PalmOne Zire 72 - A Step Ahead Into the Right Direction
Written: Sep 11 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Price, Speed, Features, Quality, Camera!
Cons: Lens Exposure, No Cradle, No Wi-Fi
The Bottom Line: The PalmOne Zire 72 is yet another excellent product from PalmOne, no dissapointments here.
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| soupcraze's Full Review: palmOne Zire 72 Handheld |
The first Palm Zire 71 was quite a PDA. Even though it carried the "Zire" name of the much different Palm Zire/21 products, it still was a step ahead. But then PalmOne decided to upgrade the Zire model line by mothballing the Palm Zire and keeping the Palm Zire 21. PalmOne also offered the brand new Palm Zire 31 which is quite a bargain! So how does the PalmOne Zire 72 stack up? After using one, here's what I found.
-This is a PDA in case you don't already know-
*The PalmOne Zire 72 is a PDA. That means it's a personal data assistant. This thing is a handheld computer in the palm of your hand. You have something called a stylus pen so you can tap the screen thus executing commands and applications. It's very easy to use! The Palm operating system is also more user-friendly than Microsoft Pocket PC, so if you're not very technologically oriented, then this would be a very good choice. So now here's a description of the product that I hope is helpful if you somehow stumbled upon this and don't know what a PDA is...
-Ding ding! The price is right!-
*The PalmOne Zire 72 some major improvements over the previous Zire 71. As far as the price goes, you pay $299 for a very nicely filled device. The PalmOne Zire 72 offers a faster processor, latest operating system, and also an excellent 1.2 megapixel camera built-in which exceeds the quality of many other devices. When you think about the price and what the PalmOne Zire 72 is meant as, the price is quite right. You pay a good sum of money for a very powerful product with many features for those who are looking not to only have a PDA but to have a lot of fun with it! In comparison to a lot of other Palm-powered PDA's, the PalmOne Zire 72 really hits the spot and sets itself apart in many respects. For what you get, you get a great product.
-Excellent battery... Good long life!-
*The battery life on the PalmOne Zire 72 proved to be pretty good. I had a few hours of life before I had to charge it. For people on the go, this should prove to be more than enough for most users. There were no issues here, the PalmOne Zire 72 definitely has a long lasting battery which once again shows that the PalmOne Zire 72 is a great product.
-Sweet, it's blazingly fast!-
*PalmOne put a very fast microprocessor into this device. The PalmOne Zire 72 is powered by an Intel PXA270 processor clocking in at around 312MHz. This appears to be a match made in heaven. The Palm operating system runs more efficiently than Microsoft Pocket PC, and the PXA270 runs nearly as fast as the Intel XScale 400MHz processor that you'd find on the high-end Pocket PC's. But anyhow, let's just stick to Palm-powered devices... In comparison to earlier Palm devices, the PXA270 is quite a leap in clock speed. Earlier devices usually ran under 200MHz... Including the Treo 600 which is a VERY expensive Smart Phone.
*Alright, enough about numbers... You can practically write anything you want about a product and give it high specifications, but that DOESN'T mean in any way that it would actually perform this way in reality. But the PalmOne Zire 72 doesn't fail to impress. It was a very quick device. I managed to navigate it without any lagging or headaches.. This was quite nice. When it came to listening to MP3's via the SD slot, I had no problems running the application and there was no multimedia lag. The camera also handled itself perfectly well. I was able to snap photos without experiencing any slow down. Also, when it came to running other applications or games, the PalmOne Zire 72 also performed very well without lagging. This is a PDA built to go very fast on a very efficient operating system, moreso than its predecessors. So overall, PalmOne made a great decision by adding a very fast microprocessor into the PalmOne Zire 72 since it gives this PDA a great boost of strength.
-Oh I love you Palm OS!-
*The PalmOne Zire 72 comes with Palm OS 5.2.8. This is a very user-friendly operating system. So if you want something that will be very easy to use, then you'll really like Palm OS 5.2.8. Palm OS 5.2.8 offers you excellent flexibility in downloading the latest software to your device, whether it's freeware or not. Everything on the PalmOne Zire 72 is integrated very well within the operating system and it comes with some pretty sweet software.
