Rating: 
Summary: QUITE SIMPLY AN OBJECT OF DEZIRE
Review: Despite Sony's slick Clies banging on their hood, Palm has not exactly been known to be very friendly in the bargain department. The Zire I at its low pricetag was an initiate's machine in the Low-Cost-Low-Features bracket. Surprise surprise -- the Zire II, er, Zire 71 not only packs a full punch at 300 US$ but also ups the ante on multimedia handhelds!THINGS TO NOTE: 1. Comes (finally) with OS 5.2 and its sharp fonts + cool icons/themes.
2. Sleek glossy blue skin
3. A light 5.3 ounces in weight
4. A 320x320 screen sporting 65,000 colors screen
5. An awesome VGA (640x480) digicam, but be prepared for a 1-2 second
delay in shutter click. To its credit though the viewfinder software appears very quickly.
6. A revamped PalmDesktop with a conveniently integrated photo-management module, which makes it a snap not only to load pictures onto your handheld, but also to view, organize, and even e-mail those you've taken with it. Also includes basic image-editing features like cropping, rotating, and red-eye reduction.
7. And the AudiblePlayer that enables you to listen to the huge library of spoken-word content from Audible.com
8. A better handwriting recognizing software Graffiti 2
9. A joystick type navigation "nipplehead"
10. Out of the box MP3 support (RealOne Mobile Player)
11. Above all, a snazzy "Kinoma Producer" software to produce movies specifically for your handheld, in 4 easy steps CAVEATS: 1. No bluetooth (not that I'd need or use it but would have been cool. HP 5455 has both WiFi and BT!)
2. No With all this multimedia doohickey, a voice recorder wasn't much to throw in
3. Only a 16 MB of ram, kinda low for a device with this target market
4. Lack of a good screen cover
5. Digicam pics may be a little slow to save to memory IN SUMMARY: Despite the few minor grouses, a great offering from the Palm camp for entertainment junkies packing in mp3 player, audible player, movie player, camera and an Clie/iPaq type screen. May not be a great reason to upgrade if you already have a PDA, but if you are in the market for a new one, this is a superb buy.
Rating: 
Summary: Totally unreliable manufacturing
Review: The Zire 71 concept may be good, but its manufacturing quality does not stand to the Palm reputation (I have previously owned a Palm III and a Palm IIIxe). My first unit stopped HotSync-ing after a couple of months of use. I sent it to Palm's after-sale service for a replacement, but 10 days later they sent me back the same unit, plus several scratches on screen and body. While waiting for a second (and actual) replacement, the photo shutter button stopped working too. Once that second replacement arrived, I have just found that the leftmost hardware button (DateBook) does not work at all, and the rightmost one (Notes) fails more often that works. I guess the sliding shell design may be more tricky than Palm expected. My suggestion is: forget the built-in camera and go for the (cheaper, but no moving parts) Tungsten E.
Rating: 
Summary: Too thick for me
Review: This is a great Palm however, it wasn't what I was looking for. I bought it as a replacement for my M500. I should have been patient and waited until the Tungsten E came out.
The Z71 is much too thick and bulky for me. I usally keep my palm in my suit pocket, but I ended up carrying the Z71 most of the time.
The camera is a toy. Don't expect much from it and you won't be disappointed.
I still long for the days of 2 week batttery life of the VX and M500 as opposed to 2 days with the Z71. I read a lot of books on the palm, so the battery runs out quickly even at the lowest brightness setting.
I have since bought a TE and gave the Z71 to my wife. She loves it. Now everyone's happy!
Rating:
Summary: Okay
Review: Recently I bought a Zire71 but I ended up returning it because it had some bad system files. I found the camera not to be really worth the extra $100 when you can buy the new Tungsten E without a camera for $199. When playing movies such as movie trailers the sound wasn't the best but the picture was pretty good. I would not recommend this Palm for playing games because the 5 way navigator isn't the best for this use.
