Reviews for Palm Zire 71 PDA

Palm Zire 71 PDA

Strengths: Ease of use, high resolution screen, built in camera.

Weakness: Lack of accessories because it's too new.

I LOVE my Zire 71. I went to the store to look at the Palm m515, and ended up checking out the Zire 71. Wow! I use it A LOT. I take pictures of EVERYTHING. The desktop software downloads the pictures from the Palm and is VERY easy to use and email pictures to friends and family. The size is about the same as the Palm Vx I had before and the Palm m515 I was thinking about buying. The SD memory slot adds amazing capabilities.
My main complaint is that it's so new that there aren't as many options for accessories (cases, etc) as for older palm pilots. In fact, at the time I wrote this, you cannot buy screen protectors for this palm except in the Zire essentials pack that gives you extra styli and two screen protectors. Hopefully this will change as more people buy them. Right now, I have mine in the slim leather case, and it protects the screen alright.
I highly recommend the Zire 71. I've had people admiring it and even offer to buy it from me off the street!

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Palm Zire 71 PDA

Strengths: Versatility, brilliant color screen, speed of processor, and expandability.

Weakness: Thickness, short notice of low power (and camera inoperability)

I have now had my Zire71 for three months and treasure it as much as I did when it was new. I upgraded from a Palm Vx and have been really pleased with my Zire71. The speed of the processor is great and allows me to use many different kinds of applications quickly. I love having a camera at the ready though I have lost functionality of the camera more than a few times because of the low battery level. I like having the possibility of having mp3s on my Palm though I have to admit that even with a large SecureDigital card, it would be too much work for too little music. Transferring music through the Palm on the dock is just not an option...if you were to use this as an mp3 player, you would want to have a separate card reader for faster transfer rates.

I like the materials used in construction, especially the aluminum back, it is tough and has a good high quality feel. The blue plastic is fine but begs the question, why blue? I ended up buying a separate case for mine, for I have been known to drop my Palm more than once and didn't want to risk damaging my Zire.

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Palm Zire 71 PDA

Strengths: The screen, the screen, the screen. Everthing about it.

Weakness: Give me a break.

I upgraded from the Palm IIIc and, wow, the screen is gorgeous! It is speedy in accessing programs. It even hotsyncs faster, the USB is so much better than the old serial connection. After my wife saw it, she told me I'd have to get another Palm, because she wouldn't be giving it back. She had the Palm IIIx, previously. The camara is a great addition, excellent for snap shots. Graffiti2 takes a little to get used to, but worth the effort. I'm glad to see that Palm has finally took a huge step forward with PDA's. This is a great Palm.

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Palm Zire 71 PDA

Strengths: HotSync was a breeze. Screen is easy to read. Many of the functions were intuitive for PC users. Battery lasted well over the weekend for recharging on Monday.

Weakness: Waiting for more accessories. It would be nice to have printed user guide.

This is my first PDA and no regrets. The hardcase that came with the unit is excellent. Can't wait to get the GPS and Wine Spectator expansion.

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Palm Zire 71 PDA

Strengths: Powerfull, fast, very good screen with clear colors. Really works in-sinc with my pc

Weakness: Could be a bit slimmer

Since I bought it it has been all that I hoped for. I can really make it work with my pc at the office. This is the first PDA I buy, and the ease of use is amazing. And the camera is useful and fun, I can send the pictures over the internet to my frinds without having to buy a digital camera. ven my kids love.

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Palm Zire 71 PDA

Strengths: clear screen, programmable buttons, fun camera

Weakness: wish charger would plug directly into palm for travel

I like navigating with the new joy stick, but I wish it were more universal between applications. I also have an application I am always in & I was able to program that to the star button for quick access-BONUS!

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Palm Zire 71 PDA

Strengths: handy camera

Weakness: never works when i need it, because the battery runs down so quickly!

