- Get information and entertainment in your bedroom, kitchen, or office, without being tethered to your PC
- 1,500+ apps available to deliver weather, traffic, social networking, movies, music, and more
- 7-inch touchscreen with gesture support and WVGA (800x480) pixel resolution
- 802.11b/g Wi-Fi to easily connect to your wireless home network
- 500Mhz processor with 32kB I/D L2 cache; 256 MB, 667MHz DDR2 DRAM
The Sony Dash is marketed as a "personal internet viewer." In my opinion, it does not live up to that name. Others are more accurately calling it "glimpse internet" and "upgraded alarm clock." It's a 7-inch touch tablet designed with a weighted wedge style, meant to sit on a countertop or bedside table. Sony basically licensed or bought the Chumby OS and added its own internet video service as well as re-designing the UI a bit for the larger screen. I was attracted to this device because I liked the idea of a Chumby, but it seemed overly bulky and too small of a screen. The Dash takes all the good parts about a Chumby and adds a bigger screen and a better design.
I'm giving a lot more detail below, but to sum up: what you think of this device is largely going to depend on what you want from it. To me, this device's best tagline would have identified it as a "wake-up station"...telling you everything you need or want to know as you wake up to begin your day. My rating of this device is based on what I expected out of it: in short, a glorified alarm clock. If your alarm clock could:
* tell you weather and traffic at a glance
* have multiple alarms per day, each with their own sounds, configurable in any way you want...if you want to wake up at a different time each day, with a different tone each day, it can handle that. (Really, if you've ever used your cellphone as your alarm clock, consider everything your cellphone can do as an alarm clock...this can do all the same stuff, without ever having to worry about all the problems of cellphones as alarm clocks.)
* quickly show you a few e-mails, status updates, or photos
* let you go to sleep/snooze to a podcast or internet video
If you look at that list and think, "wow, that's exactly what I want in an alarm clock," then you're the target user for the Sony Dash. Sadly, they're not marketing it to you at all. Really, they're barely doing anything to sell this device. I've seen exactly zero ads. Were it not for Engadget, I wouldn't have even known it was available or what it was. And, stupidly, what Sony is doing is positioning this so it goes up against things like the iPad and Archos tablet. Sony should be positioning this as the best damn alarm clock in the world. That's their mistake and what will, IMO, make this device fail.
On that note, I've seen alot of reviewers poo-poo the Sony Dash by saying "oh, my cellphone could do this" or "oh, my iPad does this better". Well, your cellphone and iPad don't do what this does, because neither of those devices are meant to sit still on a bedside table. Your cellphone and likely your iPad get up and leave when you do, which makes them nearly useless as an alarm clock unless you are a single person living alone. Even if you are a single person (or if you are willing to have separate devices for each person), you'd need to buy several accessories to make a cellphone or iPad sit as nicely as this does on a surface. So, long story short, a cellphone and an iPad appeal to a broader audience, no doubt, but, this device hits a very necessary niche for which the iPad and cellphone are ill-designed.
PROS:
* Very fast and easy setup on the device -you can use the device without going to the web, but there are quite a few apps that require configuration via the web, and the web config has issues (see Cons list)
* Design is sleek. It looks damn cool on your bedside table.
* Pleasing UI, simple to navigate
* AccuWeather weather (a plus over other weather services, IMO)
* Sits securely (can be rubbed by cat without falling over)
* Bright and colorful screen, videos look great
* Completely customizable alarms and alarm clock
* NEW IN 6/2010 UPDATE: Customizable snooze length 1,2,3,4,5,10,15,20,25, or 30 minutes
* "night mode" that dims the screen and shows only the clock, when the next alarm is set for and the weather in black and white...though I did notice today that it's got a little "mom" that writes itself in in cursive, which is kind of a cool "surprise" bit of chrome
* Price is just about right, in my opinion. If Sony ripped out everything but the alarm clock and weather functions, shrank the screen, and got it to $99 or $79, that'd be a very nice product...would beat the heck out of the American Innovative Neverlate Executive Alarm Clock. At $199, it's less than a netbook, less than many cellphones, and far less than the Apple products that could fit this space.
