Palm Zire Review

There are two version of the Palm Zire. The Palm Zire and the Palm Zire 71. The Zire is the low-end model, and the Zire 71 is a high-end model. This particular review is of the Zire. The Zire 71 is reviewed separately.

The Palm Zire seems to be an attempt by Palm to appeal to the budget market of Palm users. The Zire's $99 price point is significantly lower than all other models on the market. But the Palm Zire is really not much different than the old m100 line. And this is well below current standards.

The Palm Zire has a few noticeable differences when compared to the older Palms. For one, it has a USB connection rather than a serial. And the Zire uses rechargeable batteries. Otherwise, the Zire is very similar to the m105, which has been retired. They even use some of the same parts.

The Palm Zire has a monochrome screen, 160 X 160 resolution. And the Zire only comes with 2 MB of memory, which is extraordinarily low these days. And you can't add a memory card on either.

The Palm Zire is clearly meant to be nothing more than an electronic organizer. It may be what you need, if that's all you need. But you can get much better quality if you're willing to spend more.

The ratings for the Palm Zire are all more or less average. Surprisingly, on one web site, 81% recommended the Palm Zire (of 1,314 votes).

Professional Ratings: 6 out of 10 (3 reviews)

User Ratings: 6.9 out of 10 (133 reviews)

Not surprisingly, one of the complaints about the Palm Zire is that it's outdated. More suprisingly, however, is that a number of people believe the Zire is overpriced. This is surprising because the Zire is only $99 (or less). Both users and professional reviewers agree that the Zire should have a backlight. Professional reviews have also pointed out that the Zire doesn't have much memory, and it's slow.

Memory

2 MB standard
No expansion slot

Display

160 X 160 pixels
Monochrome

Processor

16 MHz Motorola Dragonball EZ

Operating System

Palm OS 4.1

Audio

No speaker
No headset jack
No voice recorder

Dimensions

2.9 X 4.4 X .6 inches
3.8 ounces

Software

Expense
4 games are included