Palm Zire 31 Handheld PDA

I upgraded to a Palm Zire 31 from a Palm IIIc (whi ...

Posted Dec 29, 2004 - I upgraded to a Palm Zire 31 from a Palm IIIc (which I loved BTW) merely for the extra memory and expansion capabilities. PZ31 runs on the upgraded Palm OS v5.2.8 which supports some of the best apps on the web, however a lot of apps do not run at all, or will cause the device to hang due to the OS upgrade which is not supported in all apps. It's a trial and error process, but one worth going through. PalmGear.com is great for getting apps for Palm OS5 and will list the compatability with each of its products. I am happy to have the blue rubber flip-cover on the device to cover the screen but I really wish the device had have come with a protective case that was a little more substantial. Easily rectified by investing in a proper case though - and well worth the money, especially for women who carry their palm in a handbag with 100 other things inc. keys etc that can scratch or crack the screen. The processor in the unit is quite fast, and apps open quickly and photo's are displayed nicely - although up-close photo's will display better than distant ones. The pixels are evident when looking at the screen, but it doesn't really detract from visibility for most things I've found. I found it incredibly easy to hook up to the internet via the IR port and my mobile phone using GPRS. I use Agendus Mail and Web Pro 3.0 which give me access to email and fast access to webpages and supports a few more internet pages than other apps that are rated highly in the Palm user community. There are a range of accessories out there for the palm Zire 31. Cases, battery extenders, screen protectors, game cards, education cards (check out www.minidigital.com.au), IR keyboards, travel chargers and sync cables. One of the handiest things I found with the PZ31 is that it connects to my PC via a mini USB which is what my Sony Cybershot digital camera uses. Thus, I minimise desk clutter by using the one cable for both my camera and my PDA. On the other hand, without the universal connection that other palms use, the range of peripheral products is limited to those made specifically for the Zire 31 or to products that work via communication with the palm's IR port (like some of the more expensive keyboards). If you want to take advantage of the MP3 and video playback capabilities, you'll need to invest in an MMC/SD card. The palm, probably for memory reasons, doesn't allow you to put these things on its HDD. SD and MMC cards are not too expensive these days, and do come in handy for a range of other devices such as digital cameras etc. My 4 year old daughter can watch Stargate SG-1 on my palm Zire 31 or listen to The Wiggles, which keeps her happy on plane flights and long car trips. Even a small capacity SD card (64Mb would be the smallest I'd go) will hold a fair number of MP3's and video's, depending on how you encode them. Sound on the Zire 31 can be heard via the device speakers, or via standard 3.5m headphones. It is loud and clear and exceptional for such an entry-level PDA. The additonal software is ok. The only thing I added was Solitaire from the CD. For most other things I have preferred apps that I use. For a new PDA user however, I can definitely see the the software CD providing some useful applications for getting them started. One other thing that I will mention, is that when you first begin to charge the unit after taking it out of the pack, you will not be able to turn it on. After about 20-30 minutes, the unit will switch on itself and you can start to play whilst it is hooked up via its AC adapter/charger (this is mainly for people who can't wait to start playing with a new device). It is recommended that you leave it to charge for the initial 4 hours, but if you can't wait, start playing after 30 mins and let it charge to full capacity over night. I would highly recommend this PDA to most new and experienced PDA users. It is cheap (AUD$247 ($233 at minidigital), expandable (not expendable!), fast, and reliable. Definitely a PDA that I would buy again and again.

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I was looking for an inexpensive way to manage my ...

Posted May 26, 2004 - I was looking for an inexpensive way to manage my calendar, tasks and contacts and so far this little guy does just what I was looking for. The display is not a TFT like the pricier models but it is just fine for day-to-day activities. I’ve used the bundled Palm Desktop software and transferred pictures to the Zire 31 and they show up fine. Apparently this can be used as an MP3 player as well. The documentation is very week in this regard and only states “Expansion card required, stereo headphones optional, both sold separately.” I am assuming it is just a memory card and not some proprietary card. The warranty is ONLY 90 DAYS! All in all, this is a great little PDA for those needing to take their contacts, tasks and calendar. However, if you're into bells and whistles - then this is not the device for you and you should cough up the extra $.

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It is extremely handy. It turns on immediately, I ...

Posted Oct 22, 2004 - It is extremely handy. It turns on immediately, I add a task or appointment and I switch it off: total less than 60 seconds. That is the first time I use Graffiti writing and it is very easy. In case I have difficulty with a letter, I can still use the digital keyboard. I definitively would recommend the PalmOne Zire 31.

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The Zire 31 PDA is a good value for the money. It ...