I wouldn't buy this again and I definitely would not recommend it. I work in medicine. I depend heavily on my PDA, but this one has not been dependable! I would say that 2 out of 3 times that I go to turn it on AFTER CHARGING IT ALL NIGHT, it's dead. I do not know what is draining the battery. I keep it in the case. It's EXTREMELY frustrating. i was excited when I got it, but now I'm so disgusted with it, that I'm not sure I'll ever buy another Palm product.

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Palm Zire 71 PDA

Strengths: Bright screen. expandable with SD cards.World clock feature is great item for frequent fliers.

Weakness: Slippery exterior prone to being dropped. Hot synch operation takes many hours to load mp3 songs on to 256 MB card. Meager performance for audio output.

Upgrade from M500. Still waiting for more accessories to be introduced for this model.
Purchased a card reader for loading mp3 to sd card. Speaker needs more oomph or the use of an add-on (none currently available) to be heard. Without this addition, a quiet setting is neccessary or the use of earphones.Expense module is restricted, not full featured as is needed.

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Palm Zire 71 PDA

Strengths: Built-in-Camera with auto-light adjuster, mp3 player, hard back casing, great pixel resolution screen.

Weakness: Battery lasts about 3 days, no Blue-Tooth or Blue-Tooth compatible, need expansion card to play mp3's (which is expensive).

One of the best Palm Pilots I've ever had. Previously had a Palm m100. This is I by far the best deal I've ever gotten. Cheaper than the SONY NZ90.

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Palm Zire 71 PDA

Strengths: Nice color screen, recharageable battries, USB cradle, mp3's, expansion card slot, digital camera.

Weakness: Cheesey stylus, camera has a one second pause before the picture is taken (makes it difficult to take people shots)

I love my Zire 71. The camera has come in very handy to capture a moment when you don't have a regular camera, and for emailing pictures to friends. The resoultion is not "print" quality but great for viewing on the palm or computer. I bought a 256MB SD card and use it to store mp3's, pictures, and wallpaper for ZLauncher. I can also backup my palm to the SD card without having my computer. I also love the new Graffiti 2, it took a little getting use to (I had a Palm IIIxe for 2 years) but I like it much better than the previous Graffiti. I bought a Palm V leather carring case with belt clip to carry it in. It fits perfectly. I also bought a screen protector from NuShield and that fits nicely. I use Disable Buttons 2.1 to keep my palm from turning on in the leather case when the buttons on the front get pushed. It really stops accidental turn on's draining the batteries. I downloaded several wallpapers from this web site: home.comcast.net/~bkue... I could never go back to black and white. I would recommend a Lexar 256MB SD card for sure. I got mine for $60 after rebate. All in all the Zire 71 has performed great and has met my expectations.

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Palm Zire 71 PDA

Strengths: 1. Light but stong 2. great addition of the camera 3. awesome screen display 4. most uptodate Palm OS 5. nice blue color

Weakness: 1. no voice recorder 2. feels a little too much like plastic 3. also kind of slippery

I like my my new Palm Zire 71 very much. It has all the capabilities I've been looking for, and it's at a great price. The addition of the camera is great and the pictures aren't that bad either. Could use a voice recorder and it would be nice to be able get on-line with it, but for the price, it really can not be beat. Plus the fact that it is a Palm device means there are a lot of really cool accessories for it.

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Palm Zire 71 PDA

Strengths: Great handheld, plays mp3's great and the built in cam is a nice touch.

Weakness: the transfer of MP3's is a little cumbersome to beginers of handhelds or mp3 players, but realaudio makes it easy enough.

I had owned a palm 3 back in the day, so this was a big step up. This is good for people who don't need all the power of a Ipaq or one of the more advance Pocket Pc. The zire is great all around. I have dropped mine 2 times and it still works great, I don't know what the other users are saying.

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Palm Zire 71 PDA

Strengths: The camera is fun. I love the address book.

Weakness: Turns on easily in my bag which uses up the battery

I use it to organize my schedual. The calendar is great for this purpose. I type the info into my computer and sync my plam. Other times I type the information into my plam. Good product.

