I'm in for one. Personally, I just need a good alarm clock...and this one will also give me the current weather, traffic and maybe a few headlines when I wake up in the morning. Considering I paid about the same as I'm paying here for my current alarm clock it was hard to say no. I really think Sony should have advertised this as a glorified alarm clock instead of a web device of some sort. That's really what it is. I mean, if you want the functionality of an iPad or a smart phone you should buy one of those. This is just a nifty alarm clock and that's exactly how I'm going to use it.

Quick question for those who own it, and I apologize for missing this if it was already stated earlier, but aside from Gmail, how many other email clients are compatible with this device?

What about Microsoft Exchange?

Beware - The Chumby apps do NOT all work with the Sony Dash.

I bought one of these in the last Woot-Off. The screen is lovely (although hard to view off-angle on the vertical). You can customize the order in which apps appear and how long they stay on the screen, BUT, most of the apps are crap (variants on clocks).

There are a few good apps. NY Times, The Onion, Weather and Calendar Apps, Pandora, Hulu. You can use it to display photos. But who wants to watch a full length movie or TV show on a 7" screen when most of us have computers or TVs for that?

A lot of the good Chumby apps don't work. This isn't the Apple Store. If the iPod Touch apps all worked on this it would be great, but neither they nor many of the good Chumby apps do. I don't think people are developing new apps for this platform either.

The lack of a battery is also a drawback, and the menus are no where near as responsive as a good touchscreen. Also it is not that easy to find apps on the device. Use a computer to find apps and add them to your Dash.

Bottom line: Screen A-, Interface C-, Apps D

It is a Chumby but it's not a hackable Chumby per the licensing agreement Sony has with Chumby. If you want a hackable Chumby, get a Chumby.

I watch Netflix video on my Dash and it's simply amazing, with full frame rate on my night table.

I especially like that the timers offer a dimming feature so you can still use the Dash at night time. The regular Chumby doesn't have this (it goes into "night" mode which is not useful).

Also, in my opinion, this is the only Chumby that functions as a completely useful alarm clock with music. Even better, unlike the Chumby, you *do not* need to use a computer to use the Dash.

I'm buying another one. This is a steal. It is the only Chumby that does Netflix.

What an odd coincidence. I just posted a teardown today. http://cubiclegnome.blogspot.com

Not seeing anything this does that my iPhone doesn't. I'll pass.

Like many others, I bought both this and the Chumby itself during their earlier appearances across the Woot! empire. They're both really great but slightly different. I agree that most of the apps, whether it's more than a thousand or more than 1,500, are pretty dumb -- I think about 10% of them are clocks. Then again, at least most of them aren't fart apps like on the iPhone.

You have a lot of configuration options, so once you find apps you do want, it's very flexible. I have one of mine set up to display a clock for 30 seconds, the weather for 60 seconds, and then a local webcam for 30 seconds so I can see the real weather and traffic on my way to work. A perfect little blast of info to get me started in the morning.

I do have to say, and maybe it's because I have a very dark bedroom otherwise, but even the darkest setting for night mode on this feels very bright to me. There have been nights I covered it up.

I feel like this is mostly good for people who have oddly specific uses in mind for it. For instance - mounting it on a treadmill.

Anyone who doesn't already know what they want to do with it is better off getting a real tablet.

Will this charge my iPhone?

What good is an alarm clock that doesn't have a battery in it?

Can you have a silent alarm to make the Dash auto go into "night mode" at a certain time? I know you can do this on the Chumby, but last I heard you couldn't on the Dash (I hope this has since been changed via software update)...

Shmuel510 wrote:To answer some questions... no, you can't browse the Web with this, nor can you read PDFs. Don't think of it as a tablet; think of it as a clock radio.

A clock radio that displays the time, and weather forecasts, and can wake you up with any Internet stream you choose, and, as a bonus, can stream videos from Netflix or YouTube.

As a tablet, it would suck. But it is the clock radio of my dreams.

Ohhh so by Internet viewer they mean "clock radio" makes sense now....

flakeyblakee wrote:Will this charge my iPhone?

Yes it will, I got a refurb off of sellout. Great alarm clock and I appreciate the added bonus of the USB port to charge my iphone 4.

Got one last time it was on Woot.
PROs:
Clock is great (HumanClock.com is our fav plugin)
Weather shows up flawlessly

CONs:
No browser - so it sucks reading recipes from multiple websites
Alarm Bug - I 7am "The bus is coming" alarm turned OFF for sat+sun, but it still goes off

I also am worried it's using bandwidth and messing up my skype experience, but this is unconfirmed.

