I recently purchased the Palm Zire for my girlfriend in order to introduce her to the PDA concept. My thought was that the Zire is a typical Palm on a diet and, therefore, would be fairly simple to learn, use, and understand. though the Zire seems to be a hated product in this community, I think my purchase has done what I hoped it would do.

The reason the Zire seems to capture so much flack in this community seems to be that we are experienced PDA users and expected so much more from Palm. Rightfully so, but at the same time, Palm set out to make a beginner/ slow adapter model and in my estimation, they have done so.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE "NORMAL" PALM AND THE ZIRE:

* The price- much cheaper
* The ROM is not able to be upgraded
* Fewer buttons/ controls to learn
* The memory cannot be expanded
* There is no backlight
* There is no cradle
* The Zire is not compatible with many accessories

Are these significant differences? Yes, of course they are. However, I would suggest that for the product and end user that Palm is trying to attract, these are positives. The reason that these are positive differences is that the Zire is for the new user. The new user does not need numerous buttons and functions to learn. The new user will not need a ton of memory and likely will not have a clue what hotsync is (Will I burn my hands on a sink of that type?).

For someone like my girlfriend (Completely clueless when it comes to technology, but oh so cute in being so), the Zire works well. She has seen my Palm and watched me struggle to learn how to use all of the functions- and I know my way around technology. For the less technologically adept, the Zire slims things down to the functions that you need and spares you the extras that can make a typical Palm frustrating for most everyone.

THE PRODUCT SPECIFICATIONS:

* The size is 4.4 x 2.9 x 0.6
* The weight is 3.8 oz
* The screen is 2.75 inches
* 2 MB of internal memory
* 16 MHZ processor
* Monochrome screen
* Lithium Ion battery
* 160 x 160 pixel display
* Windows 98/2000/ME/XP and MacOS operating systems

The product specs are not bare bones, but are definitely less than what you would expect with a 2002 Palm. In this regard, I find that the Zire is quite light and easy to toe around and the battery life is more than adequate. I do most definitely feel that Palm could have and should have included a back light with the Zire. I cannot imagine a light adding more than $5 to the cost of the product. I will also add that the battery is quite good and lasts a decent amount of time, depending on what applications you are running. Palm did not cut any corners in this regard. Finally, the Zire is the smallest product Palm has produced and will easily fit into a shirt pocket.

UTILIZING THE ZIRE:

The Zire is best utilized as a planner. Duh!!! I mean more along the lines of replacing the type of planner that involves paper pages, a pen, and a leather case. Will the Zire ever replace a Palm? No, not a chance. For those of us who have come to love our Palms and know how to use them, we will never go back. Moving from your current Palm to the Zire would be akin to trading in your 2002 BMW 5 Series for a Volkswagen Beetle. Sorry, but this does not happen and if it does, great regret follows (Stay away from all windows and ledges, pills, and firearms).

The Zire has two buttons, rather than the usual four. The two buttons function as the address book and the phone book. Both the address and the date book work well and are as easy to use as Outlook is on the computer. The memory is enough that you can store thousands of dates and addresses without a problem. Another aspect that I like is that the buttons are large and ease to depress.

Palm chose not to include a hotsync cradle with the Zire and, instead, includes a USB connector. While I wonder how this makes it easier to use for the beginner, the function is not overly difficult. My guess is that Palm was able to cut costs by not including the cradle. The USB hook up involves two separate cable; one for sync function and the other for charging the battery. We had no problems when trying to sync with Outlook, although I prefer the hotsync cradle method.

As the user becomes more advanced, they begin to learn how to set the alarm and how to write graffiti (Graffiti is more or less how you write on a Palm). Fun stuff! The alarm works well and I have used it to remind my girlfriend to A) Clean my apartment, B) Grab me a case of Amstel Lite, C) Pick up the latest "Girls Gone Wild" video. She managed all three, thanks to the alarm. And yes, I am only kidding.

WHAT I LIKED AND WHAT I DID NOT CARE FOR:

I liked the fact that the Zire is easier to learn and use than any other Palm. Granted, I am an experienced Palm user, but at the same time I can assure you that I would have learned how to use the Zire in much less time than it took me to learn my first Palm. The "slimmed down" functions truly do make things less confusing.

I also like that the date and address books are nothing more- or less- than what I am accustomed to. They are also very to use. One thing I cannot figure out is why the PDA manufacturers continue to provide phone book options. If someone purchases a PDA, I would strongly assume that they have a cell phone (Think owning a space shuttle before a bicycle and you will see what I mean.) and would most likely store their numbers there.

I also liked the price. No, the price is not right for me. I expect more in the way of options and features and know that I will have to pay for them. My girlfriend expects nothing more than an address book, a date book, and the like. She should not pay more to be confused. I am aware that Palm is discounting a number of their models in this economic environment, but the fact remains that they are not as easy to use and learn as the Zire. It is this point that separates the Zire from discounted models.

On the other hand, (Keep in mind that I am discounting a lot of extra features that I have experienced.) I would have liked Palm to have included a backlight. Now this is not always a big deal, but I do not want to have to turn on my interior car light to see an address. I also would have liked to have seen a hotsync cradle. While we did not have problems, nothing is easier than placing my Palm in the cradle.

I also would have liked to have seen the ability to adapt to other Palm accessories. However, I can see the strategy Palm is following- they want to start you on this model and then hope that you will upgrade to a more expensive model in short time.

THE FINAL CALL:

I would never recommend the Zire to anyone who has ever used a Palm before. However, for the first time user who is not looking for a lot of features, or the techno- phobe, the Zire is pretty straightforward. I would recommend it for those who need a date book/ address book. The Zire does the job that is meant to do- despite the misgivings that may be perceived because of the slimmed down nature.






Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 99