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Palm Zire 71 PDA

I love my new palm Zire. At first I didn't think I'd need the camera element but I have used it a lot. It's great for candid shots because most folks aren't aware of what you are doing. I recently purchased the expansion card and i love that option too. The color screen is very sharp and clear and much easier on my eyes than the old monochrome versions. It was rather pricey at $250+ but I have used it so much more than my old IIIe. I expect the price to go down soon as they all do.

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Palm Zire 71 PDA

Strengths: It looks pretty.

Weakness: It being a Palm Zire 71. DON"T BUY IT !! Real Fragile piece of JUNK! It has the durability of a saltine cracker.

When I originally purschased this I was quite impressed with the displays resolution,built in camera,and decent operating system. However, if the thing would stop cracking the screen it might actually be a usefull piece of equipment. I don't know about anyone else but I expect at least some durability in the products I purschase. The first time the screen broke I have absolutly no idea how it happened. I put in the the center console of my car, took it out and POP the screen was cracked. The seccond time the screen broke was because I dropped it. It fell from a whopping height of 3 feet from my desk onto thick carpeting and POP the screen broke!!

So to conclude things. If you are somewhat like me and expect to actually use it and perhaps expect it survive an occasional drop (yes it does and WILL happen) then stay far far away from the Palm Zire 71.

Ps It's time to start expecting more from manufactures. It's our hard earned money and they CAN produce a better product.

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Palm Zire 71 PDA

Strengths: Syncs very easily with Mac OSX. Nice color screen. Lots of features. Good palm for beginners. Great price.

Weakness: Camera images are a little weak. Other than SD memory slot, not very expandable.

I bought this palm as a graduation gift for my wife. Neither of us had any experience with PDAs but felt we should get on board before the technology "passes us by." After doing a considerable amount of research and after considering a lot of other (more expensive) PDAs, in the end the price and the functionability (specifically macOSX compatibility) made me choose the Zire71. Simply put, after seeing how easy it is to use, now I'm going to buy one.

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Palm Zire 71 PDA

Strengths: Camera

Weakness: Navigator switch kept the battery dead. No hard case to prevent keys from turning pda on all the time.

As a realtor, I found this pda a piece of junk. I could not carry this in my pocket, briefcase or anything else without draining the battery. There is no hard case to prevent touching the keys and turning this piece of pda junk on all the time. A calculator has an on and off switch. I tried 3 different cases to no avail. Save your money and buy a frankin planner and a digitial camera. JUNK JUNK JUNK... and eventually, I broke the screen trying to install the PDA in a new carry case. Palm does not warranty the screen. JUNK JUNK JUNK..... until they have a hard case to carry this pda junk, do not buy one.

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Palm Zire 71 PDA

Strengths: color display

Weakness: sync/charging base, battery, screen, mp3 player

this is my second pda it replaced my Visor Edge that i was very happy with. Had trouble with the unit going into the sync base. Used a screen protector most of the time I had it but the screen is accurately taking stylus imputs any more and the add on mp3 kit was hard to use and wasnt worth it to me. I also ordered the optional silver hard case it wasn't very impressive and way overpriced for a plastic case with a piece of velcro in it. I used the online customer support, I told them exactly what I did and the problems i was having and the bulk of their response was to do what I already advised them that I did.

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Goodbye, Zire 71

Strengths: For its era, it had everything. Big color screen, audio, IR, memory slot (SD), camera.

Weakness: Resetting was difficult. The reset button is in a hole in the back of the device hidden behind a sliding panel. There is an internal cable between the sliding parts which can fatigue and break.

I completely agree with Elmo1982 in his review "Will be framed when it dies." Here is my experience. I bought a Zire 71 when they were new, getting a discount via Audible.com, and immediately loved it. Previously I had a Palm IIIxe. The Zire with its color screen was a charmer. I could listen to audio books with headphones for hours without running the battery down very much at all. I could take pictures, especially in locations where they don't much like you to be photographing. I could play Minesweeper and Freecell (in color!) and Mah Jongg and other games suitable for the simple mind. I read my way through Project Gutenberg using the CSpotRun software and MakeDocW to convert the files. I used it to remind me to take medicine and to chart my moods. A handy third-party program called FlyBackup backs up the whole thing at 2:00 am every night, so that after these (alas) much more frequent crashes I can completely restore everything in about 15 seconds.