M@

phiyuku wrote:Is there a iHeartRadio app for this? How good are the speakers? Would it play music or video from my iPhone or Andorid phone when connected via USB? Kind of really want to buy it but need it to justify the price especially since they now charge tax to NY.

Don't forget to use coupon code "TAXSUCKS" to get a $5 reimbursement. The code works for all states where Woot collects tax, i.e. WA, TX and NY. With $5 off, you'd only be paying about $1.80 in tax, which is cheaper than the one-way subway ride you may take to buy this thing. Roundtrip is even more. At least that's the way I see it.

BTW, if the item is $40-$57 (incl $5 s/h), the tax would be less than $5. The $5 discount would then result in NYers actually paying less overall than Wooters who don't pay sales tax.

Is there any screen burn in on this (or image retention as the kids call it these days with lcds)? If I wake up in the middle of the night, do I have to touch the screen to see what time it is? If there's no Sirius app now, are there apps being developed constantly and is there a chance it'll get done eventually?

Can this access DROPBOX .mp3s and play them? or stream .mp3 from a networked device or folder on another computer via wifi network?

Did I really need to pull the trigger on this? Nope. But, I know I'll be happy going to bed watching Netflix and waking up to something other than that awful generic alarm sound I currently deal with.

editorkid wrote:Like many others, I bought both this and the Chumby itself during their earlier appearances across the Woot! empire. They're both really great but slightly different. I agree that most of the apps, whether it's more than a thousand or more than 1,500, are pretty dumb -- I think about 10% of them are clocks. Then again, at least most of them aren't fart apps like on the iPhone.

You have a lot of configuration options, so once you find apps you do want, it's very flexible. I have one of mine set up to display a clock for 30 seconds, the weather for 60 seconds, and then a local webcam for 30 seconds so I can see the real weather and traffic on my way to work. A perfect little blast of info to get me started in the morning.

I do have to say, and maybe it's because I have a very dark bedroom otherwise, but even the darkest setting for night mode on this feels very bright to me. There have been nights I covered it up.

As for the brightness being a problem, I think that turning on Night Mode dims it more than enough, but if you think it is too bright, you can always turn the display off completely by holding down the menu button on top for a few seconds. This does not stop any future changes (alarms, screen schedules, etc.) but will remain dark until a scheduled event occurs, or you touch the blank screen.

"it needs to be plugged in."

That killed it for me!

toddo97 wrote:If I wake up in the middle of the night, do I have to touch the screen to see what time it is?

Depends how you have it set. There's a "night mode," where the screen is black and the time is displayed in large, thin, easily readable white numbers, on which you can also turn the screen brightness way down. That's what I use, in which case you can see what time it is, no problem.

You can also opt to blank the screen entirely, in which case you'll need to touch the screen again to see the time.

Lane03 wrote:Can you have a silent alarm to make the Dash auto go into "night mode" at a certain time? I know you can do this on the Chumby, but last I heard you couldn't on the Dash (I hope this has since been changed via software update)...

Yes I do this already and I have a silent alarm to bring it out of sleep mode as well before I wake up. Works perfectly.

mdunseth wrote:Yes it will, I got a refurb off of sellout. Great alarm clock and I appreciate the added bonus of the USB port to charge my iphone 4.

Can you play music off of the iPhone or is it just a charger?

LaManchaDQ wrote:"it needs to be plugged in."

That killed it for me!

Everytime this is for sale on Woot someone posts something like this. I gotta ask because I truly don't know...What on earth are you people doing with your alarm clocks that they need to be mobile? Am I missing something great that I could be doing with my clock if I took it off the nightstand and walked around the house with it?

Roughly a billion people have stated each and everytime this is for sale that the Dash is a glorified alarm clock. And since it's written in the comments everytime, I have to assume you all know this by now. So what am I missing out on with my alarm clocks all archarically tethered to the wall next to the beds in all my family members' bedrooms?

Internet viewer is a misnomer. This would be better described as an app player.

Just bought the refurb one from the woot off, or whatever it was, a few weeks ago.

Same price, too. Woot - I hate you.

Other than that, it's a nice clock...wasn't overly impressed with the screen. Would never watch Netflix on it.

amerifolklegend wrote:So what am I missing out on with my alarm clocks all archarically tethered to the wall next to the beds in all my family members' bedrooms?

