The perfect PDA? You bet.
Written: Dec 28 '03 (Updated Jun 04 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Massive amount of memory, GREAT screen, excellent sound, Dual memory expansion, much much more.
Cons: No cradle, hotsync cable has loose connection,lack of games, Tech Support lacking
The Bottom Line: If it's in your budget get this device. It's fun, it's powerful, and it's price is right.
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| freegoo's Full Review: Tapwave Zodiac 2 |
This is my sixth Palm and FINALLY I have gotten the perfect Palm. Well real close anyway. One was too limiting, the next was nice but was a brick and impossible to use in sunlight (Handspring Prism), then I got a Handera which had an excellent feature set but was slow and buggy. How about a Sony? Plagued with some weird bugs that I couldn't get fixed under warranty (and the absolute WORST stylus EVER) forced me into the Palm Tungsten. The Tungsten T was a very nice model (Best.Stylus.Ever) but came down with Mad Digitizer syndrome and besides, that new Tapwave Zodiac sure looked nice.
I was skeptical about carrying around a PDA that looked more like a Gameboy, and from the pictures on the website it looked huge but the features for the Zodiac warranted a look.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Upon opening the box I found that the Zodiac wasn't as mammoth as the homepage made it look. The unit sits in your hand and feels very comfortable in landscape mode. The screen is gorgeous - very bright and excellent contrast. The best screen I have owned bar none. The Zodiac is very professional looking. Fortunately it doesn't LOOK like a gaming machine, even though it is a very capable one. I carry my handhelds in my left pants pocket and the Zodiac feels very comfortable there. Although it is larger than my Tungsten was it is thinner and doesn't feel very heavy. I don't even notice it's there and find myself checking to make sure I didn't forget the my handheld at home. It's dimensions don't make it a good fit for a shirt pocket though, but I always felt like a nerd with my PDA there.
UNDER THE HOOD - ZODIAC THE PDA
As a PDA the Zodiac has some very impressive statistics.
* 3.8 inch 480x320 screen (16 bit color)
* 200 mhz Motorola ARM9 Processor
* ATI Imageon graphics accelerator
* 128 megabytes internal memory
* Dual SD memory expansion (one SDIO enabled)
* Analog controller
* Bluetooth
* Yamaha Component and stereo speakers
* 1540mAh Rechargeable Lithium Batteries
Or to summarize the above specifications: The Zodiac kicks butt. With 128 megs internal memory you have ample room for programs, data files, music, and videos. Should you run out of room the two memory slots give you up to 1 gig extra storage space. The Zodiac is no slouch performance-wise either. 200 mhz is pretty snappy on a Palm. Most programs launch instantly even with your favorite MP3 playing in the background.
The launcher application is customized to take advantage of Zodiacs analog controller. Eight buttons are arranged in a circle like a spoke which you can select by pressing the controller in the direction of the button you want to launch. Up to 64 programs can be launched with two button presses this way and keeps the launcher from looking real cluttered like most other Palms. Unfortunately Categories cannot be nested, and older Palm applications that aren't color aware have white backgrounds that look pretty bad on the Zodiac's buttons. Applications and folders that don't fit on the wheel get placed on the right side of the launcher and can be accessed by pressing the grey button just below the joystick. While not perfect, the launcher is pretty slick and intuitive and allows you to quickly start most programs with a couple button presses without even pulling out your stylus. A nice little touch is the ability to make any picture you have hotsynced onto your Palm a background of the launcher.
The stylus itself is comfortable to use and feels pretty solid. Unfortunately it is placed on the bottom of the unit, and taking it off and putting it back on is a little cumbersome. Although you develop a technique to pulling the stylus out (best way is to press one of the tips into the Palm causing the other end to come out) it isn't very quick and really hampers the unit for jotting down a quick note, or getting a phone number. If the Zodiac has one design flaw, this is it.
The Zodiac includes a very nice battery. With a very bright screen, fast processor, and loud speakers you would expect the unit to die quickly. Not the case, even with very heavy usage playing games, listening to music, or reading ebooks I have never seen the Zodiac go below 50%. Charging is insanely fast. Usually I have a full charge in half an hour. The first charge itself was only two hours. With PDA's packing more and more features into a smaller and smaller box at the expense of the battery it's nice to see a model with the Zodiac's features include a monster battery. Tungsten3 owners will be very envious.
Last but not least is compatibility. My old Handera 330 had a lot of these features (virtual silk screen, dual expansion) and was a hot device for it's time, however a LOT of Palm applications would not run or would run poorly on the Handera. Thankfully the Zodiac works pretty good. Both Sony and Palm have 480X320 screens and Zodiac uses the same implementation as Palm (using OS API's) so any program that takes advantage of the Palm Tungsten3 screen should also work on the Zodiac. For those applications that aren't written for the high resolution screen they are given a 320X320 area of the screen for themselves. I'm sure there are some programs out there that won't run on the Zodiac, but every single program I had on my old Tungsten runs on the Zodiac.
GETTING JIGGY WITH THE ZODIAC
With the specifications of the Zodiac it would be a real shame not to include a media player. And of course they did. Sound playback with the included player is pretty good using the speakers. Much more impressive than the Tungstens gimpy little mono thing. Plug the included ear phones into the Zodiac though and you hear just how good it really is. I'm no audiophile but music sounds pretty clear to me.
