Recently I’ve bought a Palm Zire because I ‘ve got fed up using ‘pen and paper’ and not be able to find either pen or paper when needed to jot something down or to have to buy every year a new diary for my phone numbers/ addresses and appointments. Besides I’m the sort of person who likes these new small gadgets and which, supposedly, make your life easier. So I’ve decided to get one of those ‘little thingies’ which you use a stylus to tap on the screen as I thought they looked ‘cool’ (yes I know, pathetic!)

That’s when I came across the Palm Zire with a price, which I found reasonable. Around £75 or less (apprx. £73 at Amazon with free delivery). It is very easy to use and very small (109 g) so you can carry it almost everywhere (it doesn’t take too much room), and you don’t have to worry of losing all your addresses and phone numbers as you can keep a copy of your information on your PC.

A 2Mb of RAM, which it might seem a bit on the small size but it should be enough if you want it only as an electronic diary as it can store thousands of addresses and years of appointments. You can also download small ebooks from the Palm website, (they have a lot of variety from fiction to philosophy at reasonable prices) if you don’t mind the small print and you like reading in eform (I found it very handy as I don’t have to carry books with me any more). First you need to install the software (the palmreader) which will allow you to read the book without the annoying html tags and you download it for free from their website.

Also it has a stylus which is included and a two application buttons which apparently gives you instant access to Date Book and Address Book (or more likely for playing games)but which myself don’t seem to use much I prefer to use the stylus instead as I find it easier and faster but supposedly they can be reassigned to launch other applications. Its screen is a 160 x 160 monochrome display (no colour) and there is no extra light for the dark places if you really want to use it in the dark
You can enter information with Graffiti (Palm's simplified alphabet which I couldn’t be bothered to learn to use, instructions are included along with graffiti stickers for easy reference)) or you can tap the on-screen keyboard (so much easier and faster) or even type your information into your computer and then transfer it onto your handheld (too much hassle).

The Zire, according to the description of its makers has been designed for newcomers to the PDA world, therefore they made it easy for those like me who don’t like complicated machines as it has been kept as uncomplicated to get to grips with as possible. All in all a little handy gadget for those they don’t want too much and don’t want to spend a lot.