Palm Z22 Handheld
by PALM
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Our Price: $169.99 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $40.00 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Palm Z22 Handheld
Customer Review: The best PDA ever (almost).
Summary: 5 Stars
After 10 years Palm have finally returned to their roots and released
a PDA. Not a wannabe phone/walkman/portable dvd/game console/wireless
web browser/photo album/book. It's an actual, honest to God, Personal
Digital Assistant. Yes, it can do some of those other things too, but
I'm not having to pay for expensive features like bluetooth and hifi
quality audio.
The Z22 is being marketed as an entry level PDA. But that's wrong. I
am a long time PDA user who has owned, among other devices, a Palm
Pilot Professional, an m505, a Zire 71 and a Tungsten T3. But this is
my favourite device of all. For a start it's the best looking PDA ever
sold. Palm must have taken a leaf out of Apple's book. When I look at
my Z22 I think it could have dropped out of the clean futuristic sets
of movie like 2001. This is the future that Stanley Kubrick promised
us and never arrived. But at least my Palm looks like it's from that
future. It's also light due to not being weighed down by a metal case
and a ton of hardware I don't want.
It does all the usual PDA stuff well: Calendar, Memos, Contacts and so
on. 32MB is completely adequate for these tasks, even if you decide
to add photos to your contact list. For these tasks the hardware is
completely up to the task.
I also use my Z22 for reading eBooks. It's great for this. 160x160 is
enough for completely clear text. Unfortunately I do miss one feature
of my T3 - the SD card slot. Without this I can't use my unabridged
Webster's dictionary that weighs in at 37MB. But the 10MB Webster's is
good enough for most tasks.
One place where I feel Palm have cut corners is the display. There are
sometimes unsightly vertical streaks in it, I'm guessing due to using
a poor digital-to-analogue converter. For most tasks this isn't an
issue. Photos can look a little ugly however and you often see aliasing
artifacts. One place where the poor display quality is visible is when
you read books in autoscroll mode. The display really isn't fast enough to
keep up with scrolling text. But hey, this device costs $100 new!
The device has only 2 application buttons instead of the usual
4. Surprisingly I haven't noticed the loss at all.
There are a couple of other annoyances that are common to almost
all current PDAs so I'll just list them quickly: difficult to replace
battery, display not visible in sunlight (unlike my Palm Pilot), use of
Graffiti2/Jot making reliable text entry next to impossible (Palm won
the lawsuit, bring back Graffiti 1!).
Palm have dropped the universal connector in favour of a new small USB
port. That means I can't use my old peripherals. I do hope I can use my
wireless keyboard however, when Palm release Z22 drivers.
By paring down the PDA to its essentials Palm have made a winner. But
there's one feature I would have liked to have kept - the SD card
slot. Providing such a slot would at least have given a choice about
how much to spend on storage. But like I say, apart from the dictionary
I don't miss it that much. (Hmmm...I have to admit that I did enjoy
playing Infocom games on my T3 using Clifrotz too, but I'll survive...)
Customer Review: I love, love, love my Palm Z22!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is my first PDA and now I wonder how I lived my life without one. I'm a stay at home mom with plenty of responsibilities to take care of. I never realized how helpful (and how enjoyable) this tiny device could be even for my home life.
I understand that this is a basic featured (but still fabulous) PDA without all the fancy bells and whistles - that is absolutely fine for me. All the bells and whistles just add up to distraction for me. This properly featured yet powerful Z22 helps keep me focused on the tasks on hand.
I love that it's attractive and diminuitive. It easily goes everywhere with me. I just wish I could attach a wrist strap. I do keep mine in a protective Flexicase, which has worked out great for my needs.
I LOVE that the Palm Z22 can be used as a e-book reader. The Palm Software CD comes with the E-reader software you can load onto your PDA if you want it. By far, it is my most favorite program on my PDA. Now wherever I go, whether I'm across the house or outside my home, I keep a library of books with for me to read.
I love how I can write down my thoughts at anytime. The Graffiti 2 handwriting recognition program is quite easy to learn and, when in a pinch, I can alway easily use the onscreen keyboard. Overall, very easy to use. The amazingly easy-to-use touchscreen technology makes these PDAs a gem.
