Customer Reviews

ZIPIT Z2 All-In-One Wi-Fi Messenger (Black)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Previously I would have recommended a zipit. I owed the first generation product and it was perfect; communication was reliable and free. My ONLY complaint w/the Z1 was the black & white screen wasn't back-lit. Now Zipit has made the decision to charge a monthly service fee of $10 to use a service that is free, the instant messaging feature. It is cheaper to purchase unlimited text for your cellphone for $5 extra dollars a month, so why bother? The product is still viable if you purchased a Z2 for $149 because then the instant messaging wi-fi service is still free and you could add a phone number for an additional $5 a month, if you needed to also have a phone number for receiving text messages from other phones. But now the company has defiantly screwed everything up with the $10 monthly access charges and is no longer worth your while. Check out the sony mylo2 or nokia 810 if you are trying to get away from monthly fees.

WARNING - RIP-OFF These guys have the nerve to rig this thing so that you have to pay them $9.99 a month to use free service at wifi locations. What a Rip-Off!

This thing is great. I haven't tried the stock operating system because of complaints about a monthly/yearly fee but I loaded a version of Debian and it works great plus no extra monthly/yearly costs! Would recommend to anyone looking for a small portable device to IM with.

While the product works well they don't tell you it costs 100 dollars a year in addition to the 50.00 advertised price for the hardware itself.

Don't they sound a LOT like fake reviews that would be written by someone in the manufacturer's marketing department? Somehow they don't pass the "smell test" to me. (Here's a clue: Click on "See all my reviews" and you'll see that none of them has written any other reviews. If they were real people, I'll bet they probably would've.)

This is a rip-off!
They charge you an extra $9.99 a month for IM... Something that is FREE! Now if they included wireless service that would be a great deal but they don't and you have to use your own Wi-Fi. Sure that includes text messaging, but thats what we all have cell phones for. I recently broke my Zipit, (more like a few months ago :-) and I have been thinking about getting another one, but now I see that it will be a waste of money since I have IM on my cell phone. My suggestion to you is if you have unlimited texting/IM on your cell phone, use that and dont get ripped off for something that is supposed to be FREE!!

I bought the Zipit Z2A for my 16 y/o son and he loves it. He can chat with his friends from anywhere in the house rather than sitting at his computer. He brings it with him to his friend's homes and to local area hot spots. The biggest issue I had with the Zipit Z2A is that it doesn't come with the mini SD card or card reader to save and transfer music and photos. Other than that its a great item.

Additional purchases that are required:

A mini SD card to save music or photos.

A card reader to transfer music and photos from your PC.

A 9.99 per month 1 year service agreement.

To use the Zipit Z2A in your home you will also need Internet service and a wireless router.

Overall its a fun item and was well worth the money.

This is a really cool product for anyone that likes to IM a lot and doesn't want to have to be on a computer to do it. So easy to set up - I just had to enter the WEP key from our home network and my AOL screen name. All of my buddies were instantly in the "friendz" list and even though it is really small it's amazing how much fits on the screen. It works great and it works with my Yahoo and MSN buddies too. I get lots of questions from my friends about it because every message I send says it was sent from My Zipit so everyone wants to know what it is. $149 might sound like a lot at first but it doesn't cost ANYthing to send messages back and forth, so it's really a good deal. I think it's a good gift to ask for from your parents or grandparents because you can't get in trouble using it, and I like that you never get annoying ads or messages from wierdos on it. It's pure IMing. Oh yeah - there's a music player in it too - that's cool.

The Zipit Z2 is easy to setup, but you must go to the manufacturer's website to configure all the options available. It plays music well (with an sd adapter) and it is great for internet radio. Texting is cumbersome for the person receiving the texts, but displays perfectly on the Zipit Z2 screen. The device receiving the text messages shows a different "phone number" each time a text is sent. You must use the "reply" function to send a text back to the Zipit. It also has great WIFI range, very similar to my laptop. It is not a netbook, no internet possibilities, and it is not a true cell phone either. It comes with 1 year of free texting!!! All in all, I am very pleased with the device.

I bought 2 of these last year for my daughters (ages 11 and 13). They work very well and we have had no problems. I signed up for a texting plan also but have since canceled it due to the fact that my kids now have cell phones and use those for texting. My kids do use these for instant messaging though...not as often as I would like considering that I paid the original price of $150 but they do use them. It's nice that they can take them any where in the house instead of having to be at the computer. The keyboard is good, as well as the backlight, display, and battery life (rechargable). I also purchased an sd card for each and they put their own music and pictures on them. We have not tried using them with wireless hotspots outside the house. Customer service has been good. I do wish the company would add some more features though as they originally seemed to have planned. But for what Amazon is now seelling them for $37??? I would definitely recommend it at that price. (also, there is a whole zipit community online that takes these apart and tinkers with them...if ur into that type of thing...interesting stuff.)