Rating: 
Summary: Don't Give Up Your Paper Calendar
Review: Buyer please beware: Palm Pilots crash repeatedly for no apparent reason. I bought one last year with the hopes of retiring my paper calendar. But I had so many crashes and I spent so much time performing the 'hot sync' function that it was not cost effective to use an electronic calendar. I don't think that I had a defective unit because I've heard similar tales from other Palm customers.
Rating:
Summary: cannot install on an athlon motherboard
Review: my system has an amd athlon motherboard with via kt133 chipset. or so I am told. The palm absolutely refuses to load on my system. It works great with my husband's system, a P4 with a slightly different via chipset. This does me absolutely no good. We have upgraded the bios, the usb drivers, and received absolutely no help from PALM. I think this is their problem, and they should fix it. We had one long telephone conversation and then no follow up on their part.
Rating: 
Summary: I think this is the best PDA on the market for the price!
Review: If I lost my Zire 71 today, I would go out and buy another one. This is my first palm so I don't have much to compare it to but I LOVE it. I'd like to say that I researched the product before I bought it but the truth is, I had thoroughly researched the M130 and that is what I was intending to buy. When I went to the store the sales guy was showing the Zire 71 to someone else. It had twice the memory as the M130, all the same features plus more. Of course it cost more but you get soooooooo much for your money. I just love it. I purchased a 128MB SD card which was necessary. You can read e-books, listen to comedy routines, mP3 music, and the cutest feature of all is the camera. You can take a picture and hot sync onto your computer and in an instant send someone the picture. I have added a lot to my Zire 71 so now I have spent twice what I paid for it. I wondered if I could have done better buying a Pocket PC, but if I did, I'd be missing out on the CUTE camera. And remember since this is a Palm product almost all downloads are compatible with the device. You always see special instructions for Sony, etc. The only thing I didn't like was the case it came with so I bought another one. Programs I have purchased that are wonderful - Connected TV- hotsync up to two weeks of the tv guide and train a remote to use your Zire as a TV/VCR remote, Holidates - add selected holidays to your datebook up to year 2007, Pocket Quicken, Quickoffice, and Splash Wallet. Free downloads were Acrobat Reader for OS - download pdf files and read them on your Palm and purchase e-books online from Amazon and other bookstores, Advantgo - turns your palm into a mobile internet -hotsync updates your webpages. For instance I have Hollywood.com downloaded that shows me movie listings and times for my chosen theaters (you can buy an upgrade) but the free one is very useful, Filepoint (organizes your files) I received it free when I purchased something (I don't remember what). The software that comes with the device is also wonderful. As you see now my life is in my Palm and I REALLY love it!
Rating:
Summary: All hail King Zire!
Review: There are not enough superlatives in the English language to describe how good this Palm Zire 71 really is. It has a gorgeous, bright, crisp screen. It's fast. It has a built in camera. It's fast. It's running Palm 5 software. It's fast. It has a 144 MHz ARM processor. Have I mentioned it's fast?I cannot believe the difference in speed between the Palm M515 and the Zire 71. It's like hopping out of a Pinto and into a Corvette. The performance is really that different. It's the difference between "Oh, yes!" and "OH, HELL YES!" Pictures cannot do the display justice, but the display does do the pictures you take with it justice. Don't let anyone kid you, this will not take the place of your digital camera - what? Are you kidding me? It's 640 X 480 for crying out loud! But it is perfect for those "need-a-quick-and-dirty-snapshot" situations. And if you do as I did and slap a 256MB SD card in the expansion slot, you will have room for about 4,000 pictures! In short, this is one incredible long, hard, going-way-back home run for Palm. Now if only ALL the Palms could be this good. I wouldn't hesitate for a minute to buy this Zire 71, but with two caveats : 1. Don't even think about buying it WITHOUT ADDING MEMORY! Get at least a 64 MB card, and if you drop a 256 MB card in like I did, you will be in heaven. 2. DO NOT buy the Palm essentials kit for the Zire/Zire 71. The case that comes with the Zire is better than the one in the essentials kit. Also, you get three not-for-the-Zire 71 stylii, and three FOR the Zire 71 in the package. What's up with that? They do the same thing with the screen protectors - 2 for the M100, 2 for the Zire 71. What the hell were they thinking? Why not just give me 4 screen protectors for the Zire 71, and 6 stylii for the Zire 71? It's a no brainer - just separtate the products into separate packaging! DUH!! Recap - Buy the Zire 71. Buy extra SD card memory. DO NOT BUY the Essentials kit. 'Nuff said.
