Bargain or bust? Read on to find out...
Written: Jun 16 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Gorgeous screen
Battery Life
Easy Camera Operation
Cons: Poor Camera resolution
The Bottom Line: At that price, it's a steal.
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| murgan's Full Review: Palm Zire™ 71 Handheld |
I recently bought a Palm for my wife. Stop sniggering, you in the back row... it wasn't a trade!
When Palm bought out the Zire 72, I was able to pick up the outgoing Zire 71 for half-price ($150). This was my first major exposure to a Palm machine, and it gave me a chance to evaluate the technology. For those of you who have or have used Palm machines, much of this is probably old hat, but for those who have not used one before it may serve some use.
Having chiseled my way into the child-and-adult-proof packaging, I extracted the pleasantly diminutive blue handheld, the charging stand and all of the assorted paraphernalia that accompanies items like this. After a two-hour charge (yes, it only needs two hours to completely charge the internal rechargeable battery) it was ready for use. Being a card-carrying geek - and proud of it - I simply had to dive in and get down and dirty without bothering with such trivia as manuals and documentation!
The handheld itself is small, blue and cute. It also boasts a gorgeous 320x320 16-bit color screen that I found easily readable in all but direct sunlight - for indoor use the lowest brightness setting was sufficient. The machine also boasts 16MB of onboard memory (of which about 14MB is usable) Palm OS 4.5.1 running on a 144MHz OMAP processor, four hardware buttons, a five-way "mini-joystick" controller and an SD-card slot.
Some have complained that it is easy to inadvertently exert enough pressure on these buttons to turn the machine on and waste the battery, but I quickly found a program called "DisableButtons" that solved this problem.
As an aside, SD stands for "Secure Digital". What is so "Secure" about it? After a few minutes reflection, I have come to the conclusion "not much" - SD cards are no more inherently secure than playing cards. I suppose that you could say that the write-protect switch "secures" your data, but that would be a stretch...
Asides aside, the machine also contains a camera. Unlike most phone/PDA cameras, this one is hidden when not in use, which makes it a great tool for candid shots and espionage. Picture quality is ok - max resolution is 640x480 and is good enough for "happy snaps". It is almost absurdly easy to use, though it requires that the subject remain still for a second or so. The internal memory will hold over two hundred photos at the highest resolution, so you do not need to run out and buy an expansion card immediately.
The supplied USB cradle was nearly as large as the handheld. I suspect that this item was designed for use with several different types of Palm machine, as it was a poor fit for this particular handheld, but it worked just fine. A "wall-wart" power supply plugged into the back of the cradle, which gave it the ability to charge the device.
As well as "the usual suspects" (contacts, datebook, World time alarm clock, calculator etc), it comes with an "extras" CD that contains user-installable music player, video player and e-mail client software, along with various other odds and ends. It does not come with any word-processing or spreadsheet software or games. However, many programs are available cheaply or free, including AvantGo (a customizable offline web browser), PalmReader (an e-book reader) and some very nice games (I installed BeJeweled, Acid Solitaire and Acid FreeCell to get us going).
So... how good is it? I have to say it is an absolute joy to use. Jot, AKA Graffiti 2, is easy to use, though a little on the slow side. However, for entering addresses, appointments and stuff like that, it is entirely adequate. The MP3 player works beautifully - though not loud enough for some, it was fine for those of us who do not require ear-blasting volume. MP3s must be installed to a SD card, and not to main memory. I have not installed the Kinoma Video player - I did not buy a Palm machine to play video!
Within a week after opening the item, I had added a 32MB SD card (at $15 with a $15 rebate, it was not to be sneezed at) and had installed a couple of MP3s and a bunch of e-Books. I find e-books as easy to read as paper ones, though the black-on-white bright screen background can be a little tiring. I have also installed AvantGo, and set it up to include such channels as Accuweather, BBC News etc. AvantGo also brings with it the capability of downloading traffic directions (from MapQuest), flight details etc.
The PalmDesktop software is easy to install and use, and the ability to Sync via USB - an area where Psion dropped the ball, in my opinion - is quick and painless, usually taking less than thirty seconds. Occasionally the sync operation would freeze and I would have to reset the machine, but that was the worst of it. Another minor gripe was that the machine would switch itself off every few minutes while reading e-books, but that might be a side-effect of DisableButtons.
As for me, after battle-testing the Palm I have to say that the lack of a keyboard is a major handicap for the Palm machine. Yes, I know that you can buy an add-on keyboard, but that means more to heft around. For sheer "whip-it-out-and-get-to-work-ability" my old Psion 5mx clearly wins. This review was written on it.
Battery life on the Zire is good - you should get a week of normal use or 2-3 days of heavy use. If you are going to use it as an MP3 Player full-time expect to have to charge it daily.
After a couple of weeks, Milady loves her Palm machine - though she is still a little in awe of it. With training and familiarity and training, this will soon pass.
PS. Sony has now withdrawn from the handheld market. This is good news for PalmOne (who makes the Hardware) but bad news for PalmSource (who own the Operating System).
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 150
Recommended for: Beginners - Simple and Easy to Use
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Epinions.com ID:
murgan
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Member: Stephen Murgan
Location: Louisville, KY, USA
Reviews written: 33
Trusted by: 2 members
About Me:
Fortysomething Computer Consultant, Born and raised in London, England, now living in Kentucky.
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