-Well protected.. Ay?-
*The PalmOne Zire 72 comes with a carrying case. It's nothing spectacular, but allows your device protection. This is good since if you break your digitizer, you're out of a PDA. There's a neat hard case offered for $29.99 from PalmOne which looks really cool and works well with the PalmOne Zire 72. So if you're concerned about carrying your PDA around to places, it's ok... They come with carrying cases which should allow for ample protection.
-A Zire 72 is built Palm-strong!-
*The PalmOne Zire 72 feels like a pretty high quality device. It doesn't have a cheap or flimsy feel to it... Phew! I know that some PDA's feel cheap like they can fall apart at any moment, but this is a quality device. The digitizer feels pretty solid so I didn't have to worry about tapping too hard on it with the stylus or anything like that. If you take good care of this device, it should last you!
-A great amount of space to store your life in-
*The PalmOne Zire 72 has a very good amount of built-in memory. It has a total of 32MB of memory. In comparison to some predecessor Palm devices which had 16MB, this is quite good. 32MB is far more than enough to holds many contacts, pictures, programs, and other kinds of files. There is also an expansion slot so you can use SD cards to store much more data. Those cards allow you to store multimedia files, programs, and just about anything else. For the average PDA user, this should be more than enough space. But the nice thing about today's PDA's is that they have the SD/MMC slots which allow for easy data storage. So overall, PalmOne did a good job here and storage shouldn't be a problem for most users.
-It's neat to be different... Sexy that is!-
*The PalmOne Zire 72 has a very different look compared to most of the PDA's on the market. It looks wildly different in comparison to a Palm Tungsten PDA. The PalmOne Zire 72 has a really neat blue finish... Cool! It's a very nice looking PDA. It doesn't look cheap or anything... It's pretty impressive I must say, but that's my own opinion. If you're a student or someone who likes to have really interesting or cool looking gadgets, then you should consider this. If you however are a business executive who wants a product that looks very professional, I would look elsewhere like the Tungsten series from PalmOne or to a Pocket PC.
-Good looking screen there-
*The PalmOne Zire 72 offers a 320x320 resolution 16-bit TFT display. This is better resolution than what is offered by the Palm Zire 31. Still not quite as good as what you'd find on a lot of Pocket PC's, but definitely a pretty picture indeed! The PalmOne Zire 72 offers a back-light (Well duh!), which the Zire 21 and original Zire failed to provide.
-La la la la!-
*The PalmOne Zire 72 has built-in MP3 software with a headphone jack. This is a nice touch if you're into listening to music on your PDA via SD expansion cards... However, the thing that I don't like about this is that it can get EXTREMELY costly since SD cards aren't all that cheap and also can't hold anything near HD-based MP3 players... But still, it's your choice if you'd like to do this.
-Say cheese!-
*The PalmOne Zire 72 has a built-in digital camera. But what the Zire 72 excels at in comparison to the previous Zire 71 is that it has a much higher resolution camera. Well actually, in comparison to a lot of other mobile devices, the camera is one of the finest that you can get to date! 1.2 megapixels is superb resolution for an integrated camera. So in comparison to the very crappy cameras you'd find on low-end camera phones, the pictures you can take with the PalmOne Zire 72 are actually the kinds you can proudly share with your friends! Finally, a PDA where you can take some decent-looking quality pictures and be proud of the way they look! But oh wait, don't get the impression that I'm saying that the PalmOne Zire 72 is as good as 5+ megapixel digital camera. In no way would it ever replace a much higher resolution digicam, but it's sure a far cry from many of the integrated cameras available on many of today's devices.
-Built-in Bluetooth... Friggin' sweet!-
*The PalmOne Zire 72 comes with built-in Bluetooth. Finally, you can have your Bluetooth on your Palm device without having to purchase the SD card. This is pretty neat if you have other Bluetooth devices. There is so much flexibility in the Bluetooth world... I however am not using much Bluetooth of anything, so I can't comment all that much. But I do know that many people use Bluetooth all the time, so the PalmOne Zire 72 should fit in with them very well.