My first Zire 71 quit working probably when the cable between the two moving parts wore through. I bought another right away and have used it since. No problems with it. But it is finally becoming erratic. And there's nothing like it out there now. PDAs as such are fading away. If you don't use a cell phone you're just out of luck.

There's also some excellent accessories, specifically a "Power To Go" extra battery that fits on the back of the Zire. By charging it you never have to plug in your Zire at all. There's also a cable that substitutes for the cradle and winds into a pulley like arrangement to save space, like this (USB-pulley-proprietary) =-o-E and unwinds to this =-------o-------E

I recommend the Zire 71, not for your primary PDA these days, because it is out of date, but as a vintage device, somewhat like a '57 Chevy.

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Will be framed after it dies

Strengths: Durability, usability, battery life, OS (use free wares, some of which handle crashes beautifully!)

Weakness: Stylus touch-screen calibration never worked properly, slight high-pitch noise from the sides

I have used the Zire 71 for five years, and today it passed away when I accidentally broke its screen. Even now it keeps its schedule, but all I can do is to Hotsync it one last time before letting its last battery charge drain away.

From the day I bought it to my Europe backpacking journey to this, it has done for me more than I can comprehend. Within the first year, I read the entire Bible on this Palm, and I literally trusted my life on it as an event organizer, alarm, and diary. I had written entries thousands of words in length using the calendar when I was inspired. I remember managing to take thousands of pictures with it in museums that forbid photography because back in its early days no one realized such a thing can take pictures. I became good at drawing real-life portraits with the Zire 71 drawing pad and made timeless souvenirs out of them.

In the past five years I had not parted from my Zire 71 for more than an hour at a time. It had been dropped, had crashed, had its battery drained, and not until I unwittingly brought it into a 0.6 tesla magnet did it lose its memory once, and it recovered and continued to perform magnificently after (I had its memory backed up on my laptop anyhow). It had gone with me to the brightest and darkest corners as I crossed four continents, and now as a still life object it deserves to be immortalized in a nice frame on the wall of my living room. It is a million-dollar piece.

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Palm Zire 71 PDA

Strengths: Camera, compatibility with M/S Outlook

Weakness: screen wears out, no cover

I loved the Zire 72 in every way, until the screen wore out and I couldn't get the Digitizer to work any longer. Then I was carrying it in my pocket, and I must have bumped against something, because the screen cracked (rather easily), even though it was in a case.

Before all this happened, I loved being able to take a quick photo. I loved being able to write notes on the screen. I loved being able to syncronize with M/S Outlook very easily.

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Coming apart

Strengths: Superbly designed, does almost everything exactly right.

Weakness: -Physically wearing out faster than it should -Worthless camera

I bought this PDA a long time ago and have been using it constantly since. I have not regretted the purchase at all, but I have noticed a couple of distinct weaknesses of the design.

First off, the camera on this model is not even worth considering; it's even worse than the average cameraphone, can't handle motion at ALL, and has a clunky interface. It also has a software error that makes the viewfinder screen stop working after a couple of weeks without a device reset.

Second, the 5 way navigator stub is wearing out very badly; it now takes me several tries to move the cursor to the right. Admittedly I've used it hard, but a better designed unit (one with a flat 5 way rocker) would still be operational.

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ReviewGist for Palm Zire 71 Handheld

Interface is Good according to 11 PDA experts. -- "built-in digital camera and Palms sharpest high-resolution color screen to date"-palminfocenter.com -- "great screen of taking photos up to 640 x 480 resolution."-mobiletechreview.com -- "320x320-pixel screen is impressive, offering a bright, sharp image down to the smallest icons."-asia.cnet.com Read more to find expert opinions on more features...

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Palm Zire 71

This PDA will appeal to extremely wide audience. With the new Palm OS 5, a great screen and a digital camera for under $300, you can't go wrong....

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