Palm Zire 72

Although the Zire 72 is flush with the latest features, it certainly isn't a business tool - more of a sophisticated plaything. This is quite clear by the styling, as the rubbery texture of the blue coating makes it far more effeminate than any of PalmOne's Tungsten range. But it's still a good-looking device: it's sleek and light, and PalmOne has done away with the slide-open camera mechanism of its predecessor, the Zire 71, making it even thinner.

It also feels surprisingly light in the hand, which was soon confirmed by the weight of 136g on our scales. Fortunately, PalmOne hasn't sacrificed the battery in the process, with the Zire 72 lasting for ten hours of general use before running out.

The insides are powerful too. Using a 312MHz PXA270 XScale chip, and packing 32MB of memory (24MB of which is available for use), it may not be the fastest PDA around, but it's certainly quick enough for everyday use; even with an MP3 playing in the background, not once did we notice any lag.

But it's the multimedia aspects that are key to the Zire's appeal; for starters, the 1.2-megapixel camera round the back is a cut above the usual VGA cameras that are found on many phones and PDAs, offering a maximum resolution of 1,280 x 960. However, big numbers don't necessarily equal great quality, and the images it produces still pale in comparison to dedicated digital cameras, and even some mobile phones. The Zire seems almost incapable of taking images in low light and the overall image is rather fuzzy.

We've no complaints about MP3 playback though. The Zire 72 uses RealOne player, and transfer is now simple, thanks to a RealOne desktop application. This is a particular relief, as file transfer can be a downfall of Palm devices.

In contrast with the Zire 31, the 320 x 320 transflective screen is absolutely superb. Bright, clean and large, it follows Palm's recent trend of providing some of the highest-quality screens in the business; it's quite amazing to see how far these devices have come in recent years. However, we often noticed artefacts and the odd judder when playing back video. Other than that, it's brilliant; it's also responsive, as is the large writing area that sits below it.

The Zire is still capable of being a business tool. Running on Palm OS 5.2.8, it's fast and synchronises with your PC efficiently. Synchronisation with Outlook has also become far easier thanks to the latest version of VersaMail - version 2.7. Available only on this Zire, its most prominent new feature is its integration with the Zire 72's camera and the included Media application to allow you to directly email photos from the PDA. Despite the low quality of the images, it's still a handy tool and yet another step towards making emailing direct from your PDA a practical prospect.

You can also edit Word and Excel documents and view Acrobat files, as with the Tungsten devices. We were also impressed by the integration of Bluetooth, provided you have a Bluetooth phone and suitable ISP, as it means you can send emails on the go. There's no 802.11 wireless, but you can't have everything at this price. An SD card slot allows for expansion.

We like the Zire 72, but it has a serious rival in the Sony CLI PEG-TH55. This costs an extra £60 and 'only' has a VGA camera, but with integrated 802.11b and a 320 x 480 TFT, plus excellent styling, we recommend you take a look before buying the Zire 72.

Author: Mark Walsh