Reviews
palmOne
Zire 72
Lighter, slimmer, faster -- this is a worthy successor to Palm's
popular Zire 71
Palm had
to be smart and careful when revamping their very successful Zire
71. They had a loyal following. Scads of moms had taken thousands
upon thousands of pictures on these somewhat bulky but practical
handhelds. Their built-in slide-open camera was both novel and
easy to use, making everyone's smiles that much bigger in the
grainy VGA pictures it captured, so the new palmOne could only
afford to improve upon the design.
It seems they
succeeded. The Zire 72 is lighter, slimmer, faster, and more attractive
than its predecessor, yet remains appealing to its target audience.
And they did it without including the nifty slider that was so
popular in the 71. We may find that it wasn't the slider at all
that was popular, but the camera itself.
Some might
find it offensive that I categorize this as a Palm device that
mostly women like and use. I have only my own experience, and
palmOne's own studies to draw on as my reason. And then there's
my own preference. While I find the Zire 72 to be appealing÷certainly
more appealing than the 71 -- I probably wouldn't buy one for myself.
Yes, it is futuristic, smooth, rounded and bluish-purple, even
appearing space-age. I just find the T3's utility and nifty sliding
mechanism to be more attractive; more masculine, perhaps, but
also just more gadgety. I also like the larger screen on the T3.
That's not to say I would recommend this handheld to every woman,
nor that I wouldn't recommend it to men. It's just ideally suited
to the busy lifestyle of many women. And by the way, that's whom
palm-One had in mind when they designed it.
But enough
qualifications and worry, let's explore this very cool handheld.
This is palmOne's
most professionally executed handheld to date. Fit and finish
all speak of a company that has not only reached its stride, but
is clipping right along. Build is solid. Try to twist it and you
hear not a squeak; indeed, there is no perceptible flex at all.
The bluish finish is rubbery soft, providing nice tactile feedback
as well as skin-like grip.
Flip the unit
over and you see the 1.2 megapixel camera with a little domed
fixed-focus lens inside. All around the lens area is a metallic
grate (reminiscent of the Star Trek communicator of Captain Kirk
fame÷James T, not Linksy, that is), from which emanates the audio
for the built-in MP3 player (purchase of an SD card is required).
Audio is a little tinny, but excellent for a quiet room. The raised
portion of this grated area holds the camera, but they wisely
put the speaker down in the place that remains open when the handheld
is put on a desk, leaving more room for sound to make its way
out to your ear. Beneath this is a very large label for all the
certification notices, serial number, and other stuff. It also
contributes to the slightly improved grip one feels with this
handheld. A reset button÷easily pressed with the stylus tip÷is
just right of the Palm Powered logo.
The back appears
to be held on by only two Torx screws at the bottom÷that is, until
you brashly pry up the metallic grate around the camera (hey,
I wouldn't have done it if it didn't appear to be uneven on one
side). Then you see two Philips screws at the top as well. Far
from seeing this as a design flaw in the Zire 72, I rather like
it. The metal grate is attractive if not functional, and appears
to have been designed with maintenance in mind.
Like the Tungsten
E, they've placed the HotSync and charging ports on the bottom.
Pray some kind soul makes a cradle for these things, because that
was the only sin of omission palmOne committed with these two
similar devices.
On the left
of the unit is a single black button, somewhat recessed: the Voice
Memo trigger, of course. This is far better executed than the
button on the Tungsten T3, which sticks out so much that it is
accidentally activated way too often. I finally re-tasked mine
via the ăButtonsä option in Prefs to launch the Applications window.
This is much better than filling up an SD card with audio of yourself
driving down the road while burning through your battery. Hopefully
this will happen less with the 72's new button design.
The right
side has an open stylus silo, with a surprisingly cheap plastic
stylus in place. On my particular unit, the stylus does not want
to stay there, but slides out all the time. Not good. There's
a little nib inside the silo, almost all the way down, that's
supposed to grab a grove on the stylus, but it does not. The silo
is also mounted toward the front bezel, and I keep trying to put
it in further back, as I've done for years with most Palm devices.
From the side, the arrangement looks attractive, but doesn't work
well enough on the unit I have.
On top is
the SD card slot÷complete with dust door÷then the IrDA transmitter,
power button, and headphone jack. I don't like the power button
up here. It's better on the front as we see on the Zire 31.
Up front is
where it gets beautiful. Starting from the upper left, there's
a new charging indicator light. This also lights when an alarm
goes off. Below that is the new palmOne logo, and to the right
you see the Zire 72 logo.
Mounted
quite low and arrayed differently are the four application buttons.