Rating:
Summary: Very Good Buy
Review: I bought my first HandHeld in July just to see if I would use one and would it be worth the money. I found one marked down (no box and no manuel) for a very, very low price. Anyhow, by August having seen the Zire 71 with the digital camera and having an expansion slot I was impressed. So, I started shopping around and found one right here on Amazon for a great price and super fast delivery and no shipping charges. Since I had a Palm I knew how to work the Zire and found it was a great buy for me. I did have a little trouble with the RealOne set-up for transfering MP3's to the expansion card but now have it conquered. The digital camera is easy to work and the Palm Desk Top program works great with syncronizing. I haven't printed any pics out but have a good digital camera for that plus a 35 mm camera with zoom lense. The music comes through great with the earphones. I used the ones that came with my portable DVD player. Works great! Had to buy an expansion card. Look around for good deals because you can save $10.00 to $15.00 if you go to the right place so shop around. Over all I am pleased for what I wanted this for...pleasure only!!!
Rating: 
Summary: No voice memo - big bummer !
Review: They put so many things into this small piece and didn't include so important tool as an organizer - VOICE MEMO !
What a big bummer ! I consider it as a pinnacle of
a idiosynchrocy and stupidity.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Upgrade
Review: The Palm Zire 71 is a great upgrade from previous models. I have owned the Palm IIIxe and Palm M505 and decided that I liked the additional, improved features that the Zire 71 had to offer. The digital camera is one of the nicest additions to the device. No, the camera is not for those of you who require near perfect quality photography but Yes, it is for those of you who like to capture images on the spur of the moment and e-mail them off to family and friends. The most noticeable improvement is with the screen clarity and color images. They actually look like colored items now which I could not really tell with my M505. The processor is significantly faster then the others aforementioned and hot syncing seems to move along a lot faster. The new grafiti2 takes a little adjusting to if you are a long time Palm user but is a minor distraction. If you use the original fold out keyboard, you will need to remove the old driver from your old Palm before upgrading the desktop software otherwise it will install on your new Palm and not work. There is an updated driver for the keyboard at Palm.com which corrects this problem. If you don't remove the previous keyboard driver, you will need to perform a hard reset in order to remove it from the Palm as using the delete feature does not work. The accompanying case is something to be desired and its design is pathetic. Whenever you put the Palm into the case, the power or an application comes on and remains on until the auto shut off kicks in. I was surprised to see such a poorly designed case from an otherwise great device.
Rating:
Summary: Great Item
Review: My wife was one of the first adapters of Palm, she was very happy to lose the old "Black Bible" and upgrade to a Palm. When she lost her Palm, she needed a new one ASAP, and we purchased the Palm Zire. She loves the color upgrade, and the speed in which this unit performs at. The camera is a nice added feature to take low resolution pictures. This is a great little item that is not too expensive. So if your looking to buy your first, or upgrade your original, this is The Palm for you. Harry T.
Rating:
Summary: Defective product
Review: My new Zire 71 has had a problem with the battery since I purchased it - it loses charge rapidly and unexpectedly and causes all data to be lost. In calling Palm support to get it repaired I was told there is a huge backlog for this repair. It seems to be a very prevalent problem so be aware that if you buy the Zire 71, and need it repaired (which sounds like it is likely to happen), it's going to take awhile.
Rating:
Summary: SO GLAD I BOUGHT IT
Review: After using my Palm 125 extensively for 2 years, I longed for a color screen and rechargable battery. Imagine my surprise when I found this one with a camera in it as well! After weeks of delilberation, I finally decided to do it. This is incredible! The screen is large and has wonderful resolution. The camera works fine (not a super quality digital camera but loads of fun) and is very handy. The graphics are terrific and the screen is very touch receptive. The 5-way navigation is great for one-handed operation. The calculator is configured so that you don't even need to take out the stylus. It recharges right in the hot-sync cradle. The only thing I don't like is it is without a permanent screen cover (like my flip up palm125) so it a bit cumbersome to get it out of the provided case. But there are many cases out on the market with easier accessibility. Added note Feb/2004. I still love the Zire 71 and keep finding new things to do with it. If you are a middle of the road nerd, like myself, you won't be disappointed.
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