Rating: 
Summary: Zire - A great Palm for the novice or advance user
Review: My husband gave my a Zire a few months back after having to pry his M500 out of my hands one too many times. I couldn't be happier with my Zire! It has almost all of the featers of his M500 with the exception of being able to download websites, but at a much lower price. It is smaller then his Palm, but the screen is almost as big. A customer commented that he could not hear the Zire's alarms even on high when in his hand. I have to say that the Zire is plenty loud - I can even hear it from the other side of my house and often have to turn the alarms down when in the office. The amount of memory it has is more then sufficient - I haven't even come close to using up even a quater of the 2 megs after downloading several softwares. My only complaint would be that I would like more of a selection in carrying cases. Otherwise I would recommend the Zire to just about anyone.
Rating: 
Summary: An OK first PDA for first time buyers.
Review: I recently bought myself a palm zire from amazon.com, along with a carrying case. when i first opened it up, the instructions were simple and easy to follow. I opened the carrying case and it smelled like a dead skunk! after a couple minutes of detective work, i found out that the rubber cement holding down a little plastic flap had not dried. Besides that, the installation went smoothly, and downloading all my contacts and appointments from outlook took no time at all. unfortunatly, the 2mb of memory that came with it couldnt hold all the things i wanted. i was going through a message board on PalmBlvd and found a memory upgrade for the palm zire... the screen isnt backlit, but the screen is so sharp, it can be seen in even low light. just buy a book light and clip it on to t if you need to see in the night. All in all, the Zire is Aperfect PDA for the First Time Buyer, like Me. i would give it 5 stars if it came with a backlight, the battery could take the beating. also, there should be an option for upgrading the memory by yourself, other than sending it away.
Rating: 
Summary: A little too basic
Review: I received this as a gift. Since I am a first time PDA user . . . had been entertaining the idea of purchasing one . . . I was excited until I saw how little this one does. Not enough memory and bells and whistles for me. I think it is okay for someone that may just want an address book and "to-do" list, but as a business person, I want a greater ability to add some software applications. The price reflects the old adage, "you get what you pay for."
Rating:
Summary: The Zire, A Tempest In The Palm, ...
Review: Zire, to buy or not to buy, that is the question!
The Zire reviews here are all worth reading (mostly) but I am amazed at the amount of controversy concerning the Zire. Well, I bought one a couple of months ago and now have some experience with the Zire. For the money that I spent, I feel that I have gotten a great little computer right in the Palm of my hand.
"But Paul! It has no backlight, "only" two megs of memory, and doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the Top Ranked Whatever!" I was told.
My reply?
So far I haven't missed the backlight (though I admit it probably wouldn't hurt and I deduct one star for that) and I find two megs of memory astoundingly adequate. I have added Pocket Quicken to the Zire and I still have 1.3 megs of memory to use! Make no mistake, I have two checking accounts, 4 savings accounts, and more credit card accounts than I would ever admit to online! With three months of Quicken history on all these (and more) accounts my Zire still has room for a really neat shopping list program and a student organizer program too! (And I still have 1.3 megs to play with ...)
Palm support for the Zire is great (I am not experienced with PDAs and had to call them after I goofed up installing the desktop program)and the techs I talked to seem to like the Zire too. This is the machine for the novice. Power users may scorn, but the bottom line is that the local stores can't keep these things on the shelf -- and for good reason! They appeal to us tyros like no PDA has ever before!
Do I wish my compact car had all the luxuries of a Rolls Royce? As we say in North Dakota, "Ja, you betcha!" But I am not going to buy a Rolls in this lifetime! But, I did buy my wife a Zire for Christmas. She is not a computer geek but she loves the Zire! Now we can beam files to each other as we pass on the campus! (Like the grocery list for me to fill ...)
Great Fun For The Money!
Rating:
Summary: palm zire handheld
Review: this is a super item!!! the data entry is easy. there is a built-in alarm to remember appointments with the address handy, so i can make calls. and it even has a place to record expenses for tax purposes. i'm keeping track of things i usually have in the pc, or on scraps of paper--great for organization. perfect for my busy schedule as a mother of twins and owner of a small business.
Rating: 
Summary: Before you buy this
Review: BEFORE you buy the Zire, look at the Sony CLIE PEG SL10. The Sony CLIE PEG SL10 is a better unit because it has 8MB of memory and it has a backlit display. Just like the Zire, the Sony CLIE PEG SL10 is affordable.
Rating:
Summary: THIS IS A PRODUCT FOR FIRST-TIME USERS !!!
