PalmOne Zire 72 Handheld
by Palm
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Our Price: $298.99 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $49.49 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of PalmOne Zire 72 Handheld
Customer Review: Indespensible life companion (once you get used to it!)
Summary: 4 Stars
This is my first ever Palm handheld/PDA anything. I don't know how I lived without one all these years. If you've been using datebooks and address books and notepads, if you can afford one of these babies it will really enhance your life.
Great things about it:
1. Great calendar/date book feature, easy to use.
2. You can take snapshots as needed. When the lighting is good, the pix are nice and you can use Bluetooth to easily send them to your desktop computer and email them everywhere. Resolution not good in low light. Colors are brilliant.
3. THE NOTEPAD! Never thought I would use it, I use it all the time. Jot down ideas, lists, phone numbers fast and easy.
4. The address book. Fill it up with data, and you always have the info you need. You can type on your computer then synch with your Palm. Just terrific.
5. It's not your cell phone. I can write on it while I talk on my cell. I think combining functions into one gizmo would be a mistake.
6. Plays music. Yes I have an iPod, but I sprung for the disc memory so I have a bunch of favorite tunes I can listen to on planes, during idle moments, or when my iPod is out of juice.
7. Search feature -- let's see, her name is Cheryl? I was supposed to meet her in October but canceled? If you don't delete everything, you can search on whatever you remember and call up addresses, phones, etc. from anywhere in the Palm.
8. PRIVACY. My Palm is locked, and sensitive info like passwords are blinded without a password to see them.
9. GAMES. I fell in love with "Fish Tycoon" and played it until I finally got sick of it.
10. Calculator. Handy. Also a special place for Expenses for your expense report.
11. Battery. Excellent charge retention.
12. Great computer synch. If I lose it, at least all of my data are on my desktop.
Weaknesses:
1. Blue cover wears off. Gives it a kind of Downtown Chic, but if you don't like that distressed look, they are available in SILVER that doesn't peel off. I deliberately peeled mine off more to make it look worn, but it's not for everyone.
2. I had all kinds of battery trouble until I put it on lock when off. You should secure it anyway in case you lose it. It's easy to unlock. This was a bug and I trust they have fixed it on the newer models. Now, no trouble; but choose the locking function.
3. Buy a kit that includes a cord that connects to your computer for synching AND that drip-recharges your Palm at the same time. This is great for travel, if you take you laptop and are away for a week. You can keep you Palm charged with just one little cord, no heavy adapter.
4. Expensive. It's too expensive. It should cost $199.
Overall, a great thing to own and I love mine!
Customer Review: Nice to see Improvements!
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm thrilled that they've released this model (especially at this price!) While palm hasn't managed to get it "perfect" just yet, this model is a definite improvement over the Zire 71! If you're new to the Zire series, be sure to read the specs - there's a ton of great features for this price! For starters, there's a higher resolution on the built-in hidden camera. It's now up to 1.2 Megapixels, with automatic white control (which basically means that in most situations you don't need a flash!). It's not as high of a resolution as Sony's models, but still a definitely improvement. Of course bringing the photos to the desktop is very easy when you use the included Palm desktop software! Now with the addition of video it's even better!
Second is the redesign - some reviewers of the Zire 71 called the unit "slippery", but I haven't had that problem with this model!
Third, is the BlueTooth. I've found it to be less easy to use than WiFi, which is popular with PocketPC and higher-end Palm models, but still very effective for accessing the internet. However, with WiFi you can't connect to the internet AND have a local network with other BlueTooth users so if there was only one technology to choose from - BlueTooth is the one. I swear if this unit had WiFi I would have bought one for everyone I know! Also why it gets 4 out of 5 stars.
With this model they have included a conduit to sync with Outlook, which previously had to be purchased. That's a big draw, especially for multimedia-loving office workers!
They've also redesigned the model some, including removing the joystick. Some reviewers of the Zire 71 disliked the joystick because they felt it turned the unit on excessivily, but I loved (and will miss) the Joystick for playing the Sonic the Hedgehog game that was released for the Zire 71. I find that the directional button that palm has changed to can be clumsy for game-playing.
Two years ago I would have given this unit 5 stars, but Palm seems to always be slightly behind the times. Of course BlueTooth is a nice edition, and the redesigned packaging is also a note that Palm is paying attention. However, if they had added Wifi instead of BlueTooth I'm sure they would be selling a lot more of these. The camera resolution is less than the Sony Clie's, but still an overall improvement. The price is what makes it such a catch - you get the basic functions of most high-end Palm Pilots, for half the cost. If you're into multimedia and contact management this is definitely the unit for you! It seriously makes contact management FUN!
Customer Review: Great upgrade
Summary: 4 Stars
I had a Zire 71, and I think this is a great upgrade. It has more memory, and I like the camera much better. The 71 camera was used by pushing the body up to snap pictures -- a feature I didn't care for much. This one is always ready to snap pictures. Plus, it takes movies with sound. I love capturing the moments of my four-year-old as he grows up. I don't care for the zoom feature -- the picture is closer, but very grainy. Otherwise, the camera is great for on-the-go. The additional memory card feature allows you to store as many photos as you might want to view; however, more photos stored means more of a time-lag in accessing them. Even so, it's only a few seconds, even if it seems longer.
