This PDA I found to be good in many ways, but also to have some disadvantages.
Advantages:
Good Price - This PDA retails for around the £120 mark and it can even be purchased for cheaper with some retailers - £120 for a PDA is great value, considering that most of them retail for above £200.
Ease of Use - I found this model to be easy to use - a good menu that is accessable easily - plus icons on the home screen. The buttons are also easy to understand and are labeled very well.
Good Features - For the price this PDA has some really handy features including:
Contacts, Calendar, World Clock, Memos, Tasks, Calculator, Expense1, Prefs, Note Pad. Additional software included: RealOne Mobile Player, palmOne Photos, Audible, Handmark Splash Money® and Mobile DB, powerOne Calculator, Palm Reader, AddIt, Solitaire.
Portable (Lightweight) - This item is great for carriage, its small and can fit into the palm of your hand (as the name suggests) - it will easily fit into your pocket and comes complete with a cover to protect it. It only weighs 4.1 oz. / 116.23 Grams.
Good Battery Life - This PDA comes complete with a rechargeable battery that can be charged on mains. It's a 'Lithium Ion Polymer 900mAh battery' and therefore, fully charged, will last for up to a week depending on the applications that you use. For example listening to music will use more battery life rather than using the calculator!!
Disadvantages:
Poor Durability - I personally found this product to not be great for durability - however this does not mean that you will get your product and it won't last for 5 years! My PDA only lasted for about 6 months before the screen gathered a 'crack' and therefore a large 'orange blob' formed on the screen and basically the screen needed replacing - I don't know if the damage was self-inflicted, however I did not drop the PDA and was always careful with it - so it was a mystery!
Low Memory Capacity - The memory that comes with the PDA is 16MB - which is not a lot if you wish to play songs etc. However the plus side to this is that you can purchase memory cards and use them to increase your memory, these usually vary in price depending on the size and the retailer (from £10 upwards).
Manual Needs Improvement - I did not find the manual to be great - there wasn't a great deal of information in it. However 'Palmones' website has some further information on the product and they also provide customer support via telephone and email.
You can purchase accessories for the product including expansion cards (memory) and stereo headphones to listen to music with. You can also purchase applications and games to use with the product - some of which are really good fun!
Specifications:
Dimensions: 4.4 inches by 2.9 inches by 0.6 inches Weight: 4.1 ounces Memory: 16MB (14MB actual storage capacity) Operating System: Palm OS v5.2.8 Processor: 200Mhz Intel ARM-based processor Screen: 160x160 color STN display with contrast and brightness controls. Supports thousands of colors Battery: Rechargeable Lithium Polymer 900mAh battery Expansion Slot: Supports MultiMediaCard, SD and SDIO expansion cards, sold separately HotSync Cable: Standard Mini-USB connector 5-way Navigator Button: Access information with just one hand Stereo Headphone Jack: Accepts standard 3.5mm stereo headphone plug. Headphones not included.
In The Box:
Zire™ 31 Handheld w/ Rechargeable Battery
Stylus
Protective Flip Lid
Mini-USB HotSync® Cable
Power Supply Cable
Desktop Software CD-ROM with Palm™ Desktop 4.1 PIM software, bonus Software Essentials software, and interactive tutorial
Easy, 3-step setup instructions and electronic Getting Started Guide
Overall Summary:
I think this is a great product for the first time buyer - I would recommend it and it is bundles of fun!!
Best Wishes, Robert.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Handheld - 128 MB RAM - Screen: 4 in inch - Display: TFT active matrix - CPU: XScale PXA310 - Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi - Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.0, Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.0 Classic
Tell you what Rob, that's a cracking good first review! I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of VH's I given to a first review, that's how highly I rate this. Please stick around on here, have a great time and carry on publishing reviews like that! I've put you on alert so that I get to read your future reviews - a couple more like this and you'll be joining my COT - I need a few more male members - it's full of very attractive young ladies right now! All the best Richard.
Lynnie27 26.08.2005 23:19
Great review, excellent product too :-) Lynn
ray52 26.08.2005 22:04
Hi and a warm welcome to ciao. Some super info there in your first, well-written review. I hope you enjoy the ciao experience, as I do. Ray
Advantages: Very easy to use, doesn't crash, lots of free software available Disadvantages: Screen not as good as more expensive models, has built in battery
bogbean 15.10.2008 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Palm Zire 31
Advantages: Very easy to use, doesn't crash, lots of free software available Disadvantages: Screen not as good as more expensive models, has built in battery
bogbean 15.10.2008 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Palm Zire 31
Aug 26th, 2005
very helpful by (64%):
helpful by (36%):
