When you think of next generation technology Palm is one of the first companies that spring to mind. Well, Palm is back with force as they try and set the benchmark with their Palm Zire™ 72 Special Edition. With heavy competition out there how does Palm stack up?
Design... 85/100 Coming in at a 5X3X1 inches, the sleek design of the PALM ZAIRE 72ND SE has a nice stable and firm, feel of a quality hand-held device. The just about 4-inch transflective screen overwhelms the front of the device. While you are viewing the virtual Graffiti area, you'll notice that there is plenty of room to view the plethora of applications that come bundled in. When you toss in the weight of the device, which tips the scales at about 7 ounces. This may seem a little on the heavy side, but is not that bad, considering the device includes Wi-Fi and a built in camera. While the exterior of the device seems as though it can take quite a beating, the translucent gray protective screen seems a lot frailer. While it hasn't broke on me it is however, prone to showing fingerprints after usage. Use it with caution or I would have to conclude that it would probably snap off on you. It was nice of Palm to include a wrist strap with this particular device.
With the protective cover in mind, Palm located the scroll wheel, which is usually located below the screen on older Palms, has been moved to the back of the device. Right above the digital Camera (Which is located at the top of the device). This can make it seem awkward to use at times. I prefer the layouts of the older models rather then the new format. If you plan on playing lots of games I would recommend a different path. Look for a model that has the more traditional keypad or joystick.
Items located on the left side of the device include: the headphone jack, a slot for memory sticks, a button for photo capture, and lastly three (3) switches which control the devices power, voice recorder, and the camera lens cover.
To keep the device in sync and powered up, it comes with a 2.0 USB cable and of course a power cord. This setup best works for people who travel frequently. If you're main destination is a cubical or office at work then you would be better served picking up the charging cradle. That will set you back about another $30.
Features... 85/100 The Palm Zire™ 72 Special Edition PALM ZAIRE 72ND SE has a surplus of features that will keep you connected, engaged, and arranged. The Palm Zire™ 72 Special Edition PALM ZAIRE 72ND SE allows you to browse the Internet and you can also send e-mail as well. While the service allows you to receive attachments, unfortunately it does not support HTML or IMAP e-mail.
There is a built-in lens cover to protect digital camera, which is located on the back of the PALM ZAIRE 72ND SE. The PALM ZAIRE 72ND SE has picture save capabilities in four different sizes and you can also control the, brightness, and add effects. Even a tech newbie can effortlessly add photos or voice recordings to your calendar entries, contacts, or notes. It also boasts a nice feature that allows you to write freehand on the date book pages.
This PDA carries all of the multimedia features you'd come to expect in a hand-held device such as this one. It includes MP3, AVI, MPEG, and supports quick time video as well.
The complete amount of the Palm Zire™ 72 Special Edition32MB of the internal memory is available for storage. However, if you are saving multimedia files you will learn to have a Memory Stick handy.
You can also shoot photos or take movies anywhere you go which is a really nice feature to have for the cash this device cost.
Bundled Software... 80/100 Palm has bundled an enormous amount of software in this device, but most of it is what you would expect. Among the packed in software includes: PicselViewer, however this (program does not support editing) it only supports viewing, of course you have MS word and excel; and a program called Decuma, its pretty cool program, and a breath of fresh air when compared to Graffiti.
I would like to extend a warning about the software installation process. It can take quite a long time, and also requires numerous annoying restarts of the PC, and is extremely unspecified, about what files actually need to be installed. If you are a tech newbie you may give up with anger at defeat. If you own an Apple, you may be dismayed by the no support for Macs whole thing.
Performance... 80/100 This specific device uses unsurprisingly Palm's own processor, which is clocked around 8MHz and 163MHz. One nice feature is that the CPU will automatically adjust the clock speed to save the battery life. Unfortunately, with speeds maxing out at163MHz, it reflects with the somewhat seemingly slow response to some of the applications. However, there is some good news. This device does have a PDA graphics accelerator chip. What this means is that the MPEG movie playback and the MP3 playback will run very smoothly.
The included Wi-Fi has a reasonably large range, and has no problem connecting to all available networks. Whether you're at home or on the fly, the connecting process to a Wi-Fi network was a snap. The PALM ZAIRE 72ND SE simply finds the network for you and logs in with the appropriate key.
While surfing the Internet is a fairly sluggish process, but with what hand-held is it not? The Palm in a lot more ways than one is more capable then its counter part the Palm Tungsten C.
It handles downloads, updating and pop up windows much better. It also seems to just have a better flow on the net then its counter part at Tungsten.
The built in camera actually takes decent photos. However, if you don't have enough lighting for the picture you may not get the best results (blurry). For a built in feature that I'm sure adds a pretty penny to the cost of the overall machine it does an ample job. You won't be disappointed with the built in camera.
The Palm processor actually does an admirable job on saving the battery life. You can get about 7 hrs of continuous use out of them. Even while the Wi-Fi usage as well as the backlight is turned up to high. You can get about 2 weeks of regular use. It would have been nice to have a replaceable battery though. But, you do get excellent battery use with this handheld device.
Conclusion... If you are a major gamer on these little things then pass. What mainly hurts this product is its double-edged sword, The processor. While it saves the battery life and gives the consumer nothing to complain about there. It creates a different problem the sluggishness on some of the programs available for use. It would have also been nice if Palm through in a couple more software programs, or design changes before the product came out. However, they didn't, but you are getting a very good product, just not a flawless one. While I would enthusiastically endorse this product. I would say you are getting a lot of neat features for your money. It is one of the better ones out there though.
Other tech reviews written by chuckyj360 GE A730 Digital Camera Compaq Laptop Mini Ipod xbox 360 Nintedo DS 
