Palm Zire 71 review

Let's get one thing straight from the start: the Zire 71 isn't a business tool. It isn't even a straightforward personal organiser. Palm is going straight for the jugular of Sony's CLI range, with its new consumer PDA boasting not only a headphone jack so this machine can be used as an MP3 player, but also a 640 x 480 camera. And, most importantly, it's doing it at an affordable price.

The camera is ingeniously hidden behind the Zire's metal backplate. To activate it, you simply slide the backplate down to reveal the lens (integrated onto the rear of the Zire) and the screen becomes a viewfinder. You can save photos either to the memory, 12.7MB of which is available before you start loading programs, or to an SD/MMC card that slips into the top-mounted slot.

When you next synchronise with your PC, the photos can automatically be placed in a folder on the hard disk - very neat. Don't expect phenomenal results, though. Colours are washed out and, not surprisingly, the lack of flash is limiting. Still, the results are fine for emailing and now, of course, you'll always have a camera with you.

The inevitable drawback is size, with the Zire 71 weighing 148g and measuring 16.5mm deep - gone are the days of the sleek Vx. To protect the screen, you'll also need to use the supplied case, which adds a further 10mm to the bulk and brings the weight to 191g.

Mind you, this is a screen worth protecting. Its 320 x 320 pixels are brightly lit and text is easy to read. With a 16-bit specification, we also hoped colours would look natural, but it still struggles with skin tones. This was again true when playing back video, but at least there were no dropped frames.

There are a few other imperfections too. The stylus feels cheap and plasticky and doesn't even fit the reset button (keep a paperclip handy). Also, there's no light to indicate whether the Zire is charging or not, and it sometimes loses connection with the docking cradle so you think it's charging when it isn't. Finally, the five-way navigator is a little fiddly.

But, in Palm's defence, at least it includes a docking station, and let's not forget the aggressive price - Sony take note. With solid battery life in our tests, lasting for almost four hours over several days, the Zire 71 adds up to an extremely attractive PDA.

Author: Tim Danton