Waking up during a power outage.

Craig234 wrote:Is it just me or do some people not read the thread before repeating a question?

Is it just me or are you fussing about something that doesn't really affect you at all? Not everyone has time to comb over the thread in full detail. I'm sure you'll survive this occurrence.

I'm on the verge of picking one up. I originally wanted one of these, but the chumby one was on woot first, so I picked that up.

I love the chumby one, but there's a few things I think that I wanted from it that the dash has:

- Ability to post time AND weather continuously, while cycling through the other fun/info/bs apps. I use it a lot for weather but I hate having to wait until it cycles to it.

- dash seems to have other apps that chumby does not.

- netflix and amazon vod, which chumby doesn't have.

-bigger screen

To those that purchased both, what are your thoughts?

mush93 wrote:This Dash doesn't have a web browser yet. But Chumby is making one for their new 8-inch Chumby. They say that eventually they'll make it backward-compatible.

So essentially a low-end tablet that has to be plugged in. Interesting. Sounds like a very small niche market.

http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/model-documents.pl?mdl=HIDC10

The dash has a 1 year warranty when purchased new, 90 days when purchased refurb (direct from Sony). Woot says it's new, so why's it say 90 days...?

ncarris wrote:It can be a little quirky, and you have to adjust to how it functions a little, apps aren't the greatest but there are plenty. I use this on my nightstand as an alarm clock.

When I select an alarm clock one of the top priority items for me is "must not be quirky."

Boss: "Dammit, this is the fourth time this month you're late!"

Me: "Sorry, my new alarm clock is quirky."

Seriously. The alarm clock is one of the few devices I depend upon to be simple, accurate, and 100% reliable.

Ikes for a little more I could get this at www.1saleaday.com : Pandigital 7" Tablet PC & Color eBook Reader Powered by Google Android 2.0

should I? I already ordered this though, how's woot's returns?

BigD wrote:There is a web browser arriving soon, we even hid the teaser in the writeup.......

Big Thanks to the Woot Staff for bringing this to our attention which could easily be overlooked:



" . . . around Mother’s Day there’s going to be a new web browser app so I can surf the web and even set up my Dash without a PC."

Heres my expierece with this which I purchased the last time it was on woot.
The only way to add or edit apps on this is online. you cant just login to pandora or netflix from the device itself you have to go to a computer create an acct with sony and then log in to the apps from there. the ui and touchscreen are sluggish. It is good for pandora, viewing photos, and possibly netflix.

This pretty much sums this product up.

It's a "internet viewer" without a web browser.

amerifolklegend wrote:Everytime this is for sale on Woot someone posts something like this. I gotta ask because I truly don't know...What on earth are you people doing with your alarm clocks that they need to be mobile? Am I missing something great that I could be doing with my clock if I took it off the nightstand and walked around the house with it?

Roughly a billion people have stated each and everytime this is for sale that the Dash is a glorified alarm clock. And since it's written in the comments everytime, I have to assume you all know this by now. So what am I missing out on with my alarm clocks all archarically tethered to the wall next to the beds in all my family members' bedrooms?

Technically, philosophically and realistically you are correct. I was inartfully getting across the point that I don't want anything to look at as soon as I open my eyes in the morning other than a cup of coffee.

Also, if something is small and portable that can show me the internet when I want it, it shouldn't have to be plugged in unless to recharge it.

U can set up to turn on and off at whatever time you want. I have two and love it. This is very user friendly. I got my first one when they first came out. I have wanted to buy another one and now is the right time.

Tom84 wrote:It is indeed a sony Chumby, but it has more horsepower and a higher resolution screen and really good sound (it gets loud!). It also has the ability to play Netflix and Hulu, which are not chumby apps but special for the Dash.

Also, it doesn't automatically turn off the screen, and there's no way to set that up. But you can set it up to only alarm on certain days of the week.

Full disclosure: I returned it to best buy for a full refund, and it was only $120 then.

Can you stream content over your wireless network from your PC?

jstiles85 wrote:Not seeing anything this does that my iPhone doesn't. I'll pass.

100% correct. My biggest problem comes when my wife or kids are streaming a movie, or using any of the other cool aps that are on it, and I want to use it as a phone-- patience is a virtue! That's ok though, I also don't have any lights in my house because they don't do anything my flashlight won't do.