* Usable touch keyboard, fine for posting to Twitter or Facebook, but I wouldn't use it to type a long e-mail
* Really good selection of default sounds loaded
* Was able to access my Amazon Video on Demand purchased videos and play them easily, and since I haven't bought anything else that does that yet (except my PCs, of course), that's a nice feature for me.
CONS:
Now for the bad news. There are three issues that, in my opinion, are near blocking issues, but the silver lining to the cloud is that all three are likely to be resolved by Sony soon, and my rating reflects my strong belief that these will be resolved soon. Still, were I Sony, I'd feel great shame to have shipped this device with these issues as they are:
* USB drives are not working yet. This is huge, because they promise this on the box, and it's the only way to access your own music from the box (no DLNA or other wireless transfer support). It says "coming soon" if you attempt to play music or view pictures from a USB drive. Were I not in love with this as my alarm clock, I'd return it based on this alone. RESOLVED IN JUNE 2010 UPDATE USB drives are now accessible! You still cannot set an MP3 as a wake-up alarm, however.
* The web setup is a mess. The site itself looks shoddy, like no one actually cared enough to make it look nice...and the configuration area is not easily accessible from Sony's main site. You have to go to Sony's "MyEssentials" site (a term/brand that is in no way associated with the Dash), and that site is not linked from the Sony Dash page on Sony's site, nor from Sony's main site. Logging in from Sony's main site and clicking on "my devices" takes forever to load, so I never found out if I could get to the Dash config site from there. To find the config site after the initial setup, I ended up going to , trying my Sony login, and then Chumby re-directed me to the MyEssentials site. Basically, the setup on the Dash itself is so simple, but as soon as you hit the point that you need to use the web to configure something, you're lost. For this reason alone, I can't recommend this for non-geeks...which sucks because if this were fixed, I could see this being a really nice gift for a number of non-geeks in my family. I mean, this is basic stuff that they blew off, and it speaks volumes to Sony's lack of commitment to this device. IMPROVEMENT IN JUNE 2010 UPDATE It is no longer necessary to use the MyEssentials site to configure the Dash. You can do most day-to-day aspects of configuration from the device itself, though the device will still prompt you to register on MyEssentials during initial setup. This is particularly good because it turns out that Sony STILL has not improved the MyEssentials site for the Dash, and they can't reset passwords for your registered account through the website. You have to call customer service. If you try to reset your account's password through the MyEssentials site, it sends you to the SonyStyle site, which uses a different database of usernames and thus will not work.
* No web browser...which I wouldn't care about if there were more apps or if this weren't being sold as a "personal internet viewer"...but to call yourself an internet viewer and not have a browser is just sad. Plus, this makes the apps themselves frustrating. Most of them are just ported iPhone apps, which means they assume you can click links to view more.
There are also quite a few minor issues which Sony/Chumby could resolve in the next few months via software updates:
* Not enough "apps" (really, they're widgets)...lots of popular news and info sites are not represented, and the apps themselves are not the greatest quality.
* The layout options are limited. There's only two layouts, and neither of them are satisfying. For example, there's no layout that has two app panes. You can't customize shortcuts in any of the layouts, either, so you can't (for example) make sure that the Amazon Video shortcut is the first (or only) one available. IMPROVED IN JUNE 2010 UPDATE 2 new layouts are available, and they definitely improved on the usability.
* Not easy to switch between "channels" (different views with different apps...for example, I have a productivity channel that has my Gmail and Gcal in it and a separate social networking channel that has all of my social networks and news feeds), takes 4 steps to switch plus a not-insignificant load time. Basically makes the channel feature useless because it's too annoying to switch channels. You're better off just loading all the apps you want into your default channel.
* No copy/paste functionality...a pain if you're wanting to post a status to multiple sites
* No podcast browser. NYTimes podcasts are accessible via their pre-loaded app, but if you want any other podcasts, you're SOL.