On the left, stacked one over the other instead of side-by-side,
are the Date Book and Contacts buttons. The two buttons on the
right have been re-tasked for more important matters than Tasks
or Memos. These activate the camera and MP3 player, much smarter
choices for this multimedia handheld. Center is the 5-way navigator,
a welcome replacement to the joystick on the Zire 71. It was a
good idea, but really required a sturdy case to cover the joystick
to prevent it from accidental activation. Many a disappointed
user took out their 71 only to find a dead battery. I wasn't happy
with this until I got an aluminum case from Proporta that safely
covered this wayward control. It shouldn't be as much of a problem
with the 72.
The Graffiti
2 area is mostly traditional, with the star icon set for HotSync
by default. Not a bad idea for a handheld that has no HotSync
button or cradle.
Hitting any
of the four buttons on the front, the voice memo button, or the
power button on top activates the stunning screen. It is contrasty,
high-res, and colorful; just beautiful. It's not new, but its
praise bears repeating. The 320 x 320 wonder works well indoors
or out and makes your pictures look fantastic.
The Zire 72
takes up the middle position between the less capable Tungsten
E and the Tungsten T3. And well it should, being the flagship
of the Zire line. It has a 312MHz Intel PXA270 processor, one
of the new Xscale powerhouses. Next to the slightly older 400Mhz
processor in the T3, the Zire 72 performs well, turning in a score
of 1724 compared to the T3's 1875 on the Speedy 3.4 benchmark
program (higher is better). It has 25MB of available RAM. That's
not a ton, but it's fine for most users. Everyone using a modern
handheld should buy an expansion card when they buy the handheld,
both for backup and for multimedia storage. If storage is exceeded
on the handheld, many applications can be run from the SD card.
Finally, the
Zire 72 has something you'd think I'd be drooling over: Bluetooth.
If I weren't already completely sold on my T3, you're darn right
I'd be excited. That it's on the Zire 72 is excellent, because
now I can also recommend this handheld to those wanting to get
their email and browse the Web with their handheld. Bluetooth
works very well, just as I've come to expect. That it's available
on a capable handheld for US$100 less than the T3 is fantastic.
The Tungsten
T3 and E came with some enhanced ăpalmOne-onlyä applications.
These are further enhanced on the new Zires. Like the aforementioned,
HotSync with Outlook has been greatly improved, but the most interesting
enhancement for the Zire 72 is the ability to attach photos to
Contact entries. While the CLIE was doing this back in 2000, this
new method is actually embedding the photo into the Contracts
database; with CLIE you had to refer to an existing photograph
elsewhere on the handheld. Also new is the ability to use a photo
as the backdrop for the Agenda and Applications views. You can
attach and fade the photo a little to keep it from interfering
with the text and icons on the screen. Silly as this may sound,
it really does add a personal touch.
The Photos
application has been renamed to reflect some enhanced capability
in the Zire 72. It's now called Media because the Zire 72's camera
can record video as well as snapshots. Are the videos great? No.
Neither are the pictures, really, unless the light is just right.
But you know, if you get a shot that you'd have never gotten because
you don't normally carry a camera÷who really cares whether you
can enlarge it to 11 x 14? How many of us do that anyway?
Also included,
but not pre-installed on the Zire 72, is Documents to Go, a great
application for loading, viewing, and modifying Word Documents
and Excel files onto your handheld.
Much
like the T3, the Zire 72 comes with communication applications
as well: a dialer, SMS/MMS application, VersaMail for email, and
WebPro for browsing the Web.
Also bundled
is the RealOne Mobile Player, Audible Player (software for listening
to audiobooks), Acrobat Reader, PalmReader (for actually reading
books in text format) and perhaps most importantly Handmark's
Solitaire game, sure to be the most used application on many Zire
72s.
The Zire 72
is an excellent device with a lot to offer. Not only is it capable
of almost everything a Tungsten T3 can do, it can take pictures÷and
it costs US$100 less. Users considering both the two new Zires
and the T3 and E might get a little confused. I have some advice.
Those with an original Zire or Zire 21 just wanting some music
and a color screen should look at the Zire 31. Anyone who likes
the idea of a camera should look at the Zire 72 (remembering that
it is twice the cost of the 31). Those in business will probably
like the T3 for its bigger screen. Those in business who need
a camera, though, should look nowhere else but the Zire 72. Probably
no one at this point should look at the E except those without
the wisdom to spend US$50 more for a handheld that comes with
a better body, faster processor, better software, and both a still
and video camera. All others: punt and get the Zire 72. This should
be palmOne's hottest seller for the rest of the year. It is their
most well rounded offering ever. US$299.
÷Shawn Barnett
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