PalmOne Zire 71 Handheld

Just bought this Palm for a significant person in my life. Had the opportunity to prep it. The bright color screen is beautiful, and using the built-in camera can't get any easier. The screen feels a little slippery, and Graffiti 2, which still requires you to memorize some weird shorthands, takes some getting used to for people new to Graffiti and also old-time Palm users.Overall I'm still impressed with Palm's simplicity and speed. And I appreciate the ability to sync with Outlook, using an included third-party app.But I'm very disappointed in the way Palm implements multimedia functions. In this area, the Pocket PC is way simpler. Let me expound.To play audio files (only MP3 and RealAudio are supported), you MUST purchase a secure digital expansion card. Of course, given the Zire 71 only has 13MB of user memory, you wouldn't fit too many MP3 songs in the internal RAM anyway if you could. But, still, it would have been nice to be able to carry two favorite songs with me without the SD memory. And had Palm chosen to license Microsoft's WMA technology, we could get the same sound quality at half the file size as standard MP3.So you need to purchase an SD card, and then install RealOne Player from the 2nd companion CD. The choice of RealOne is not a blessing, because Real's software is totally invasive, even more so than Microsoft's. And copying MP3 files from your Windows desktop to the Zire is a total pain: first you have to create a playlist in RealOne, then specify which files in RealOne to copy, and finally copy. With Pocket PC, I just use Windows Explorer to go to the My Music directory on the Pocket PC, and then drag-and-drop MP3 and WMA files. (On the Mac, you'd use Hotsync, which makes it easier than on Windows. It puzzles me why Palm chose not to implement the same technique on Windows.)To play video files, you'd need to install both the Kinoma Player and Quick Time. Then, each time you want to copy a file to the Zire, you must use Kinoma to convert the source file (AVI, MPEG and MOV are supported), a time-consuming process. This is true on both Windows and Mac. If you have a fast P4 the process is not as painful, but still it's totally unnecessary. Again, on the PPC, I just drop-and-drop video files into the My Documents folder (or a subfolder) and voila.So if you are buying the Zire 71 for multimedia functionalities, hold off your purchase and wait until Palm improves this area. If you are buying it for snapping pictures, go for it.

I bought this device so I could get rid of all those pieces of paper with notes and addresses I always lose.What I like about it:- It's a Palm, so most things are very easy to use, especially in combination with the Palm Desktop software.- The color screen is absolutely beautiful. It's a pleasure to read, and it I now always have my favorite pictures with me.- Good battery life, as long as you top it off every few days.- It has a fast processor, so all operations are very snappy.- Expandable using SD/MMC memory cards.- Has audio out so and (after adding an SD card and earbuds) it makes a very decent MP3 player.- Comes with a sync/charge cradle.- Carrying case included.What I don't like about it:- The connection to the cradle is not very snug, so every once in a while it turns out it is not charging or hotsyncing properly. This is the biggest problem I have with this device. It might be the cradle (included) though.- The included carrying case might not be for you. In order to keep the device from switching on all the time you can install a free utility like "Disable Buttons". It does protect the Zire71, but most ($...) commercial cases are a lot better.- The case is somewhat slippery and can be awkward to hold. You have to try that for yourself- They could have left out the camera and made it a bit thinner.The camera was never a reason for me to buy it, but it has come in handy a few times (copying notes from blackboards, scanning a business card etc). I would have bought the device even if the camera was not part of the package. The processor speed, beautiful screen, reasonable price and audio option by themselves already convinced me.

This is my first PDA and I had heard many stories from people who had purchased PDA's and then never utilized them. I was determined to find one I could use and this one has been great.I bought it basically for business names and addresses and the date book, but have found other neat uses - the photo capability has become my traveling photo album - not only does it take pics, but you can crop and store other pics for "show and tell". At first, I was disappointed in the "Audible" feature, but it has since been upgraded and I use it for listening to books. I did have to buy an expansion card but I have a lot of info in here.No problems hot-syncing and my battery lasts quite a while - depends on how often you use it, but when using the audio features, the light goes out to conserve battery life. I don't use it for games so I can't comment on that.Overall, it's been a great first PDA for me and I recommend it.

The design flaw on this handheld could be the cause of the Zire 72. The Zire 71 has a little joystick to navigate. The issues is that when it is in the slim carrying case and in my purse, the joystick gets pushed and the handheld comes on and stays on. This has run my batter down so many times. When the battery is totally dead, you have to reboot which is kind of a pain and you have to reset some options. My advice is to HotSync often to save valuable information.Other than this flaw, I have loved my Zire 71. I have almost had it for a year. I have purchased the dictionary/thesarus card and a memory card so that I can listen to MP3s.

Even by today's standards, the Zire 71 is slick, but at the time, it was revolutionary. It was like an iPhone, just without Internet capabilities. It had a calendar, contacts, camera, calculator, games, touch screen, the ability to add commercial software as well as hobbyists' software, and handwriting recognition. HANDWRITING RECOGNITION, do you hear me?! When I finally had to give up on it and move over to technology that forced me to use a keyboard, it was like going back in time. I really believed that Palm was going to change the world. I'm still disappointed about what happened to this company.

Works great. User very happy.