It also comes with Real Player, for playing MP3s. I don't use it a lot, but sometimes it's nice to have. Usually, if I listen to something on the Palm, I use Audible.com files, as they take up less filespace. But if you're so inclined, additional memory cards help out in accessing your MP3s whenever you feel like listening. The battery isn't extremely long-lasting, although it does fairly well. Be sure to set the display to go off while you're listening, however, or you'll burn through the rechargeable battery a lot more quickly!
Documents-To-Go is also part of the package, making it easy to synchronize with Excel and Word documents on your PC.
It also comes with Versa-Mail so that you can synchronize with your Outlook Mail. I tried it and found it merely annoying, but if you're using it for work purposes and need your mail at your fingertips, it might be of more use to you.
One problem that I did have was in my initial synchronization, I could no longer access my memory cards. After messing around with it for a bit, I found information that this can happen with certain 3rd-party programs installed on the 72. I then did a hard reset and reinstalled 3rd party programs one at a time. Once I had the programs installed that I use most frequently while still maintaining access to my memory card, I stopped reinstalling. I'm not sure which program it was that gave me the problem, but I can tell you it wasn't HandBase or Moon Phases or Solitaire or any of the packaged programs.
All-in-all, I would recommend this product. It has a beautiful color screen, runs fast, does fairly well with battery power, has lots of memory, and takes great photos and movies. You can also set wallpaper on your calendar and palm desktop. Pretty cool.
Customer Review: My Review - Good palm for its expected use.
Summary: 4 Stars
I am a long time Palm user and recently upgraded from the Tungsten E. I like the updates, and haven't had the unit long enough to comment on the blue paint peeling problem:
1. Battery life: The battery life (3 hrs) is fine for me as I do not spend more than an hour using the unit. I suspect the battery life going bad on other's units has to do with charging through the usb port.
2. Camera: Nice for an outdoor (daylight) use camera, at my office it show excellent pictures (flourescent lights). However in my home the photos are very grainy. Couldn't be used to photograph important moments, just the daily moments that you never have a camera for.
3. Video: Grainy with bad sound, yet again good enough for daily comedic moments.
4. Speaker: The speaker is amazingly loud for its size (I'm listening to it now w/o a headset), but you probably want to use headphones.
5. Voice recorder: Just good enough to memo yourself where you parked at an airport, and to quickly get a phone number. But you won't find it good enough for most other uses.
6. Palm features: All work as expected, I like the ability to use photos with contacts.
7. RealOne Player: Built into unit, huge upgrade since installing it to my computer/Tungsten was time consuming. Some people may not like the player, but it does what it is supposed to do (play mp3s).
8. VersaMail syncs well with Outlook.
9. Documents to Go can read native format which is important since you can just put a file on an SD card and then read it.
10. WebPro - awesome feature you can save a website in FireFox (.htm + /htm_file directory) onto an SD card and view it on the Palm. Or use Bluetooth, but you will probably be near a computer anyways.
11. Photo Viewer - I thought it was nice that it can read large photos that you can pan around on. I travel alot and have several maps on it.
Overall I really like the unit - and probably wouldn't ask for more except a slightly better camera. But it is good for its intended use: Informational viewer (word documents, contacts, schedule, email), MP3 player, blog photographs, and maps/directions.
Customer Review: Very Impressive Bluetooth Web Surfing With My SE T610
Summary: 4 Stars
The Zire 72 Bluetooth Setup was simple with my Sony Ericsson T610. It took about a minute to setup because Palm had the driver for the T610 already pre-loaded on the Zire 72, using T-Mobile's VPN GPRS Data System. There was literally nothing to setup except to click a few buttons because Palm already had the setup for the SE T610 preinstalled. I'm quite impressed with the speed in which I am able to surf the web via Bluetooth. The Palm WebPro Browser is excellent and is much faster than the Pocket Internet Explorer Browser on Windows Mobile Premium 2003 on my Pocket PC Operating System. I can say this unequivocally because I also own an IPAQ 4155 and the Zire 72 surfs the web much faster than my Ipaq 4155 via Bluetooth on my SE T610. Insofar as the Zire 72 is using a slightly slower chip than the Ipaq 4155, I attribute the difference in speed to the Browser and Operating System.
Honestly, I haven't tried the camera yet on my Zire 72 basically because I bought this handheld for the Bluetooth and I am quite satisfied with the camera on my SE T610.
Battery Life is not so great on the Zire 72. With the Bluetooth on, I found that the unit completely drains in a little less than 3 hours. This is primarily why I only give it 4 stars.
Moreover, the cable that Palm provides to sync the Zire 72 does not charge the unit. I had to spend an additional $17 to get a Cable that Charges and Syncs the unit. Palm surely has mastered the Art Form of making you feel that they are Cheap while providing a very good handheld.
I cannot comment on the music playback because I have not tried it yet. But there is an ouside provider that provides full integration with the Windows Media Player for the Zire 72. I already have that feature on my Pocket PC so I was not very interested in testing it.
In short: The Bluetooth is great on the Zire 72 but the battery is mediocre. If you already got a SE T610 Phone with T-Mobile, I'd say go for it.