PDA

Original Zire was a ground breaking product because of its low price. But a year later Palm is still trying to sell the same small screen with no backlight for same price?

Pro's,
1. Its price.
2. Has latest stable Palm OS version 5.
3. Looks very good, doesn't feel cheap (so you can gift it).
4. Comes with rechargeable battery and standard USB cable.
5. Fast ARM processor, good stylus and infrared port.

Con's,
1. Still no backlight on screen (uesless in dark or medium light).
2. Screen is B&W and only 160x160 pixels, again the worst you will find on a 2003 handheld.
3. No mp3, mpeg, jpeg support. Without the multimedia features the gift receiver doesn't get much excited.
4. No expansion slot and only 8MB memory.
5. 90 day warranty.
6. Processor & OS are new but rest of hardware is pathetic, new OS is not put to any use.

With Tungsten E selling for well below 199 mark, I would strongly recommend getting T|E instead of Zire 21. You will get so much for a few more $$. Or you might as well get original Zire for half the cost. Zire 21 is good only as a gift to your mother-in-law, not recommended for personal use.

I've been wanting to switch over to a PDA for last couple months basically to get rid of the bulk & the hassle of carrying around a paper planner. When this product was released I knew it was exactly what I needed, the original Zire lacked the memory I wanted to be able to install some 3rd party software, such as games. With this new model I have more than enough room for a few games to play in between classes as well as the standard datebook & address software.

I basically use my Zire 21 to keep track of appointments, homework, and telephone numbers, but the expense software included seems like a great program if you are interested in keeping track of that information on your Palm.

Overall this is perfect for organizing my sometimes hectic college career and I expect once I graduate it will be just as helpful in keeping my organinzed and on time.

The only feature I think would be a nice addition would be a backlight. The screen is easy to view in normal and even some low light, but in the dark is useless. A backlight would ensure it would be viewable at all times. I primarily use mine during the day in light conditions though, so this isn't really a problem, but I can see some people using a backlight frequently.

I've been a user of Zire 21 for a year and quite<br /> satisfied with it (for a less than $100 PDA!)<br /> until I encountered same thing other users <br /> had encountered: It resets!<br /> Good thing I made sure I do Hot Sync<br /> every other week but still it's kind of<br /> frustrating knowing some data will be lost.<br /> <br /> I noticed that at extreme temperature <br /> (Im barely above freezing point <br /> right now because im on a business trip in Japan),<br /> the Zire21 malfunctions and eventually<br /> caused the reset.<br /> There might be parts (reset IC or the<br /> power supply section) that are not rated<br /> to such extreme temperature.<br /> Other reviews say that reset is triggered<br /> when cellphone rings.<br /> RF (radio frequencies)signals emited by cell sites<br /> or base stations are of microwatt range and if accompanied<br /> by a poor choice of parts, malfunction will surely happen.<br /> I looked at the back of the Zire 21, and I see it was Made in China.<br /> No wonder. <br />