* Chumby's little flying monster logo still shows up on most of the apps, which could confuse people as to what it is or why it shows up, since Sony does not acknowledge Chumby's existence at all in the Dash's UI or setup.
Then there are some issues which are, admittedly, by design. That is, Sony never intended the device to have these features and will probably never give it these features, but they're features that I really think would have made the device better and more usable to a broader audience.
* No accessible internal memory...and assuming they get USB sticks working, there are two issues with this. First, you have to keep your USB stick in all the time if you want to wake up to an MP3. Second, knowing that you have to keep a USB drive in it, the little rubber cover over the USB and 3.5mm port makes that uglier than it needed to be. I do think if you got a nano USB drive, the rubber cover might close over it, but you shouldn't have to do that. They should have made the USB port more public since they knew people would need to keep memory in it. Or, heck, put in an SD card slot instead, to align more with the picture frame type device.
* No DLNA or wireless drive access...again, this is mostly a problem because there's no accessible internal memory. If I could tell this to wake me up to an MP3 that is loaded on my Zune (which has DLNA) without having to connect my Zune, that'd be sweet.
* No battery it must be plugged in to use it...and I complain less about this than Engadget or other reviewers have because the design of this is clearly meant to be a fixed device. It's heavy and relatively bulky, and it's weighted to be stable on a surface, not to be carried around
* No multi-touch which, if they implement a browser, will be a bigger deal.
* No line-in to allow a separate PMP to use the speakers and/or screen (so, no waking up to music from your iPod) -this one is something that is a big nice to have. I think with this kind of device, anything you can do to make it have more than one purpose is a good thing. If I could plug in a PMP or smartphone and have it take over the screen and speakers, that'd be a very nice feature.
Buy Sony Dash Personal Internet Viewer Now
I've been wanting something like this for my living room for a long time as I refuse to hang a clock on the wall or use a clunky looking alarm clock. It's a beautiful little gadget with nice clean lines and is exactly what I wanted in terms of form factor.It's easy enough to get going; just plug it in and use the wizard to connect it to your wireless 802.11 b/g network. The only part about the setup I didn't like is that you need to register it on Sony's website to activate and manage the "channels" and apps. The website definitely needs some work and is awkward at best, and after registering my Dash and adding some apps, I had to power-cycle the Dash before it synchronized and my apps became available.
Regarding the hardware, it's a gorgeous little gadget but a little short of perfection. The touch screen lacks the responsiveness of modern smartphone screens (which is what most of us will compare the screen to). I'm also slightly bummed at the resolution; 800x480 pixels is a little sparse for a 7" screen these days. By comparison, HTC's upcoming Evo 4G phone will have 800x480 on a 4.3" screen. My nerdy side thinks it would've been nice if they had crammed more pixels in there, but take comfort because frankly from a distance it doesn't matter as much. An interesting feature is that the screen will flip if you turn the unit upside down. I suppose that would be useful if you want it higher up and would like the screen facing downward, but you'd have to figure out some way to wall mount it and deal with the power cord or stabilize it upside down on a shelf somehow (it's not set up for either).
Regarding the software, it needs work. The interface isn't the most intuitive thing around; e.g. just realizing you have to use the menu button on top to get the menus going takes a second because your first instinct is to do everything via the screen. Customizing it takes patience. And I know it's early, but many of the currently available apps run in 4:3 mode instead of 16:9, so they don't even take the whole width of the screen (black bars down the sides like when you're watching standard def channels on a widescreen TV). I'm sure that part will work itself out as developers get a clue and build apps for 16:9, but it's bizarre to see apps written specifically for this thing that don't use the entire screen. I'm also hopeful there will be many more variations of dashboards coming through the pipeline; I'm not crazy about the only 2 I have to pick from right now.