Review: I have just finished reading all 37 reviews of this product (at least, as of this date ;-) I feel that about half of those reviews are relatively worthless and are debating points that are significantly NOT REVELANT to the target market for this product. Personally, I am not a member of the target market ... as I purchased the original PalmPilot (for $400 and containing 512Kb of RAM) and later "upgraded" it to 1Mb RAM. I presently own and use a Palm IIIe and a Palm IIIxe. If I decided to "upgrade" my Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) it is certain that I will NOT purchase a Zire. The reason why: the Zire has been specifically designed for the first-time "novice" user. At a Retail Price of $99 one would NOT expect all (or any) of the bells-and-whistles associated with the higher-end models. The first-time adult Palm PDA user does NOT initially need to have the memory capacity to support tons of games, or expansion slots (with the additional expense of the things that plug into those slots), etc. Think of the Palm Zire as your first bicycle with training wheels included. You don't buy a moped or a motorcycle (more expensive PDA's) until AFTER you have learned the basics. A "soccer mom" or your grandmother doesn't need all of that high-tech confusion. If you keep it simple, it is more likely to be used. If you keep it small in size, it is more likely to be carried around. There is ALWAYS a trade-off between power and features ... and the battery life required to support them. The Palm Zire attempts to strike a balance with respect to the needs of the Novice first-time user. The Zire is a unit designed for the novice ADULT (it is NOT designed to be a game machine for kids). It is the modern version of that original PalmPilot, with four times the memory and half the weight and a much better screen. Here is a comment from one of these 37 reviews that completely hits the target at the bull's-eye with respect to the Zire: "Currently I have 645 entries in the Address Book, 1050 entries in my Date Book, 400 records in my Memo Pad, as well as 2 blackjack games, a poker game, and a chess game. With all of this loaded in the Zire, I still have 1.3 megs of memory available. Really a great little box." I hardly EVER use the backlight in my Palm III units. The target market for the Zire is the people who will mostly be using the included applications (Address Book, Date Book, Memo Pad, Note Pad, etc.) -- as the use of these applications by the first-time novice user will be a BIG STEP forward for them. When they get to the point where they can ride the bicycle easily without the training wheels, THEN they can make the decision to spend the additional money to buy a higher-end model. For most folks in this target market, THIS may be all the functionality they ever need. I have been using my Palm IIIxe for many years now ... and would only consider upgrading to a cell phone/PDA combo unit. I do not have (or feel the overwhelming need for) the expansion slots, color screen, or the many extra bells-and-whistles touted by other reviewers appearing here. If THAT is your focus, then you should choose another product. The Palm Zire performs the basics and does it at the lowest price on the market. Note that this is a "new" product (October) and the supply & demand curves have not yet balanced out. The full Zire retail price of $99 will (after Xmas) come down to a "street price" of around eighty-something dollars. Yes, you can spend more money to buy a higher-end product, but THAT is the fact of life for every product on the market. Beware of the nerd reviewers (like me) who have already owned previous PDA models, and are trying to compare bicycles to mopeds to motorcycles ... as they are not comparing apples to apples, and these products have significantly different target markets. The Palm Zire is designed for the first-time user, and the reviews that I have read here from those first-time users have been favorable. I hope this provides a useful frame of reference with respect to your purchasing decisions.
Rating:
Summary: No backlight? I clicked cancel order
Review: As a fan of the Palm OS, I was going to buy a few of these Zire units as xmas gifts to friends. I knew they only had 2MB of RAM and while that is a pretty small amount, it's still OK because Palm programs don't use up much memory. But when I read there is no backlight, I immediately ditched the idea. Just what is Palm thinking by releasing a model with no backlight? They should price this unit at half the price, then it may be worthwhile to get, but at $99 this unit just does not cut it. Pay a few dollars more and you can get a Sony Clie with 8MB and full backlight, plus a memory expansion slot.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent entry-level PDA
Review: I love my Zire! It does everything I could ever want (with the help of a few add-on programs). It is the first PDA I have ever owned, and the only problems I can find is that it does not have a backlight and the memory can not be expanded. However, my need for storage is more than meet by the 2mb and I am very rarely out at night, so these are not an issue for me. I am a stay-at-home mom and the Zire suits my needs perfectly. I think it would also be great for students. I could have used it back then!
Rating:
Summary: 3 important negatives to consider
Review: 1) no backlight!! i often find myself using a palm in the dark, or quickly grabbing it at night to see what time it is,,not with this one, there is no backlight, you need a bright light or a sunny day to use it, it can get tough on your vision, considering that it also has a small screen. 2) sound is very poor. if you want this model to remind you of appointments or wake you up in the morning,,you're looking at the wrong model, the sound is very poor. even setting the sound to "high" sounds very low, you can barely hear it even when its in your hand,, if it happens to be in another room when it goes off, forget it, no chance of hearing it (and yes i have good hearing) My M130 model is 10 times louder! 3) Not enough memory to store everything you might want to store! PS- some people might not think this is important, but it has no color! I don't know about some of you but looking at black and white all the time can get a little boring and depressing, also, the white design and the cheap plastic cover flap doesn't help at all. To make a long story short, don't be cheap and spend [the money on] a more equipped model, in the end you'll end up upgrading anyways, this is bottom of the line, you'll feel ripped off if you buy it. Feels like an old scientific calculator rather than a palm, stay away!
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