Rating:
Summary: Screen broke with 2 months; Palm very very poor support
Review: Screen broke within 2 months of owning; did not drop or mishandle. While at work, the screen popped and that was the end. Was under warranty; returned to Palm to be fixed and shipping agent lost unit. Palm said they investigated the event and agreed to ship me out a new unit. Three months later I am still without a Palm. I continue to get the "give us 48 hours to look into it" story from Palm representatives. I paid near $300 for an e-toy that doesn't work...and I don't even get to keep it for a paperweight. Pocket PC is my next purchase..will never buy another Palm.
Rating: 
Summary: mixed feelings -- only fair support from Palm
Review: I bought the Zire 71 for my wife. After using it for less than a month, it developed a bizarre problem. It would sometimes go haywire and open/close items in the address book at random, without any user input whatsoever. Palm support insisted that it was due to 3rd party software that we installed (we hadn't installed any programs). Finally they had me do a hotsync, followed by a hard reset of the zire. The hard reset cleared the zire, but the problem still continued. It was sent back to Palm for service. Upon return, the hotsync would not retrieve any of the stored files from the backup pc. The files are still on that machine, but sync can't get them back. I called tech support at Palm to ask them how to get everything restored, and they basically said that I was now out of my warranty support window, and for $25 they would tell me how to get my data back.
All in all, I can only give the zire 2 stars. It's a nice product, but to fail within a month, and then require the customer to pay for an incident call to help retrieve data after factory service, is poor customer service in my opinion. I would not purchase another product from Palm.
Rating:
Summary: Still 5 Star's after 4 months of use.
Review: I have had this Palm Pilot for 4 months and still think it is great. I bought the expansion card and now use the MP3 player, works great. The camera takes good impromtu type photographs for situations where you don't need high quality. I recently took it to visit my dad in the hospital, took some pictures and was able to show them at home to my kids. The calendar, address book, and ability to synchronize email work good. I highly recommend this product.
Rating:
Summary: Handheld for a dummy
Review: I am not tne most techno person. I have never had a Palm before. This has been a Big help. Instead of having # in 7 different places. They are now all in one. The Camera is a little tricky to use but I am getting it figured out. A god item to have.It is very helpful for work.
Rating: 
Summary: A Great Upgrade and a Great Buy
Review: Losing my Palm m105 was upsetting, but having read about the Palm Zire 71 I decided it was a good excuse to upgrade. The built in digital camera and the ability to expand it to play MP3's, plus the color display, convinced me it was time to make the jump. I'm glad I did. I was a little thrown that there was a new version of Graffiti to contend with, but Graffiti II is somewhat easier to use than its predecessor, so that wasn't a problem. The larger display area is a plus too. The digital camera is decent enough quality for taking quick pictures and emailing them or sharing them online. To do more than that you'll need to have the ability to do some tweaking in PhotoShop or another graphics program, but you can't beatthe convenience of the combination. The package I brought came with all the necessary software, including a Palm version of RealPlayer so that all I needed for MP3 play was an expansion card and a pair of earphones. Putting songs on the expansion card couldn't be easier. My only complaint is the volume. Maximum volume on this player isn't quite loud enough for me, but that's just a matter of personal preference. Mine came with a carrying case that is a bit of a tight fit, and just serves it's purpose. If you want a better carrying case, get the Zire 71 Essentials package, which has a case that you can also wear on your belt for carrying your Palm around. So, a few minor complaints aside, the Palm Zire 71 is more than worth the price. If you're upgrading from an older Palm, you won't be sorry you got the Zire 71.
Rating:
Summary: Best PDA ever for the price...
Review: This is the best PDA in the market -- quality/price wise that is. It has a digital camera that works excellently -- well, of course, you should not expect cyrstal-clear 1200X1200 resolution pictures from it! It is a PDA, not a digital camera! Also, if you purchase a SD Memory Card along with your Zire71 you will not only be to store more pictures, data, etc. in for your Zire but also listen to music: MP3s to be more precise! Frankly, if you are a first-time PDA user, Zire71 has everything for you -- even more than you are probably expecting...I say go ahead and buy it!
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