I wish I could give this thing 3.5 stars, but I'm giving it 3 for now because Sony needs to get to work here. Thankfully most of its shortcomings are software related which can all be easily (and automatically) addressed by Sony. I'll come back and give it 4 stars after they've improved the software and their website. The limit is 4 stars for me though because the touchscreen isn't as responsive as the smartphone touchscreens many of us are accustomed to, and the screen resolution should be higher for a screen of this size.
Edit: I learned the reason many apps were done in 4:3 instead of 16:9 is that they were written for the Sony Chumby which has a 4:3 screen.
Edit #2: Forgot to add that it's still fun despite its imperfections.
Update 5/26/10: Sony e-mailed me and said they'll be doing an over-the-air update to my Dash by the end of this month which includes:
1. USB functionality for MP3 music playback and photo viewing
2. A new theme called "Full Screen App" that allows your apps to scroll in full-screen mode
3. Enhanced alarm functionality, including adjustable snooze duration for custom alarms and simplified one-touch alarm dismissal
*They also mentioned that the update for next month will include "new themes and the addition of expanded Internet radio options."
Read Best Reviews of Sony Dash Personal Internet Viewer Here
The Dash hardware is nice. It has a bright screen, a nice look, reasonable speakers, and a reasonably quick processor.But the software. Ugh.
The software reeks of beta software. Lots of features are missing, even ones they advertise in the boot up video on the device! The USB port doesn't work for anything, the device can't display traffic, and the alarm functions are very basic. It has an auto-dim sensor, but the software for that is broken. It's advertised as an "ultimate alarm clock," but what advanced alarm clock only allows 5 minute snooze periods and requires you to press at bunch of buttons before you go to bed each night?
Above all of that, the UI is terribly slow. Button presses take a second to register, which is infuriating and makes no sense on something with a 500MHz processor.
Sony is promising updates to the unit, but I spoke to a Sony customer service specialist today, and they stated that Sony doesn't publish feature lists nor dates for upcoming software releases. So until the update is out, customers have no idea when it's coming or what will be in there. There's too much that needs to be fixed for this device to make sense for someone to buy today.
Stay away for now until Sony releases some major updates.
If you do want it as an alarm clock, here is what it can and cannot do:
Can:
1) Set a different alarm time for each day
2) Have multiple alarms on a given day
3) Wake you up to a buzzer, Pandora, Slacker, or 10 different pre-chosen radio streams
Cannot:
1) Use your own internet radio stream to wake you up
2) Use an app to wake you up
3) Use FM radio to wake you up
4) Use USB music files to wake you up
5) Have a backup tone to wake you up if the internet is down
6) Snooze for any period but 5 minutes
7) Edit or add alarms quickly
8) Have an alarm period that is not 60 minutes
9) Have the device go into night mode automatically at night.
10) Use snooze when waking up to Pandora due to a bug
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I was looking for a new clock radio to replace the 10 year old Philips CD clock radio that I had been using. I had just had enough of it. My first priority was a clock radio that is easy to see, but does not light up the bedroom at night like a search light. Now think about that for a moment, there are not a lot of clock radios that are not excessively bright. I had read the reviews on here about the Sony Dash after I stumbled upon it, but was a little hesitant to drop two C Notes on an unproven bedside clock radio.My wife and I were in our local bigbox discount chain, "S-m's C--b" about a month ago and they had the Sony Dash at a very nice discount so I decided to pick one up since I could easily return it if I didn't like it. Let me tell you, as soon as I got this thing connected to my LAN and up and running, I knew it was not going back! You want a clock that doesn't light up the room, bam! you got it! You want a neon clock, bam! you got it! You can have access to basically close to 100 different types of clocks and let me tell you there are some really cool ones and some are interactive.
The sound for such small speakers while not hifi by any means is more than adequate for what the product is. My personal opinion is that reviewers have been a little hard on this product being that it does not have batteries so that you can carry it around. While it is listed as a "personal internet viewer", I wouldn't say that it's a laptop computer. It's meant to be the "PIV" on your nightstand. Seriously, even if I could carry this around, I wouldn't want to, it's just not designed with that in mind. I think that when some products are advertised that they have X capabilities that some individuals jump on that and expect it to exponentially provide way more. If you go in with the mind set that this is a clock radio, you're going to be blown away! While it's not an ipad, it's way more deserving to be called an "internet device" than a clock radio. If you purchase one, you'll understand why it is so much more than a "clock radio".
