AWESOME PDA

Great PDA for the gadget freak. Awesome 320 x 320 resolution screen, small and light, plays video and audio, built in Bluetooth, expansion slot, built in camera for pics or video, a voice recorder, built in speaker, WHAT MORE COULD YOU ASK FOR?
Whether you’re looking to buy it for fun or for professional purposes, this thing is IT.

I originally wanted to buy a laptop for educational use but fell in love with this PDA instead. It has all the features I needed plus only a fraction of the price of a decent laptop. I got the Zire 72 special edition essentials pack, which included Docs to Go standard version, which is great for finishing up those essays due next class. :P Also with the 72s, I don't have to worry about peeling paint.


Lets take a closer look at the ZIRE 72:

Size/Weight
• Height: 4.6 in. / 11.68 cm.
• Width: 2.95 in. / 7.49 cm.
• Thickness: .67 in. / 1.70 cm.
• Weight: 4.8 oz. / 136 grams

MEMORY: The Zire 72 has 32mb of built in memory but only 24mb is available for storage use. 24mb is decent, in fact not bad at all. It’s enough for about 5 average length mp3 songs, but the storage is also shared by other files, like pictures and documents. 24mb is ok for the first few days of owning the PDA (if your just fooling around with it) but defiantly not enough for the serious user. That’s why Palm added the………….

EXPANTION SLOT: This little slit atop of the PDA supports MultiMediaCards (MMC), SD and SDIO expansion cards, all sold separately. The cards memory range anywhere from 32mb to a few gigs. The costs of the cards vary. It can be relatively cheap to really expensive. The cost depends on what type of card you get, how much storage capacity it has and where you get them. I have a 1 gig SD card that cost me about 60$ but so far I have yet to even fill up half that space. When you insert the card, the PDA will ask you if you want to format the card it its not already formatted. The neat thing about this device is you can also format it anytime you want. The card will be in the FAT16 format, which can only support a limited number of files. The expansion slot can also be used to add software or play games (sold separately).
*NOTE: You MUST have a memory card to watch and listen to music. The Palm will not allow you to store songs and vid-clips on the built in memory.

AUDIO AND VIDEO: The Zire 72 is able to play video and audio files. The built in speakers and stereo headphone jack lets you share your music or keep it privet. (Headphones are not included) The program that comes with the z72 allows you to add video files onto your Palm very easily. If you have WMV files, the program will automatically covert it to mpeg and if it’s already in mpeg format, the transfer will be faster. The 312 MHz processor plays video files with ease and the quality is pretty good for a device this size. Z72 can also play mp3 and ASF audio files but not WMA. You can play WMA on Pocket Tunes for Palm OS 5* only if the WMAs are unencrypted, but if the WMAs do have DRM encryption then your out of luck.
*Pocket Tunes doesn’t come with a purchase of a Zire 72, instead you get Real One player which can’t play WMA.

DISPLAY: 16-Bit, 320x320 transflective TFT color display with brightness controls. Supports 65,000 colors. Day or night, the display on the Zire 72 is as crisp and clean as pure water itself. EXCELLENT display. The icons and the pictures are presented in high resolution. It’s great for showing friends and family pictures. The z72 can even present your pics and videos in a slideshow format presentation. Video display is sweet. It’s really good with slow or small action clips, but gets a bit sluggish if there’s quick or violent movement. AWESOME graphics for games, the 312 MHz processor makes any game, slow or fast paced, an experience to behold.

BUILT IN CAMERA / SPEAKERS / VOICE RECORDER: The built in speakers allows you to share music with friends with having the addition of audio splitters or portable audio amplifier. The tiny speakers are really quiet and really of no use in a loud or busy place. The voice recorder is OK. It’ll record normal speaking voice up to about 8-10ft away. It’s great for small conferences or talking a small groups but mostly, it’s for personal use, like a reminder or memo. The camera on this PDA is decent, but nothing to get excited about. The only real drawback about it is that it doesn’t have a lens cap to protect it. It fits nicely on the back of the PDA (not jutting out or anything).
SPECS:
-Maximum Resolution: Photo: 1280x960; 2X digital zoom; Video: 320x240
-Automatic white balance control
-Capture pictures using special effects such as Sepia, Black and White or Blue.
The pictures you get are decent, not the best, yet I’ve seen worse. The 2x digital zoom is nice, but it just makes things look a bit pixilated. The camera cannot take anything in motion whatsoever and the resulting photograph loses it bit of its color. You get better results if you take a picture under natural sunlight or incandescent light. Photos turn out awful under florescent lighting, same goes for footages. The special effects are a nice touch but really can’t help if you take a crappy picture. The video capture is really just for fun. It has qualities similar to that of taking a picture. It’s ok for slow steady movements but really bad in quick or sudden movements. The footages you take have sound. Its quality is the same as if you were using the voice recorder.

SOFTWARES AND UTLITIES: This PDA comes with built in Bluetooth, which lets you connect wirelessly to a cell phone or computer, but to have it work, you have to have either a Bluetooth enabled phone or computer. The Zire 72 comes with the essential: calendar, contacts like, phone book, and organizers to keep your life in order. I got the Zire 72 special Edition Essentials Pack, which also included the following softwares.
-Documents to Go standard (Use Word and Excel compatible files)
-E-reader (read books on your PDA)
-Solitaire
-Real One
-Media organizer (for pics and videos)
-Windows Media player series 9 w/ direct X
-Adobe reader for Palm (reads PDF files)
-Palm one VersaMail / Messages / webpro (only for online use)
-Java for PDA (another online use thing)

BATTERY AND POWER: Battery life is pretty good but could be better. Its takes about 3 hours to fully charge it. Form then on, if you use your hand held periodically, it’d last you through the day (maybe two if you conserve the power). If you’re a heavy user, chances are your probably going to have to charge it up every night. The longest I went without charging it was about 3 days, but I only used it very little during the daylight hours. The battery is a Rechargeable Lithium Polymer battery and an adapter is included. Unfortunately, it is not a user replaceable battery so when it dies, you’ll have to get either palm or an electronics store to replace it. I wouldn’t recommend changing the battery by yourself because it voids all warranty of any kind with Palm. As with most of Palms PDA, Zire 72 has an auto turn off that’s customizable. You can choose form 30sec, 1min, 2min, or 3min. The PDA also doesn’t auto-turn off if your listening to music.

SYSTEMS: Palm OS 5.2.8 (Pretty current) with a 312 MHz Intel PXA270 processor. 312 MHz!!! Lighting fast, I have yet to come across a program that doesn’t run smoothly on my PDA.

OTHER LITTLE THINGS: I went out and purchased the Zire 72 Special Edition Essentials Bundle Pack which also included:
-4 screen protectors
-2 extra styluses
-A slim, soft case leather-carrying pouch.
-Lots of softwares (see software section of this review)

The Zire 72 is a great, easy to use PDA for anyone. Very easy to use and Syncs well with my computer. I had it up and running in a matter of minutes. Highly recommend it.