Unfortunately the included player does not support background playback(yet) or playlists. Aeroplayer is included for that but doesn't sound as good as Tapwave's (in my opinion) and requires a registration for MP3 playback (ogg format playback is free). Also included is a lite version of Kinoma. It does the job, but don't expect a lot of features. The conversion application seems slow and limits you to converting one file at a time unless you purchase the full version. This is one feature I haven't played with a lot, but fullscreen playback seemed pretty decent.
ZODIAC THE GAMEBOY
The Zodiac makes an excellent PDA but was also designed to play games. Sporting hardware that puts your Gameboy Advance to shame and makes the N-Gage look like... well the N-Gage the Zodiac brings game. Included in box is a copy of Acid Solitaire and a racing game called Stuntcar Extreme. Acid Solitaire is a nice rendition of Klondike, but doesn't show you anything that can't be done on a thousand other Palms. Fortunately Tapwave included Stuntcar Extreme. The game gives you a glimpse of how much the Zodiac is capable of with smooth controls and nice graphics. Gameplay is surprisingly fun for a game with the word 'Extreme' in the title and I had a great time unlocking all the cars and tracks. I bought 2 other games so far, Spyhunter and Interstellar Flames, both of which look pretty good (Interstellar Flames is a bargain for ten bucks) but so far I haven't really gotten into either one of them like I did SCE (Stuntcar Extreme).
Unfortunately there aren't many games available right now. I counted 11 available for purchase on Tapwave's website with four coming soon. Of those the ones that hold most promise are Warfare(available now), Neverwinter Nights, Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4, and Galactic Realms. Vasara Games (makers of SCE) are developing a nice shooter called Firehammer which I'm looking forward too. Hopefully by retail the Zodiac will have a little more meat when it comes to games.
It's worth noting that the Zodiac is capable of emulating some nice (retro) gaming systems. I've purchased a Nintendo and Gamegear emulator and have had a lot of fun playing some classics that I grew up on like Zelda, Sonic, Super Mario Brothers, and Punch Out. Also available is an emulator for the Atari ST and Arcades. A Super Nintendo port is being worked on and would be real nice.
ZODIAC THE MORNING AFTER
Ok the honeymoon is over, what flaws start to show up once you get over all of Tapwave's excellent feature set? Well fortunately not much. A minor gripe is the Zodiac does not come with a cradle - something I have grown very accustomed to with past PDA's. One can be purchased on Tapwave's website for twenty dollars. The hotsync cable that comes with the Zodiac seems to have a loose connection. The slightest bump and the Zodiac is disconnected and is no longer charging. Probably most disappointing is the current game selection. Megabowling and Table Tennis aren't the most exciting launch titles ever.
Worth noting is a problem I had with my joystick's calibration. It developed an annoying pull to the right which made playing most games impossible. Recalibrating didn't help, and Tapwave's website had no posted solutions. I was able to get an RMA, but dealing with Tapwave's support kind of sucks. The support had a poor understanding of the product. Worse, Tapwave outsourced their technical support to India and we had a difficult time understanding each other at times. The first RMA got mangled and they were unable to correct it or cancel it. I ordered two of them so I told them I would just return the other one for a refund and buy a new one off the website. After taking down my details the agent told me I needed a reason to return the model and then proceeded to try and talk me out of the return using cut and paste scripts. Ridiculous! A lot of work is needed on their support, but I suggest first bringing the jobs back to the USA or at least find people that understand the product and have a good command of English.
The Tech support aside the Zodiac is an excellent PDA/Gaming device. I would recommend it to anyone that is thinking about getting a PDA. As a gaming device it shows huge potential, but if that's your main interest right now I would recommend waiting and see what games come out later.
UPDATE 6/3/05
Well I've owned my 'Z for over a year now and would like to update my review to reflect that. Actually, this is the first PDA I've owned that I haven't gotten bored of, frustrated with, or serious feature envy vs. some other new PDA entering the market.
Unfortunately, the games for the Zodiac never really materialized. Most of the games listed on Tapwave's site are simply Palm games that have been "enhanced" with their digital rights protection (Read: you won't be able to play the game when you get a new Palm). That's ok, there are many fine emulators out there that run great and the Zodiacs controls are perfect.
My biggest problem I had with the Zodiac was with the joystick. Early models had a problem with calibration where they would randomly jerk to the right. I had 3 different models early on get this (original one and 2 RMA's). I think Tapwave got caught offguard with this, as a lot of people had the same problem on ZodiacGamer and my 2 RMA's were simply refurbs. I held on to the last on for 6 months as dealing with the Indian Tech support was painful. (Un)fortunately after 6 months my screen developed a weird flickering problem. I went through the RMA process and in a week had a new Tapwave that not only had a working screen but also did not develop any of the annoying joystick problems.
As funny as it sounds, all that was just a minor annoyance. The Zodiac is a fun handheld and has held it's own against Palms introduced since the Zodiac was released. Only PalmOne's LifeDrive surpasses Zodiac's features, but it's a whopping $500 and doesn't have a good controller setup for games. The Zodiac is still a solid and fun PDA, and at $270 or $350 a good value for a power user. If you passed it by when the Zodiac was released, give it another look. Best PDA I've ever used.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 400
Recommended for: Gadget Lovers - Trendy and Hip
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Epinions.com ID:
freegoo
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Reviews written: 6
Trusted by: 1 member
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