-Navigation... It's easy!-
*The PalmOne Zire 72 offers a 5-way navigation button which makes navigating through applications a much better experience. Also, the PalmOne Zire 72 hasn't failed to provide the familiar graffiti pad writing area that most Palm devices have. There are also short-cut buttons around the D-pad which allow very easy and fast access to certain applications. As far as the graffiti pad goes, it also provides easy access and quick writing via the stylus rather than using a QWERTY hardware keyboard. I know that a lot of people prefer to type with the stylus so that should be very convenient. Overall, the PalmOne Zire 72 is easy to navigate through, even for those who are less technologically literate.
-Synchronization with the computer is seamless-
*The PalmOne Zire 72 comes with Palm Desktop which will run on any Windows or Macintosh computer to provide for easy and seamless synchronization between your computer and your PDA. My only complaint is that there is no cradle provided with the PalmOne Zire 72. Come again? Yes, I'm serious, a $300 PDA that doesn't come with a sync cradle! Oh well, you can always buy one if you need one that bad. But overall, as far as the synchronization process goes with Palm desktop, it's easy and efficient.
-Software Bundle-
*Like other PDA's, the PalmOne Zire 72 comes with a pretty good software bundle. It comes with Palm Desktop which allows for synchronization between your Palm device and your computer. There are also a lot of other programs which make life a lot better. First off, you have RealOne player which allows you to play your favorite tunes on this PDA... How fun. It has Acrobat Reader which allows you to read Adobe PDF files on your PDA if you're on the go. That is quite convenient. You also have PalmOne WebPro which is a web browser. You need to have an internet connection in order to do this, such as you can use Bluetooth to use a cellular phone (With Bluetooth) as a modem. Still, the Treo 600 excels over this with the Blazer Web Browser. But then again, they are very different devices. Also, alongside your awesome Bluetooth versatility, you have an SMS/MMS program which allows you to send text and multimedia messages. You also have Versamail where you can send e-mail if you have an internet connection such as through a Bluetooth phone. And oh wait, there's still more! You have Documents To Go which gives you Microsoft Word and Excel so you can edit files on the go! There's also more, but I covered upon the most important and useful ones. You can always download a ton of more applications since it's Palm OS, there's so much!
-So What's NOT Hot-
*No Cradle - The PalmOne Zire 72 costs an MSRP of $300 yet it doesn't come with a sync cradle. That sorta sucks, but you can't always get what you want, can you? I think that a cradle isn't neccessary, but it does make it more convenient since you have a place to set your PDA every time you sync it. Also, it's a good place to keep it so that you won't misplace it somewhere. So if you're in need, you can always buy one as an extra accessory.
*No Camera Lens Cover - On the PalmOne Zire 72, the camera lens is completely exposed. I noticed that a lot of people complained about this, but camera lenses are exposed on most integrated devices such as cellular phones. So this just makes it so that you should be much more careful with your device. Not nearly as convenient as it could be, but hey, it still works.
-No Wi-Fi - It's interesting how PalmOne added in built-in Bluetooth but completely skipped out on the Wi-Fi support. This would've been something nice to add, but if you really need it, you can always buy an SDIO Wi-Fi card. Otherwise, Bluetooth should serve well if you're using other Bluetooth devices.
*Overall, the PalmOne Zire 72 has very few shortcomings. It definitely performs very well and you get more than what you pay for.
-The Verdict-
*The PalmOne Zire 72 definitely proves itself to be a great device. It has so much to offer, more than what you pay for I think. It's very quick, good looking, easy to use, and has a really cool camera! Also, for those of you who are Bluetooth fanatics, the built-in Bluetooth should be great. So overall, PalmOne has created a great product once again showing that you don't need to spend a fortune to get something spectacular.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 300
Recommended for: Gadget Lovers - Trendy and Hip
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soupcraze
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Member: Soup Enthusiast
Location: Chicago, Illinois
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About Me:
I enjoy many of life's passions... Music, medicine, people, and life itself.
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