Palm Zire 72 Handheld

My wife was so excited before Christmas; she'd been researching handhelds for months, and had finally found the perfect one for me. A Sony Clie PEG-NX80V. Unfortunately, the company from which she ordered it waited until 2 days before Christmas to tell her they were out of stock. Nobody else had one, either. So back to the drawing board. Lucky for me, she found the Zire 72 Special Edition instead. And what was originally supposed to be a second-choice substitute ended up being better than I'd ever expected. It does all the things I was expecting from the Clie, and more.

INITIAL IMPRESSION: I'd been using a Palm IIIx for the past few years, with the old green-and-black screen, so the Zire 72 SE was quite a step up with its 16-Bit, 320x320 transflective TFT color display that can show more than 65,000 colors. It's just beautiful. And bright. And, most importantly, readable under any lighting condition.

The body surface is smooth and sleek, and the buttons have a nice feel to them. And while we're talking about buttons, it should be noted that every button can be customized. So if you'd rather have the "music" button bring up your calendar or the "contacts" button bring up the Bluetooth control panel, it's your choice.

Also, I've heard that the blue coloring on the standard Zire 72 sometimes peels off. I don't think that'll be the case here (no pun intended) as the silver finish on the Special Edition seems to be the bare metal itself, with nothing to peel or flake off.

AFTER USING IT FOR A FEW DAYS:

This little thing is fast. It has a 312 MHz Intel processor, so there is very little lag time switching between applications, and everything that I've used so far has run smoothly and seamlessly. MP3s play without a hitch or hiccup, and the video isn't too bad either.

A word about the video: Bear in mind, you're shooting movies with a PALM HANDHELD, so don't expect camcorder quality. But the images are clear and bright, and it's fun to play around with, even if you can't get very high resolution. Also, you can't shoot video unless you have an SD card in the slot, simply because the Zire needs someplace to store the footage. I got a 1-gig SD card at Office Max for $59, and I'm sure you can find them cheaper online. (SD cards are also the method for storing MP3s, so it's good to have one. You don't NEED one, but you can't use all of the Zire's features without one.)

The integrated digital camera is cool, too. It's roughly 1 megapixel in resolution, and lets you do cool effects like black-and-white and sepia tone. No flash, though, which would have been nice. So stick to daylight or well-lit rooms when shooting.

Playing mp3s is as simple as transferring your music to a Secure Digital card. Just copy the files to your card, insert the card and open RealPlayer. It will automatically see the songs on your SD card, and playing them is as simple as tapping the song with the stylus. If you don't have an SD card reader attached to your computer, you can also send mp3s to the Zire during a Hotsync, but it takes a little longer that way. It's also pretty cool that you can either play the MP3s through the stereo headphone jack or through the teeny little built-in speakers. Of course, the on-board speakers don't play very loud, but the sound isn't bad.

Oh, and it also does all the other little mundane things you need a PDA to do, like organize your calendar and contacts. And there are literally hundreds of games and other applications you can download, many for free.


OTHER NEAT THINGS:

It has a built-in voice recorder, activated with its own dedicated button on the side.

It has Bluetooth, which is handy for more a lot more than just a wireless Hotsync. As it turns out, my phone is also Bluetooth-equipped, and my Zire and phone now integrate seamlessly. It's pretty cool to be able to click on a contact and watch your phone dial them automatically without you having to touch the phone at all.

The installation CD comes with many helpful applications. I got Adobe Acrobat Reader for Palm, plus a super-duper multi-featured calculator, plus Documents To Go which allows you to read Microsoft Word and Excel docs on your Zire, and several others that I haven't yet played around with.

WHAT"S INCLUDED: The Zire 72 Special Edition comes with a black soft-sided nylon carrying case, which is okay for protecting it, but you can't use the Zire unless you take it out of the case. My next investment will probably be a hard case that you can mount the Zire in permanently, without having to take it out to use it.

You also get a brick-style wall charger and a USB cable for syncing. There is no cradle; just plug the USB cable in to the computer and the Zire and press the Hotsync button.

As far as manuals, everything is included on the installation CD. Personally, I like having a printed manual, but it's not that big of a deal. There is a little printed "quick start guide", but it doesn't go into much detail.

There is no keyboard, so you'll have to master Palm's Graffiti input method. But it's fairly intuitive once you get the hang of it.

All in all, I have been very impressed and pleased with my Zire 72 Special Edition. It helps me stay organized, and it has enough little bells an whistles to keep me entertained.

UPDATE: I have been using this PDA for over a year now, and I still love it. With a good set of headphones, the mp3 player is wonderful. The camera doesn't work very well in low light, but I've captured many great candid photos outside and in well-lit rooms. The screen still looks great, but that's partly because I've had a Belkin screen protector (recommended) on it since the day I got it. I'd still recommend it to anyone, but I'd recommend a nice hard-shell case to go with it. Some hard shells even have little doors for the camera lens so you don't have to take it out of the case to snap a photo. Just get a sturdy one whatever you do; mine has saved my Zire's life on many occasions.

Also, I discovered a cool feature that isn't well documented in the manual. If you leave it plugged in to your computer via the USB cable, it will slowly trickle-charge your battery. I don't even take my power adapter to work anymore; I just plug the Zire in to my Mac for a few hours every day, and the battery's always fully charged.