Posted Oct 1, 2004 - The Zire 31 PDA is a good value for the money. It has a sizable memory, plus a built in MP3 player. An additional menory card is recommended to hold MP3 files. Its Graffiti 2 is a difficult transition at times from standard Graffiti. The stylus is somewhat difficult to extract from its case and could use a slight redesign. The protective supplied leaves something to be desired.

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This is my first Palm Pilot, before I was using LC ...

Posted Jun 3, 2005 - This is my first Palm Pilot, before I was using LCD screen organizers because Palm was so expensive. I really bought the Palm for gaming, the best game Ive found (Internet Demo) was MicroQuad. Its like a Mario Kart racing game. The only problem is finding a good game I can stick with and trying to buy a game outside the Internet.

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My husband bought this palm from a office max loca ...

Posted Aug 12, 2004 - My husband bought this palm from a office max locally - I liked it so much I bounght another one on pricegrabber for $15 less and didnt have to leave the office!

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One year and a bit update

Posted Nov 28, 2005 - I started out with a second hand Palm III, bought a new Palm IIIxe and then upgraded to a Palm IIIc before purchasing the Zire 31. I really liked the Palm IIIc and would have stuck with it if it wasn't for my wife's need for using less batteries and constantly losing data on her hand-me-down IIIxe. Besides, I am always looking for any excuse to upgrade, again. The IIIc color screen and rechargeable battery were perfect upgrades for her and so far, I am very pleased with the Zire 31. The Zire 31 is compact compared to the bulky IIIc. I was concerned that the dainty Zire might have a cheap feel and delicate quality to it compared to the amoured tank like quality of the IIIc. I am pleased to say that the Zire is proving to be a well made and stout enough to be carried in my front trouser pocket as I did with my IIIc. All in all a most delightful upgrade. After a solid year of service, the Zire 31 is working fine. Synching with Outlook, reading books, and listening to MP3s- life is good :-) 11-28-05 Update: my Zire 31 gasping and convulsing for the last couple of weeks is now dead. It started out as a blank screen when powered on which required perodic resets and ended today with a blank screen. Very sad.

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I had this pda for 6 months. It was my first one a ...

Posted Jul 13, 2005 - I had this pda for 6 months. It was my first one and I loved it. It worked great. Then one day, it just died. PalmOne had terrible customer service. It would cost more to fix it than it cost me to buy it. I was told to consider upgrading. Apparently many people who own this pda have had this problem (look on Amazon and epinions). Since it is out of the 90 day warrenty, I am out of luck. Now I have a $115 paperweight!

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I started using one of the original Pilots many ye ...

Posted Sep 14, 2004 - I started using one of the original Pilots many years ago and have resisted getting a new on because I never used the model 1000 to its full capacity. Finally my old Pilot began to develop cracks and occasionally the screen began to go blank from time to time. I decided not to lug my laptop in and out of airport security and to treat myself to the Zire 31 - something much more modern. The first thing I found was that I could lift photos off the web and make airport meetings less clumsy by recognizing people without having to wave company literature at every deplaning passenger. The second thing I found was that I could past family photos and product photos with me. The third and really most important thing was that I could easily carry my entire 1500 company names and addresses with me. I haven’t even scratched the surface yet. When my extension card arrives I will be able to add my favorite opera and other musical favorites. The price of the Zire was about what I paid for upgrading the memory of the original Pilot

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It is much more useful and the color screen is eas ...

Posted Oct 3, 2004 - It is much more useful and the color screen is easier to see. The touch screen is more sensitive than the older models. I loved my Visor and expect to love this even more!!

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I am definitely pleased with my purchase of this p ...

Posted Nov 21, 2004 - I am definitely pleased with my purchase of this palm pilot. It is user friendly for us "technology challenged" people. I love the aspect that I can hook it up to my Dell laptop and transfer information between the two using Microsoft Outlook.

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This pda is great. Of course the mp3 music or vide ...

Posted Apr 11, 2005 - This pda is great. Of course the mp3 music or videos will drain the batteries. Everything will drain the batteries. i love it. it is the best ever, i love it tons. I have had this pda the longest ever. I have alot of memory left, cause i am using the SD card for Music and Applications. I am a fanatic about this PDA. I had cassiopea ones (4mb) ones, palm 3x and some others. but this one is the greatest. like i stated only problems is the sunny day one and tha alarm one. The alarm could be louder for a hundred + pda. i had an cheap pda electronic like device that was cheap and the alarm on that one was loud. I mean loud so loud it could wake me up in the morning unlike this pda’s alarm, which I can barely hear in my pocket if it is quite enough. I would recommend this pda for anyone who is mostly indoors, and or uses their pdas indoors.

