TAPWAVE Tapwave Zodiac 1

Rating:
Summary: MP3s, games, GPS, web surfing, you name it
Review: As a long time PDA user (Palm OS and Pocket PCs) I was always looking for the latest, greatest new piece of tech. The Zodiac's specs and price impressed me so much that I started my own news and community site for it.

I bought the Zodiac 1 back when they first came out (end of November, 2003). It's compatible with most any Palm OS application and there's tons of freeware and inexpensive shareware apps to be found. While Tapwave is hyping this as a gaming console, it's really a do-everything device. Pair it with a Bluetooth cell phone and you can surf the internet or check your email. Pair it with a Bluetooth GPS and you can use it to navigate you around town or across the country. It has a Yamaha sound chip which gives you MP3 playback superior to an iPod and you can even play music in the background while you play games or do other things.

The library of cutting edge games is a little small right now, but it's growing. And, like I said, there's TONS more that you can do with this thing besides just gaming. But if you do want it for gaming, consider this...it's got a 3.8" diagonal 480x320 pixel screen, an analog controller, several action and shoulder buttons, and support for multiplayer gaming over Bluetooth. And Tapwave isn't being greedy with some proprietary nonsense either. You can use regular old SD memory cards to expand your storage space for MP3s, videos, applications, and games. Yes, you can download games over the internet and store tons of them on one single SD memory card rather than carry around dozens of cartridges.

If you want to take advantage of some of the advanced features, sites like Tapland will help you along. Plus, there's lots of useful game, productivity app, and accessory reviews there.

If you want more built-in storage, you can pay an extra $100 for the Zodiac 2, but my personal recommendation is to get a Zodiac 1 and use the extra money to buy a really huge SD memory card.

Rating:
Summary: MP3s, games, GPS, web surfing, you name it
Review: As a long time PDA user (Palm OS and Pocket PCs) I was always looking for the latest, greatest new piece of tech. The Zodiac's specs and price impressed me so much that I started my own news and community site for it.

I bought the Zodiac 1 back when they first came out (end of November, 2003). It's compatible with most any Palm OS application and there's tons of freeware and inexpensive shareware apps to be found. While Tapwave is hyping this as a gaming console, it's really a do-everything device. Pair it with a Bluetooth cell phone and you can surf the internet or check your email. Pair it with a Bluetooth GPS and you can use it to navigate you around town or across the country. It has a Yamaha sound chip which gives you MP3 playback superior to an iPod and you can even play music in the background while you play games or do other things.

The library of cutting edge games is a little small right now, but it's growing. And, like I said, there's TONS more that you can do with this thing besides just gaming. But if you do want it for gaming, consider this...it's got a 3.8" diagonal 480x320 pixel screen, an analog controller, several action and shoulder buttons, and support for multiplayer gaming over Bluetooth. And Tapwave isn't being greedy with some proprietary nonsense either. You can use regular old SD memory cards to expand your storage space for MP3s, videos, applications, and games. Yes, you can download games over the internet and store tons of them on one single SD memory card rather than carry around dozens of cartridges.

If you want to take advantage of some of the advanced features, sites like Tapland will help you along. Plus, there's lots of useful game, productivity app, and accessory reviews there.

If you want more built-in storage, you can pay an extra $100 for the Zodiac 2, but my personal recommendation is to get a Zodiac 1 and use the extra money to buy a really huge SD memory card.

Rating:
Summary: movies?
Review: i am greatly considering buying this product (asked for it for the holidays) i read somewhere that it could play videos can i download movies with a big expansion card onto it please reply i would reccomend this to anyone you can recieve internet on it 3 different ways and theres all sorts of great features including im to talk to your buddies. there arent alot of games available but more are coming out including madden 2005 (sports game) there is a bunch of cool games like golf and shooters (doom2,duke nukem...etc) you can also download photos on to it and music what makes this better than the game boy ds or the psp(portable ps2 gadget) are all the features like a joystick, wireless gaming, internet! after this ill probaly never get a portable gamer again unless tapwave (makers of zodiac) come out with something better!

Rating:
Summary: Great system.
Review: It just needs more games!!! That will happen in Christmas (hopefully). Worth the cash.

Rating:
Summary: Had to buy two!
Review: This device is excellent. If you go to cnet.com you can read a full professional review of this product, they gave it an 8.0 which is great.
The Zodiac was an early xmas gift from my wife. The graphics are incredible and it does exactly what I need to do. It has a calendar, address book, to-do list and all the basic "palm" software. The gaming is awesome, I'm very impressed with the definition of the screen and the game selection is pretty good.
My wife was also in the market for a handheld device this holiday season. Now that I've had mine for a while, guess which device she wants?! Yup, we just had to buy a second one for her, she loves mine. She loves that is has an MP3 player and stereo speakers, which sound pretty darn good BTW. It also has photo software so she can display and keep her pics of the kids. I think the photos look much better on the zodiac screen vs. other handhelds.
For the price, I can't imagine doing much better than the Zodiac1.