The internal battery in the Z22 lasts a long time and quickly recharges either by using a wall plug or when synching with the PC. Palm includes a power-off feature which will shut off the Z22 automatically unless you purposely deactivate it when you turn it on. It also shuts off after so many minutes of inactivity. No worries about it accidently turning on or forgetting to shut it off draining precious battery power. So when I'm taken away from my task because of my toddler or other family necessity, I don't worry about the power draining.
The included Palm desktop program also makes it easy to keep my Z22 updated. No grievance there. The hotsync feature sometimes doesn't always connect the first time, but it's not a consistent problem. The desktop program also is programmable for different users of different palm products. So while I can use it for my Palm Z22, I can also use it to program my young son's M100 PDA without our files getting crossed. (I'm getting him started early - laf! Plus they're cheap and work great. I keep kid-friendly programs on his.)
The internal 32K (?) memory is sufficient for Z22. It's plenty enough to add several extra programs (my favorites: e-reader, handyshopper, listpro), keep lots of data, and store several e-books. I still have plenty of room left to work with.
The size of the screen is also not a problem for me. I'm not always crazy about the resolution, but again, I got my Z22 to be my PDA workhorse, not a movie theatre.
I have absolutely no regrets getting my Palm Z22. It frees me from being tied to my computer. It frees me from cluttered thinking. Not a day has gone by since I've gotten the Palm Z22 that I haven't used it. I've been very grateful to have it. Thank you, Palm, for making such a great device that is powerful yet affordable.
I love my Palm Z22! It's helping me change my life. :)
Customer Review: Busy mom? College Student? Don't have tons of $$$
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a great litte PDA for organizing your life. I got it because I wanted to move to an electronic organizer, I got tired of shelling out $30 ~ $50 a year for organizer pages.
I needed an easy way to keep track of my work schedule, class deadlines, and task list.
My work schedule changes from week to week and I can keep this with me while I work. If someone needs to trade a shift I can quickly look up my hours to see if I can trade with them. Plus I can see what else is on my schedule, to check for other conflicts. Plus I can keep track of schedule changes easily and still have a hardcopy to refer to, if needed. Also when I am writing my schedule down it is nice not to have to scramble to find a piece of paper and try to keep track of it. I just pull this out and tap in the information. And Hey presto! I am good to go for another week. I snyc this with the Palm software provided. From that I am able to print out my schedule and share it with my family.
The task list is handy. I have a very long list and I tend to forget things, I don't know what I would do without it. I also use the shopping software that came with it to making my shopping lists. It is very easy to add new items to those lists. I have shopping lists set up for Office Supplies, Groceries, School, etc. I like the fact that I can keep my contacts listed in it, even though I don't access it day to day.
I purchased a Holiday program from the Palm Store for $10.00 to keep track of Holidays. That is the only thing I would fault computer organizing software on, there are no Holidays listed anywhere. Though my experience is limited to the Z22 and MS Outlook.
I like the fact that I can import pictures. I run a small business and it is nice to have some pictures on hand to show people what it is I do. While the picture quality isn't that great, it is nice to have some pictures handy. I can change the background picture to that of my neice, how cool is that? It's an added bonus.
I have also discovered that I can purchase ebooks and read them. Since I like to read this will be handy for me not to have to carry 4-5 books in my lap top case when I travel. Plus ebooks are usually cheaper.
This is an entry level PDA - That is all it is, people need to remember that. It does what it says it does. I have never had mine crash. If you just want to move from a paper day planner to an electronic day planner this is the one.
I needed something to keep track of my work hours, school deadlines, business deadlines, shopping, and to-do lists.
Don't ask this device to do more than what it is designed to do.
I think Palm was marketing this Device to Busy Moms and not Business Professionals.
I purchased mine in Novemember 2005 and have never run into any problems. Well worth the money.
I would also recommend the air case, the extra stylus, and screen protectors. I bought all of this at the same time and spent about $125.00.
