connector
Biometric Fingerprint Sensor
Keyboard – 64 keys with 0.15mm stroke and 8.6mm pitch
Port Replicator – 1 4-pin i.LINK interface, 3 USB 2.0, Ethernet, VGA-Out, A/V-out and DC-in
Standard Capacity Lithium-ion Battery (2.5 – 4.0 hours of use)
Whew thats a lot of hardware for a device that weights only 1.2 pounds.
When I first looked at the VGN-UX390N I was pleased with the high-tech look of the device and the bright 4.5 touchscreen monitor. The monitor displays an impressive 1024×600 resolution, which is well suited for a myriad of tasks like web browsing, document viewing, and movie viewing. Sony did a nice job of including a slide up screen mechanism for the touchscreen lcd – which keeps the device down to a manageable size, as well as revealing a qwerty keyboard. Unfortunately the keyboard included on the UX390N is the least appealing aspect of the unit. Two hand typing is out of the equation because of the relatively compact width, yet, unless you have extremely large hands, you will find it difficult to type with your two thumbs (like on a blackberry) because of its larger than cellphone size width. The width of the unit is wide enough where I found it difficult to hit the keys centered in the middle of the keyboard with either of my thumbs while holding the unit with both hands. Furthermore the keys are barely elevated above the casing, so any tactile feel is non-existent. If you need to type up a document on the UX390N you should use the bluetooth or usb inputs to connect a standard size keyboard to the unit.
Controlling the mouse was also more difficult than I expected. On the top right side of the unit you have a large sqaure button that you press to control the cursor. Moving the cursor from one end of the screen to the other is easy, but positioning the cursor over a small button can be unnecessarily difficult. Fortunately you can pull out the metal pen and control the cursor via the touchscreen lcd, similar to a palm pilot. On the top left side of the unit there are two buttons to simulate a left click and right click of the mouse. Furthermore there are zoom in and zoom out buttons to focus on a particular area of a document or webpage.
The responsiveness of the unit was good. Besides the custom Vaio Camera Capture Utility program, most of the programs opened up in a brisk fashion. Because of the near desktop computer like hardware specs, there really isn’t a program you can’t run on this unit, besides 3d rendering apps and 3d video games. Some of the applications I used that really worked really well on the UX390N were iTunes, Windows Media Player, VLC, Skype (video conferencing on this thing was awesome!), and Internet Explorer 7. Obviously with the disappointing keyboard, using programs like Microsoft Word was not an option. I could actually thumb type faster on my Treo 650 keyboard. Perhaps people with large hands may find the keyboard easier to type with.
The unit does come with two built in cameras. The motion eye camera facing the same direction as the lcd screen runs at only qvga specs but works well enough for video conferencing via Skype, MSN, AIM, Yahoo. The 2nd camera built on the backside of the lcd works at a respectable 1.3 megapixel resolution (1280×1024). Furthermore if you want to record video you can do so with this unit, but only at 320×240 resolution. The custom Vaio Camera Capture Utility application was easy to use and made using the UX390N as a digital camera fun to use and took decent 1.3 megapixels pictures. Screenshots are provided at the end of this article. Although the unit’s camera resolution is nothing to write home about, the unit’s form factor made using the device as a camera feel natural.
Multimedia applications really shined on the UX390N. Using iTunes, with the fullscreen Cover Flow and the touchscreen lcd, made it feel as appealing as an actual iPod. I had to say a huge bright eyed smile occured while listening to music via iTunes on the UX390N. Video also worked well. With the large real estate provided by the UX390N video encoded in Xvid to full blown DVD iso’s looked great on the unit. It should be noted that CD/DVD is not available for UX390N so you have to rip the dvd’s on a seperate computer and transfer the file to the UX390N via a network connection. I didn’t mind at all and found the built-in Wi-Fi chipset to work well. The included port replicator includes an ethernet connection as well. Battery life on the UX390N was respectable but not great. Similar to its notebook feel, the VGN-UX390N was able to get 2.5 – 3.5 hours of regular use before needing a recharge. You could squeeze more battery life by disabling wifi, bluetooth, and screen brightness for maximum battery life.