You want to watch HULU, Netflix and countless others, you can. This picture is fantastic on this thing! Now it all depends on the source, but given a good one, it's like a mini HDTV. I still find myself "messing around" with this thing every night when I go to bed. There is just so much to explore. If you're the man and it's on your side of the bed, there is plenty of cable length to rest it on your chest should you want to interact with this thing.
It's is updated from time to time with software updates and while it does not seem to be a huge priority with Sony, it's still way more than I would expect. There are some things such as battery backup that would be nice, but it's only $200.00, they can't put every conceivable convenience on the device and retain the quality of the original design of the product.
If you purchase this with the mindset that you're looking for a really cool alarm clock that will provide you weather, news, sports, stocks, etc., etc., etc. at a glance at any hour that is basically almost live, then you will be getting way more than you expected for your money. To me, the Sony Dash would have even been worth the $200.00 if that was what I would have had to pay for it. In my opinion, it's just that good.
For individuals that complain that it's not cordless, doesn't have battery backup, doesn't have this and doesn't have that, consider what it is to begin with. It's not a laptop computer or an iPad. If you want something small and portable then get a netbook appliance or an iPad. I had read somewhere that someone with an iPad served the same function for them. Personally, if it's a bedside alarm clock, I don't want to carry it around with me and it it's an appliance such as an iPad or netbook, that's way more than what I want sitting on my nightstand to serve as an "alarm clock".
Again, these are just my opinions and review of the Sony Dash after living with it for a good while now and I realize that others expect different things from different products, but if you just accept the product for what it is, a fantastic clock radio, even though it's marketed as an "internet viewer", you will be more than satisfied with it. Also keep mind should you decide to "try" one, that you need to give yourself some time and the product to "explore" its' capabilities.
I love the fact that I can customize my stocks onto its' "app" that show's live stock prices scrolling for all of my investments in a flash. On a whimsical note, I like looking "live" at Times Square" in downtown Manhattan also.
On top of all of this, it's just a darn cool looking device sitting in your bedroom on your nightstand too!
I've given my honest thoughts on this device and I hope that it helps any of you that may be "straddling the fence" like I originally was. Remember, don't expect and "iPad" and you'll be happy with your purchase!
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Picked up the Dash today at BB. It was a pain to set up as he Dash registration site was ambiguous and did not tell you there is a lag between the time you make your selections on their site to showing up on the Dash. Also there was also ambiguity regarding setting up separate channels versus loding up apps inside the same channel (the better choice). Sony tech support told me to unplug the unit (surprise) and replug then select restart or reboot which took a few minutes of staring at blinking dots. The manual refers you to a registration site whereby you are supposed to enter a code. Easy enough but do not expect you unit to immediately start acting like it is yours just yet. You may see their selected apps still beaming on your screen for a while especially is you are on a channel that has not been setup for your newly selected apps. I suggest deleting the other channels to eliminate confusion. Sony Tech Support did speak english however I had to be referred to level 2 and he still could not figure out how to eliminate icons for NY Times, Pandora, Amazon, etc on the right side of my default viewing screen. If you are going to buy this thing, just be patient setting it up as it may not make complete sense until you have fooled around with it for a while and understand there is a delay between selecting apps from the Sony Dash internet site with your home computer. Netflix is outstanding on the thing, screen looks great for some apps and washed out for others, Apps resolution may or may not be ideally suited for the screen and some look amateurish (Accuweather) be prepared to experiment. Proprietary applications look great. In summary it is a unique and pleasant device and is certainly unlike anything I have ever had. If you know what a chumby is this is a Sony version and the chumby brand is referred to frequently in the set up screens. The Sony Dash registration and config website has many broken links too. I assume these things will be improved as owners call in.