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This is the first PDA I ever have. Before I chose ...

Posted Jun 22, 2004 - This is the first PDA I ever have. Before I chose it, I checked everywhere for reviews on this zire 31, I did find a lot of negative words against it. However, I did not find any of them so obvious on the one I am using. One is the battery life, Palmone said it's one week for normal "standby" use, and 4-6 hours for game, mp3, and movies. But a lot of reviews said it drain too fast and terrible. My case is close to 6 days normal use, usually standby, (besides, installed some software with usb plugged in, and tested games and movies for short time without usb plugged in). After my SD card arrived, I played music a lot. though I did not test the whole time before the battery drain, I did notice that 2/3 remained after one hour of mp3 playing. Another one is the functions, some reviewers complained it malfunctioned a lot, and the replacement always kept the same problem like the battery meter would show you only 75% after one night charging, and you need to hard/soft reset often, etc, however, I did not experienced any of them, all functions did well as expected. Another pro is that you can install a lot of applications on the integrated 14M memory (16M, but only 14M left for you), generally enough for you. I have installed everything I need and there is still 5.5M left. Such applications, freewares or cheap ones are available , you can find some terrific ones if you spent some times (several days for me). All applications were installed successfully, several showed fatal error when I tried to use them, I just deleted them immediately, nothing harmful. There are other good things which are expected I cannot list here one by one, you can try it. One more thing I want to talk is the MP3 player expansion card, and you can also watch movie on it if you like. I have installed a movie player on it , but I don’t think I am going to watch the movie on it , I prefer to watch in Showcase cinema or on my 19” flat computer screen. For the SD card, I have bought 256M, the larger, the better. Besides, if you want internet, you can just buy SDIO card and insert it into the slot, I did not do that because the SDIO card is too expensive for me and I don't think I need internet on it. Just go to my desktop and laptop to do that! However, there are also some drawbacks, one is the color screen, it’s not LCD, and with only 160 x160, so it really fades under the day light, but it looks really good indoors. The low resolution screen is also nightmare for movies and pictures. The low resolution made me a little bit uncomfortable since I am fan of high resolution and big screen for everything, but it might be not so painful for you if you used to the small computer screens and low resolutions. I think it’s fair when you think about the money you paid. Another one is the buttons, it’s not standard 4 settings, so you will find some problem when you try to play action games on it, but it not problem for me because I think why bother to play that kind of game on your PDA, go to your super computer! So I just installed some puzzles, simple games, and chesses which do not need my fingers to move fast. Hope all above words can help you to decide.

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I bought a Zire 31 after my "vintage" Handspring D ...

Posted Nov 12, 2004 - I bought a Zire 31 after my "vintage" Handspring Deluxe finally died. The new (as in not used or refurbished) Zire 31 didn't last 5 weeks before it just stopped powering up one day. I contacted Palm customer (dis)service, which informed me that they would not honor the 90-day warranty because I bought it from Amazon. Fortunately, Amazon replaced it in just 2 days. Unfortunately, the replacement didn't even last 12 hours. Shipped by to Amazon for a full refund. Yeah Amazon. Boo Palm! "Dude, I'm gettin' a Dell!"

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Now available in GPS bundle!

Posted Aug 10, 2005 - I have just bought the version bundled with a GPS and ViaMichelin route mapping software. The software comes on a 128Mb SD card and uses it all up with a complete UK and Ireland street map. It also includes Points-Of-Interest, like petrol stations, car parks, museums, restaurants etc. and you can add your own. It is truly excellent, and half the price of most integrated GPS route finding computers (e.g. Tom Tom). You can search right down to the house number on any street. You can purchase further maps to cover the rest of Europe too. The voice is very clear and loud and gives precise and good instructions on when to turn and which exits to use. You can view your route as you travel in 3D or standard overhead 2D mode. If a road is blocked or you miss a turn it quickly recalculates an alternate route and keeps you on track. The only bad points I have found really is that the 16Mb of internal memory isn't really enough for route finding as quite a bit of info has to be stored internally rather than on the SD card. If you start filling it up with photos and such you can get warnings about it not being able to save your routes. Another point worth noting is that the tiny GPS unit can take several minutes before locating enough satellites to zero in on your position. This may be true of most GPS devices though. Plus, I have had the USB port lock up and refuse to see the GPS a couple of times, needing a hard reset to fix it. I am still incredibly impressed by the bundle though and it is well worth the price. I am just about to download and install a free database of UK Speed Cameras too but I may have to install the whole thing on a 256Mb SD card first.

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