Personal Data Assistant Devices (PDAs)
Palm - Zire
Retail Price - $99 US
Website - Palm
Talk about shattering the price barrier! Palm has done it with the introduction of the Zire PDA.
Over the past few years, those with PDAs continue to hear from doubting co-workers, friends, and family that they would like to have a PDA, but they think they are too expensive and too easy to break. While strides have been made to make PDAs more durable, the main mission is to get more converts to the PDA, and that is just what Palm is aiming to do with the release of the Zire.
Now, for the first time, you can buy a fully featured and functional PDA that is compatible with the same OS as the "big boys" with a price that will not break the bank. The Zire is reasonably priced at $99 US and is being sold everywhere. What is cool about Zire is that it brings the initial PDA investment down to an affordable level. The lower price will add more PDA devotees to the market once they are exposed to what it can do. Most likely, once they use it, they will like it and eventually upgrade to a more powerful and robust PDA model.
While the Zire isn't the fastest model in the Palm family, its feature set is almost like taking a step 'backward' to the 2 MB Palm IIIs of yesterday. What is good however, is that it is running Version 4.1 of the Palm OS, and includes all of the reliable core Palm platform applications that Palm users know and love. If you have a spouse or friend that has envied your PDA for some time, now is the chance to expose them to the technology.
If you are looking for a deal on a Palm platform device, we need to point out that Handspring, another maker of PDAs, isn't just sitting idly by and letting this happen. While Handspring has moved forward with their new Treo PDA product line, Handspring has a variety of re-conditioned Visor PDA handhelds that offer a few more features than the Zire as well as 8 MB of memory, with prices also starting at $99 US. While some of the Visor models might not look as 'hip' as the Zire, the Visor Edge has a more professional look and can be had for $129 US. (Check out Handspring for more information on re-conditioned Visor offerings.)
