The Zire 71...Is It Worth $300?

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Oct 3, 2000
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My latest gadget obsession is the Zire 71, a palm with a camera. I realize the camera is low tech, but just being able to have one on my palm seems like a great idea. Does anyone have/use one? Opinions please!:D
 
My wife really loves hers. I have a Tungsten T myself and use my PDA all the time for both work and personal things. I'd been trying to get her interested in a PDA for some time, but she was never interested. Then she started pharmacy tech school (mid life career retraining) and while trying to learn all teh drugs, she discovered that there's a bunch of drug databases for the Palm OS and that's what all the pharmacists use, so suddenly she had to have one. We went and looked at all the candidates and she really liked the Zire 71 teh best. She loves the camera function and it does take pretty good pictures. I was surprised at the quality of the camera and it's ease of use. I wondered (to myself) at the time of the usefulness of a camera integrated into something you're already carrying, but after having just got a new cellphone this past week with an integrated camera, I'm starting to understand it's utility. Her Zire 71 takes a better picture than my Audiovox CDM8900 phone even though their both rated at 640x480 capable. While they're very convienient for certain applications, to me they won't replace my Nikon Coolpix 775 (2.2 megapixels) for going on vacation or special events. The Nikon just takes much better and higher resolution pics. A Surefire in your pocket can help these built in cameras a lot as they have no flash built in. I'm going to an trade show in a couple weeks (Consumer Electronics show in Las Vegas) and the camera phone should come in handy as I'll be able to take photos of new products and instantly email them back to my office where they can then be distributed quickly to my dealers.

The Zire 71 seems like a real solid PDA to me. I could probably easily use it instead of my Tungsten T as I really haven't found a use for the bluetooth in the T yet.

Check out www.senacases.com for some really cool protective cases. We both have their cases for our PDAs and they're well made, functional and stylish.

jmx
 
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