After 10 years Palm have finally returned to their roots and released
a PDA. Not a wannabe phone/walkman/portable dvd/game console/wireless
web browser/photo album/book. It's an actual, honest to God, Personal
Digital Assistant. Yes, it can do some of those other things too, but
I'm not having to pay for expensive features like bluetooth and hifi
quality audio.
The Z22 is being marketed as an entry level PDA. But that's wrong. I
am a long time PDA user who has owned, among other devices, a Palm
Pilot Professional, an m505, a Zire 71 and a Tungsten T3. But this is
my favourite device of all. For a start it's the best looking PDA ever
sold. Palm must have taken a leaf out of Apple's book. When I look at
my Z22 I think it could have dropped out of the clean futuristic sets
of movie like 2001. This is the future that Stanley Kubrick promised
us and never arrived. But at least my Palm looks like it's from that
future. It's also light due to not being weighed down by a metal case
and a ton of hardware I don't want.
It does all the usual PDA stuff well: Calendar, Memos, Contacts and so
on. 32MB is completely adequate for these tasks, even if you decide
to add photos to your contact list. For these tasks the hardware is
completely up to the task.
I also use my Z22 for reading eBooks. It's great for this. 160x160 is
enough for completely clear text. Unfortunately I do miss one feature
of my T3 - the SD card slot. Without this I can't use my unabridged
Webster's dictionary that weighs in at 37MB. But the 10MB Webster's is
good enough for most tasks.
One place where I feel Palm have cut corners is the display. There are
sometimes unsightly vertical streaks in it, I'm guessing due to using
a poor digital-to-analogue converter. For most tasks this isn't an
issue. Photos can look a little ugly however and you often see aliasing
artifacts. One place where the poor display quality is visible is when
you read books in autoscroll mode. The display really isn't fast enough to
keep up with scrolling text. But hey, this device costs $100 new!
The device has only 2 application buttons instead of the usual
4. Surprisingly I haven't noticed the loss at all.
There are a couple of other annoyances that are common to almost
all current PDAs so I'll just list them quickly: difficult to replace
battery, display not visible in sunlight (unlike my Palm Pilot), use of
Graffiti2/Jot making reliable text entry next to impossible (Palm won
the lawsuit, bring back Graffiti 1!).
Palm have dropped the universal connector in favour of a new small USB
port. That means I can't use my old peripherals. I do hope I can use my
wireless keyboard however, when Palm release Z22 drivers.
By paring down the PDA to its essentials Palm have made a winner. But
there's one feature I would have liked to have kept - the SD card
slot. Providing such a slot would at least have given a choice about
how much to spend on storage. But like I say, apart from the dictionary
I don't miss it that much. (Hmmm...I have to admit that I did enjoy
playing Infocom games on my T3 using Clifrotz too, but I'll survive...)
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Palm Z22 HandheldProduct Description: If you're still using a paper planner, maybe it's time to catch up with technology and upgrade to the affordable and easy-to-use Palm Z22 handheld. It enables you to keep your entire day-to-day schedule and contact information at hand and in your pocket--no more flipping throughmultiple pages, looking for scraps of paper or keeping track of to-do lists. And you won't have to enter the same thing twice--once on the computer and once in your planner, as you can easily make updates on your computer and synchronize data to the Palm Z22 in just a minute or two.
This handheld features a 32 MB of flash memory (20 MB accessible for file and software storage), Palm OS 5.4 (Garnet), a fast 200 MHz ARM-based processor, and an internal rechargeable battery (that can be charged via the included AC adapter or via the USB cable connected to your PC).
Weighing just over 3 ounces and about the same size as a deck of playing cards, the Palm Z22 is compact and stylish with a white front and translucent blue backing. Small enough to fit into any purse, backpack or back pocket, it boasts a bright, 160 x 160-pixel color touchscreen display, which provides easy readability of names, addresses, and appointments. You can even color-code appointments for improved organization, and view and carry pictures of friends and family wherever you go.
Operating System and Software The installed Palm OS 5.4 uses the intuitive and easy-to-learn Graffiti 2 writing software to input data into the handheld (as well as an on-screen keyboard). Windows users can synchronize their calendar, contacts, tasks, and notes with Microsoft Outlook. The Palm OS features the following organizer applications:
- Contacts: Lets you store several addresses for each contact, and with new fields for more phone numbers, multiple e-mail addresses, instant messenger IDs, and Web sites.
- Calendar: Use the new Agenda view to see upcoming calendar events, tasks due, and important e-mail, and color-code your events to provide an easy way to reference your calendar in the Agenda, Day, Week, and Month views. Take more notes, or synchronize more details from your desktop, in the larger Memos and Notes fields.
- Tasks: Use tasks with alarms and repeating tasks to set reminders for important commients.
It also includes AddIt, a program that includes a variety of applications such as CheckSplit, Chess, Carb Counter and Solitaire. The bonus software CD-ROM has an eBook reader with three books and a dictionary, the powerOne Calculator (perfect for basic and advanced mathematics), and SplashShopper (a helpful shopping list application).
Compatibility The Palm Z22 is compatible with PCs running Windows Windows 2000 (SP4) and XP (Outlook synchronization requires MS Outlook 2000, 2002, or 2003; sold separately), and with Macs running Mac OS 10.2.8 to 10.4.
What's in the Box Palm Z22 handheld, USB sync cable, power adapter, 3-step setup poster, Graffiti 2 sticker, Software Install CD-ROM with Palm Desktop, Tutorial, Getting Started Guide, User Guide, and bonus software.
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