Customer Reviews

PalmOne Zire 72 Special Edition Handheld Silver

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I had a Palm III followed by a Palm V and I was pretty pleased with both these older model PDAs. After some study, I opted for a Palm Zire 72 and I am very pleased with the features.

Important to me, the Zire 72 has Palm's suite of information management applications and the ability to edit Word- and Excel-compatible files and synchronize with Microsoft Outlook (Windows only). This is one reason I got the Palm; my Blackberry is not good as a PDA and I love the easy-to-use and fast PalmOS.


The Zire 72 features:

1-megapixel image resolution (1280 x 960 pixels
32 MB of memory --64 MB in the special edition
Video capture with sound
Digital
Voice recording capability.
Wireless Bluetooth connectivity to connect to the PC or your Bluetooth-enabled phone
4.8 ounces wieght
Palm OS 5.2.8 Operating System
Software
USB cable for linking to PC
Slot for SDI memory card
16-bit 320x320 TFT screen capable of 65,000 colors.

Capabilities Rundown:

PIM and software:
Zire 72 features Palm's suite of information management applications for expenses and note, and it has the ability to edit Word- and Excel-compatible files and synchronize with Microsoft Outlook in Windows. Our own company email system will support the Palm and Pocket PC while it will not be supporting the Blackberry Enterprise System anytime soon. So the Outlook support is very important.

Bluetooth:
The Bluetooth seems designed for devices to enable mobiles, LAN and PC connections to give web capability. It would be clunky, in my view, to connect via a cell phone, so I'd love to see WiFi. But this feature can be added with a $99 card put into the SDI slot. Bluetooth is not as easy to configure; the set-up wizard seemed to be a bit difficult and there are only a few cell phone models included in the preset configurations. If you can get the 72 connected, you can use it to dial numbers, send SMS, MMS and e-mail, and browse the web using the Web Pro 3.5. Or you can opt for a WiFi card and surf at MacDonalds and Starbucks. Phones that are listed:

Sony-E T68i

Sony-E T610

Nokia 6310i

Nokia 3650

Siemens S56

Not a super list.

For PC interfacing or Palm-to-Palm there still is an infrared port.

Egonomics:
Complaints were made about the blue paint on the regular edition flaking off. I have the special edition with the silver body and this is not an issue. The control is a rectangular navigating button. The screen has the familiar Palm division between screen and stylus pad below. The Graffiti 2 was easy to use--the letters are almost exactly like written print, as long as you know where to begin the the letter, but that's practically intuitive. The sensitivity and accuracy of the stylus-pointing is a huge improvement over the very early Palms like the PalmV.

My system came with a Cordura nylon case, very nice quality and a huge improvement from the old flimsy leatherette flaps of early days. Without a case, you have to get something to cover the screen. The stylus is the same type of rod that attaches to the side by sliding into a slot.


MP3:
You need a SDI card (Secure Digital card) to load MP3 songs with RealPlayer onto the system for playing back with MP3. These are not hard to find, you may even have one floating around the house (we did.) Drag-and-drop songs onto the card on your PC, put card in Palm and go. There is a headphone jack.

There are "speakers" (tiny) and a voice recorder. Great for memos.

Camera:
The 1.2 megapixel camera has onboard adjustments for contrast and light (I needed to take down the exposure for a shot of my deck at dawn.) Digital zoom. No cover for the camera lens. The resolution was ok. The memory will hold about 85 shots, and you can move them to the SDI (optional) card. No flash.

Software:
The installation CD comes with Adobe Acrobat Reader for Palm, plus a calculator, a reader-- Documents To Go which allows you to read Microsoft Word and Excel. It's recommended to download AvantGo to add internet features. Sites such as www.palmsource.com, www.freewarepalm.com, www.palmgear.com, www.download.com have many free or inexpensive applications for the PalmOS.

There is no manual, it's on the CD.

Summary:
For a PDA, this is about perfect. To be perfect, they'd have to include WiFi and or a better phone setup list for the Bluetooth. I am quite thrilled with the Zire 72--it does what I want it to do, mainly be a PDA and keep my appointments and handle some data. The camera and MP3 are nice for travel.

I am in love with my new Zire 72 PDA... BUT... I bought the special edition because I read all the reviews about the paint rubbing off the regular, blue Zire 72. I have had my PDA for just over a week now, and already the painted lettering on the top ('palm one' and 'zire 72') has cracked and mostly rubbed off. It's not a big deal -- the unit is user friendly and works great, and it still looks nice, but I can't believe that this $300 item already looks worn when it is almost brand new and has been used carefully and moderately. Still a great choice, I think, but just a warning...

Zire 72 is an excellent device with minor problems. For the price its a bargain and will ensure Palm's market share stays high.