Although the Sony VGN-UX390N comes at a staggering $2,449 price tag, the Sony VGN-UX390N can “almost” replace a laptop depending on your needs. Furthermore, when you are stationary and ready to get real work done, hooking up a bluetooth keyboard and an external monitor gives the feel of using a full size desktop PC. The unit is aimed squarely at the business market and would be particularly well suited for insurance field agents, lawyers, and I.T. people needing a jack of all trades ultra portable computer. Even though the UX390N is targeted at the business market, the unit works surprisingly well for consumers because of its multimedia features. No doubt, the built in 32 gigabytes of flash memory in the Sony VGN-UX390N keeps the unit price extremely high. If and whenever this unit drops under $1,000 I would seriously consider purchasing the VGN-UX390N. I do hope that for the next version of the unit, Sony would include a better keyboard.
Pro’s :
Internet works wonderfully via Wi-Fi or Edge.
LCD touchscreen is extremely bright, offers a large 1024×600 resolution.
Multimedia playback works awesome on the unit.
Using the digital camera features was fun.
Video conferencing via Skype and Wi-Fi worked so well.
Con’s :
Unit is very expensive.
Keyboard is terrible.
Cursor control is less than satisfactory.
Users Rating: 7.83 
(6 votes)
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Comments
11 Comments so far
hello
I really do like this item, but i’ve got a question, is this Vaio UX390 can be used as a GPS navigation?
many thanks
Emma – I sent back the test unit a long time ago so I can’t confirm about the extra noise at the moment, but I don’t recall hearing noises from the ux390. If it sounds like anything other than a small fan (for cpu?) than I would most likely try to return it for another unit.
The 1.33 solo core cpu isn’t the fastest chip to run Vista so may explain any type of sluggish you feel. When I used the unit I found the unit to be quite responsive though I didn’t do much multitasking on the palm sized device. Hope that helps…
Hi
I just gt my ux390n today. I love it at first sight but when I start using it, it’s not as fast as I though and also it’s a bit loud, just like a regular hard drve that has a spin disc. I wonder if any1 could tell me if it’s normal or is it something wrong with the laptop? thanks
Slo i think you are asking about the VGN-UX280P compared to the VGN-UX390N? The main difference seems to be that the 390 doesn’t use a hard drive but rather flash memory, so you get better battery life and faster read/write/resume access. Also the the 390 has a slightly faster processor (1.33 core solo vs. 1.20 core solo), and more video ram.
Not sure if that is worth the $700 price difference, as I haven’t had a chance to use the 280.
Please I need urgent help.
Is there anyone who can give me the reason why I should buy UX 380 instead of UX 290?
I compare the specifications and I don’t think that the difference is worth around 700 US$.
what!? with all these power and features but no Intergrated GPS capability?.. what a shame! maybe next version will include and i buy :)
although, i do like the 32gb flash memory over standard hard drive.. no moving parts and faster computing power, that’s nice.
I disagree with the keyboard ideas. I was skeptical of the key board and do use a usb keyboard for desktop use, but mobile the keyboard works great. The screen is awesome but at 4.5″ its small, using that in conjuntion with the keyboard is a little tricky, but if your like me and look at your fingers when typing most of the time, the keyboard works great. I have no issues typing.
The form factor of the Vaio PCG-U3 is really more satisfactory, as is the battery life (7+ hrs with the “Triple Battery”), but the CPU sucks – in turn, writing docs/code is more fun.
What is it for?
Hey good question, battery life was somehow left on the digital editing room floor. But added now.
I was able to watch a full length movie (200 pounds beauty) and still have about 30 minutes left of battery power left. You can get anywhere between 2.5 – 4 hours of battery powered usage, depending on what components are enabled (wifi, bluetooth, screen brightness). Cheers
Nothing about battery life?