Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Best entry level handheld available.
If you need a handheld for basic PIM tasks such as phone numbers adresses and e-mail this is the one for you, read on. If on the other hand you need a powerful handheld computer able to do multimedia I recommend you look at the Sony Clie line of Palm OS handhelds.The Zire provides all you need to substitute your paper based agenda out of the box. About the OS: Palm OS is actually the standard OS on handhelds (most like Windows on the desktop). This handheld includes a desktop PIM(personal information managers) as well as software to sync with Microsoft Outlook. There are thousand of programs available for the palm OS add such as enhanced PIM, Personal finance program to syncronize with MS Money and Quicken as well as office suites and games. Hardware: Zire has a very stilish design it is almost as small as a Palm M515 or clie T 665. Also this handheld as all Palm branded handhelds is build to last with a tought elegant casing. It is compatible with Windows and Machintos desktops. The only limitations I find in this computer are that it only has 2 MB of memory (but I am a power user), for most peple 2 MB is plenty to store thousand of addresses as well as and office suite and other programs. Another minor limitation for gammers it that there are only four buttons. Sumarry: The zire is arguably the best possible solution for someone just entering the world of handhelds. This is the best entry level handheld computer for the money
Rating: - The Zire is great for its cheap price
I got a Palm Zire just a few days ago, and it has worked great ever since I took it out of the box. It synced perfectly with my mac, and I got all my contacts, and date book files on flawlessly. The process took only a few minutes. After I toyed around with it for about a day I downloaded some shareware (including games). All I had to do was import the files to my Palm Desktop software. Press the sync button on the Zire and walla. I had all my sharware on it. Everything is easy to use, and I love the notepad. The only thing that I would of had them put in is a backlight. But at the highest resoloution its fine. It takes a long while for the battery life to run out. Mine still is completely full. It can last for days, and days at the rate it is going for me. Plus last but not least the price tag is only 100 bucks. If you have limited funds, and want a cool organizer, the Palm Zire is right for you.
Rating:  - The Zire, A Tempest In The Palm, ...
Zire, to buy or not to buy, that is the question!
The Zire reviews here are all worth reading (mostly) but I am amazed at the amount of controversy concerning the Zire. Well, I bought one a couple of months ago and now have some experience with the Zire. For the money that I spent, I feel that I have gotten a great little computer right in the Palm of my hand.
"But Paul! It has no backlight, "only" two megs of memory, and doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the Top Ranked Whatever!" I was told.
My reply?
So far I haven't missed the backlight (though I admit it probably wouldn't hurt and I deduct one star for that) and I find two megs of memory astoundingly adequate. I have added Pocket Quicken to the Zire and I still have 1.3 megs of memory to use! Make no mistake, I have two checking accounts, 4 savings accounts, and more credit card accounts than I would ever admit to online! With three months of Quicken history on all these (and more) accounts my Zire still has room for a really neat shopping list program and a student organizer program too! (And I still have 1.3 megs to play with ...)
Palm support for the Zire is great (I am not experienced with PDAs and had to call them after I goofed up installing the desktop program)and the techs I talked to seem to like the Zire too. This is the machine for the novice. Power users may scorn, but the bottom line is that the local stores can't keep these things on the shelf -- and for good reason! They appeal to us tyros like no PDA has ever before!
Do I wish my compact car had all the luxuries of a Rolls Royce? As we say in North Dakota, "Ja, you betcha!" But I am not going to buy a Rolls in this lifetime! But, I did buy my wife a Zire for Christmas. She is not a computer geek but she loves the Zire! Now we can beam files to each other as we pass on the campus! (Like the grocery list for me to fill ...)
Great Fun For The Money!
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