Pro's,
1. Its a Palm, with a stable version of Palm OS.
2. Looks good and feels solid in hand.
3. Superb screen and extremely clear.
4. mp3 playback is very good.
5. Uses standard mini USB jack, not propreitary Palm connector.
6. Fast performance. Don't compare raw MHz between PDA's, this one's faster than 400MHz PPC's.
7. Available memory is a lot for a Palm.
8. Good software bundle and Bluetooth (chear up Sony Ericsson or Powerbook users)!
9. Speaker is - suprisingly - good at playing mp3's (64kpbs sounds great).
10. Camera is better than cell phone ones, 1.2 mega pixel.
11. Stylus is very ergonomic.
12. Silver looks better than blue edition, IMO.

Con's,
1. Down button is hard to press, ironically that's the most used button on Zire 72. The 5 way navigator is poorly designed and cheap plastic.
2. Case is slippery (on positive side it looks like the paint won't come off like on the blue edition).
3. Battery life is just slightly better than Pocket PC's, needs charging frequently.
4. Included charger is not a world charger and is bulky.
5. No bluetooth or Wifi but atleast it has SDIO slot.
6. Weak alarm sounds (think this can be fixed?) and no vibrate only mode.
7. Packaging in plastic box is tough to open and not eco-friendly.
8. Battery is not user replaceable. (dead Palm after 2 years? but same with most PDA's)

Overall Zire 72s is an excellent device and you can't go wrong with this one. Much more easier to use and reliable (Palm OS) than PPC's. Highly recommended!

The Zire 72 silver Special Edition version I purchased last month has proved its worth on a daily basis. The PDA starts up instantly, more quickly than my old Dell Axim, and is overall very quick and responsive and easy to navigate for calendaring and contacts. Games play very smoothly, and the display is crisp and bright under most lighting conditions. The camera and video recording capabilities are fun and entertaining extras that are handy for the occasional spontaneous and candid snapshots of my friends. And I purchased the Tom Tom Bluetooth Navigation kit, which transforms it into a very effective navigation system for my car. The voice recorder, which isn't even available on the flagship Tungsten T5 is very useful too - I can easily capture lectures, meeting minutes, everything right onto the 512MB SD memory card I use with my Zire. Its truly a definitive 'digital assistant' in every sense of the term. Very good buy - I highly recommend it.

My Zire 72 Silver ed developed a terrible high pitched buzzing noise after about a month. This noise has rendered it very annoying to use. I have to turn it off after seconds. I then found out this is a common problem described all over the web for Palms with high res screens. I have called Palm, and the technician admits it is defective. I demanded an exchange, and they wanted to charge me $40 for an "expedited exchange". It's either that or I can send my unit in for repair and wait weeks. "Sorry, company policy" he said.

Some in the web suggest overclocking programs to fix the problem. I've tried these and no matter what setting I've tried, the noise DOES NOT go away. Only the pitch changes somewhat. Hours wasted.

If you have this problem CALL PALM AND DEMAND A FIX!! They are well aware of this problem and sell these defective products anyway. THEY HAVE TO HEAR FROM THEIR UNHAPPY CUSTOMERS, and maybe they would finally do something.

Zire 72 otherwise performs as expected. It would otherwise get a 4 star from me.

ive had the palm zire 72s for almost a year now. there are SO MANY add-ons and programs that you can get for it that i am more and more impressed with it every day. seriously. the more i use it the better it gets.

heres some cool stuff i got my palm to do that nobody else probably told you about:

-ive got a really nice "windows-'98-looking" operating system (not just a skin) that totally made my palm way better looking. very versatile. very nice on the eyes.
-i use adobe reader and documents-to-go for palm to read e-books EVERY DAY. im hooked...
-bluetooth enabled me to send photos, ringtones, and games from my computer to my palm to my phone to everybodys bluetooth phone without paying any stupid charges that my phone company tries to charge me... probably saved like hundreds of dollars already. (no kidding)
-dont forget the zire has infa-red built in to it. are you like me and ever go to the electronics store and in the home theatre section look at all of those nice expensive fancy remotes for like hundreds of dollars? whell, the zire 72 is WAY better than any of those (i own one)- you can buy a program and teach it commands from old remotes, or get them off the internet or database. i always have my remote on me at all times for the entire house. very cool.
-there are also many map and gps programs available in which you can load maps of your city on your palm. i calculate shortest routes and never get lost anymore. it works without gps, but you can get a wireless bluetooth gps receiver for it which makes it even better. must have for the zire 72.
-also, if you have a big enough memory card and enough patience, you can fit full-length, high definition movies on your zire that play smooth, fast, and clear. movies in your car, what more can i say?....
-if youre a student, you can buy a program that turns the zire 72 into a scientific graphing calculator (in HD!!) different skins, unlimited things you can do- i spent a couple hundres bucks on a graphing calculator for school that is half as good.
AND THE LIST GOES ON!!!....
no problems, small light, amazing resolution and color, and all that good stuff...
get this now! there arent enough stars to say how useful the zire 72s is to me. until i break it or lose it one day, i will always have it in my pocket.