Customer Review: Love My Palm Z22
Summary: 5 Stars
I was given a Palm Z22 this past Christmas and have used it heavily since then. Although you can't surf the internet with it, I wasn't needing a mini-hand-held computer. I needed something to organize all of my addresses, phone #'s, etc...plus schedule all my tasks, meetings, lists, etc... It does all these plus it has tons more useful functions. It has plenty of memory for what I need and holds a lot of data. I teach Classical Guitar and I schedule all of my student lessons on it. It also will remind in advance of something important coming up. I love the game "Scrabble" and have downloaded that onto it. My Palm Z22 is really a great tool and I sort of nut up when I think I have misplaced it! It's pretty easy to use so I recently bought my husband one too. I only had one problem with it - once it wouldn't turn on but a simple press of it's tiny reset button fixed that and no data was lost. I'm left-handed so using the instant write function is awkward for me but I can still see how righties would like it. I mean it when I say I have used it a lot - it gets a terrific daily workout from me and it still shows no signs of malfunctions. I never bought a case for it but it's pretty tough already being encased in molded plastic. I put the plastic film on the screen and it's never needed replacing yet. I highly recommend buying one if you don't need to use it like a computer. You can download programs and games onto it from the Palm store of which there is a humongous selection. Also, it's battery has a long life between recharges and it recharges really fast. I can go for days without recharging despite playing 15+ games of scrabble at one time. It's front is mainly screen with a simple toggle button below which is very streamlined and easy to use. It comes with a program to load onto your PC so syncing it everyday to back up new data is quite easy and fast.
UPDATE:
It is now March 7, 2008 and I am STILL USING my Z22! It has really held up well. I have used it hard nearly every day. I carry it almost daily in my purse, and I still will play scrabble late into the evening after the world has settled down. I plan to keep using it until the day it finally quits on me - whenever that will be!
UPDATE AGAIN: October 31, 2008
I just noticed that the Palm Z22 is costing $369.99??? NO WAY!!! DO NOT BUY THIS FOR THAT MUCH MONEY!!! I think I paid around $99.00 when I bought my husband's. That price (369.99) has to be a mistake.....
UPDATE: May 6, 2009
It just keeps on going! I still use it heavily and the only thing that is askew with it is that it's internal battery now needs replacing which will cost about $30.00 I think. It still hold a charge for a little while but I usually just keep it connected to the power cord. I've done the reset thing in hopes of resetting the battery charge level indicator but the battery has finally shot it's wad.
Customer Review: Best low-end Palm yet
Summary: 5 Stars
I just switched from my old Palm V to this new Z22. It's a little smaller and much lighter, and all I really need is a device that keeps track of my appts.and holds all my contacts and notes I use in my business. And yeah, it has a few nice games in it, too -- for those long meetings where your turn seems to take for ever.
The setup was painless, and the upgrade and sync of my data from my old software to the new software and Z22 went smooth as silk. I only had two problems. The first was I couldn't find any of my contacts in the computer, but I didn't have the right list selected. The second was I thought some names were missing on the computer, but the list was organized by Firstname,Lastname so no wonder they didn't match. All was there on both the Palm and my computer.
I don't know how long the thing will last on a charge, but it certainly is lasting way longer than the eight hours someone else claimed. I charged it last night, and after using it "normally" all day today, the battery still shows a full charge.
I looked at some cases for it, but opted to go with the screen protectors instead and just stick it in my pocket. I don't like the way the cases open and close, and someone said the soft/gummy cases can make it hard to get out of your pocket. If I can't get to it fast and use it quickly what's the point? An integrated flip cover, like on some of the other Palms, would have been nice.
I don't miss the extra buttons that were on my old Palm, and I can still get to most things I need just using my finger and fingernail without using the stylus.
The color screen is clear and bright and easy to read in daylight or darkness, but being smaller than its bigger brothers you will need to break out your reading glasses. I just got new progressive bifocal glasses, so I'm having no problems.
The icing on the cake is that a small program which loads on your computer allows you to manage photos on the Palm. You don't need to load it, but it was nice to be able to put a photo of my girlfriend in there.
I guess the only negative thing I can say about it is why white? Does every new electronic device have to look like an iPod? Some colors would be very cool. Oh, yeah. I wish the alarm was a little louder. You can hear my Palm V across the room. Even cranked up all the way the Z22 just doesn't cut it in the volume catagory. Just loud enough, but would never get your attention with the car windows rolled down or the stereo cranked up.
Anyway, the bottom line is that if you don't need all the whistles and bells the larger Palm's have, this is a great little device with just enough tools to make your life a little easier.