I bought this neat looking PDA the day before the 4th of July. After about 27 days, it died.

The battery life really sucked. It requires charging continuously, because you lose all of your data if it goes to zero charge.

The battery indicator will lie to you. I downloaded a battery info program to backup the on-board battery indicator and that lied to me as well.

There is no way to shut off the backlight, so that is a constant drain on the battery.

I bought a WI-FI card, and saw the battery drain to less than 50% in about 15 minutes, so unlimited web surfing is out of the question.

Other little things add up to a big pain in my A--!
No cradle. The camera shots are really out of focus in low to mid-level lighting (needs a flash, but that would kill the battery also). The case has no belt carrying capability.

The slot for the expansion card (SD) is too deeply recessed, so you really have to push the card in deep for it to lock. If you have really big fingers, you might have to resort to using you fingernail to push it in.

I probably wouldn't be so harsh with my review if it lasted a bit longer, so I could have gotten my money's worth. Well, maybe Palm will fix it quick. (Is that asking too much?)

I've been using the Zire 72 for about a month, and have found it to be a solid performer for the price. I use it to keep track of everything from grocery lists to business information, and play MP3s and hi-res games frequently. The unit does all of those things well. It also works well as an alarm clock (it can wake me up from a dead sleep), event reminder, and any number of other things.

Overall, it has exceeded my expectations (which were pretty high), and I would recommend it to others. Here are some things you might want to consider when purchasing the Zire 72:

* The 320x320 screen is beautiful and bright, and displays photos, games, and e-books quite well.
* Nice sound quality on MP3s when using headphones (requires memory card for MP3 storage), and transfers MP3s quickly from my computer using the included RealPlayer software.
* The built-in digital camera is nice, but it doesn't function well in low light. Don't expect great photo quality in general, but it's good for on-the-go picture taking. The number of pictures you can store on the Palm is limited to the amount of free built-in memory you have available. You'll have to move them to a memory card or a computer periodically, should you use this feature.
* The stylus is lightweight plastic, and it tends to fall out of my Palm frequently. It's good to have extras on hand.
* The memory card slot is recessed and somewhat difficult to access, but it also means I'm not accidentally ejecting it on a regular basis like I did with my i705.
* It has a non-replaceable battery (it's built-in, so when it eventually dies, so goes your Palm) which holds a decent charge, but drains somewhat quickly when listening to MP3s.
* It comes packaged with a basic soft case that doesn't flip open with no memory card holder, and the Zire itself doesn't have any sort cover, so you'll likely want to buy a separate hard case.
* It won't work with any cradle(s) you may have, since it doesn't use the universal connector. It comes with a USB cable and no cradle. That was a bit of a disappointment, since I already have two cradles sitting around the house I can no longer use. While the lack of a cradle (with separate cords for power and HotSyncing) can be annoying, it's also useful to me to use the Zire at my desk or on the couch with it plugged in to the power cord so I don't have to worry about draining the battery.

I have a few things left to test (taking and playing video, using Bluetooth), but I didn't buy the unit for those features and haven't been in a rush to try them. I haven't had the unit long, I can't speak to performance over time. And, of course, since I haven't had any hardware issues, I can't speak to Palm's customer service and technical support. I've had positive experiences in the past, but that was a few years ago.

If you're looking for a quality handheld which gets the job done and has some nice extras to boot, give this one a go.

This device is great, but the life of the battery is ridiculous.
GOOD: With the appropriate additional applications (free or for a bit of $$) and the extra memory and wifi cards, it allows you to listen to music, download and read to you books on tape (http://gutenberg.net.au/, thru a computer voice), get your RSS news feeds to read on the bus, connect and check email as well as surf the web on certain wireless networks (can't do it at Panera for some reason). I've been able to expand its functionality beyond what I originally expected. Of course with all this added software (about 3 additional applications) there are occasional times when I need to do a soft reset (data remains). Not a big deal.
The only COMPLAINT I have is that the battery doesn't last longer - I need to charge it at least every other day - even with minimal use (not even using the wifi), and if the charge in the battery goes down to zero, you lose all your data, something my Palm Vx never did to me. All that you haven't backed up recently, and the device resets after charging.
So if you're good at charging your devices contintinually, you'll be fine. I've lost data several times because I'm traveling and the thing dies quicker than I expect it to.
Oh yeah, and Palm doesn't sell an after-market charger that allows you to have chargers in two locations, at home and at the office. But you can trickle-charge it over your laptop if it's connected to a AC outlet, using a USB connector.
A bit of an inconvenience, if you're relying on your data to be there when you need it.

I really like my Zire 72 even though the blue paint started flaking off the first week. Buy the silver and you will have a 5 star Palm. The audio recorder produces excellent quality and the camera, while not so great, is nice to have on occasion. All and all, it is a great little Palm, and as for the blue paint--I sanded it off so I now have a silver Zire 72. Careful though, it is easy to go through the silver paint to the copper underneath.