Zire 71 (link to pictures)

[yOyOYoo]

http://www.palminfocenter.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=13243

I must say the Zire 71 is a beautiful device. Especially the $300 price tag. OS5, digital camera 640 x 480, 5 way joystick. wow.

This and the upcoming Tungsten C with 400mhz and 64mb RAM, I hate to admit that palm is back on top. Well not for long, you gotta wonder what sony has up it's sleeve.

Too bad I just purchased the TG50 a few weeks ago. I figure sony will toss out a TG55 with 64mb ram, and fix the wavy screen lighting. Maybe even a TG60 with virtual graffiti.

[Ni+Mh]

Yea Sony will definitely come up with something nobody hears of know,but Sony will reach the top at the end of the day

[PalmGearJenn]

Looks like a goood product at a really good price. I want to see sony's retort. Hopefully there will be one.....

[T1000X]

Hmmm... a Sony iPod like PDA with a hard drive for MP3s... hmmm. All I can say is if such a thing did come out at a reasonable price (yeah, right we're talking about Sony here) I'd jump on it!

[yOyOYoo]

I wonder what sony is thinking now... an increase in RAM means a decrease in Memory stick sales...

[fargusmax]

Sony has no choice but to offer the expanded RAM as soon as they have a product with it available. As it is, I'm excited as heck to see the final specs on the Tungsten C. If it pans out, Sony will really have to get moving to stay ahead. They'd be shooting themselves in the foot if they worry more about MS sales, when they'd be losing out on the sale of many units at $300-$600 apiece. I'm extremely curious as to how Sony will respond to this "challenge" Gotta love competition.

[macktv]

I think the next step for Sony is a really important one though as they know that at present anyone buying a Clie pretty much has to buy a memory stick to get full use out of it but if they up the memory by such a huge amount I would think that would be the eqivalent of giving away a free stick.

Actually, thats not a bad idea. They could up the memory to 32mb and then give a 32mb stick as well. It gets people used to the format and still gives them the same memory as Palm users.

[PalmGearJenn]

I would just love to be able to send email from my clie and I would be elated. I don't really want a smart phone and don't care for a blackberry.

[OcellNuri]

Oh.. so this is the reason PalmInfoCenter is down... :D

[OcellNuri]

Wow.. that is a nice looking device. I like the slide mechanism for the camera. Very creative. Looks like the sliding is going to be a theme from Palm... :D

The NX just got serious competition. Can't wait till Sony blows us away in a couple weeks.

[OcellNuri]

Originally posted by PalmGearJenn
I would just love to be able to send email from my clie and I would be elated. I don't really want a smart phone and don't care for a blackberry.

I do that all the time with my NX and WiFi card. You don't have 100% coverage, but I am surprised at how many open access points I've been able to find in the area I live... (Central NC)

I'm just waiting for a NX with built in bluetooth so I could use either WiFi or a cell phone. Now with the Zire71 at this price, maybe I will actually be able to afford the next NX.. if Sony feels the pressure.

[Jean Ichbiah]

The Zire 71 is simply superb: The best screen I have ever seen on a Palm or Pocket PC, a fast machine with Palm OS5, elegant, pocketable and light... And $300 is the right price point.

The built-in camera is more than a gadget and will be useful in all those situations where a full-fledged camera is too bulky and you forgot to bring one: to take a picture of a flip-chart, for example.

You have to go back to the Palm V introduction to see a machine that so much dominates all the rest. Most of the Sony machines now seem much less appealing: the SJ33 feels unconvincing now that you can get the Zire 71 for the same price, and the NZ70 now feels heavy, bulky, and costy. Even my Tungsten T pales in comparison with this screen and I find the slider more obnoxious than ever.

Of course, anything can be improved (I'd like one with a virtual Graffiti area and...) but as it stands, it is a major advance over all the rest. Simply superb!

How will Sony react? Future will tell, but chances are that we are going to see an entirely new line of machines replacing the current ones. The Zire 71 showed the oversize of the NX70 (worse yet, the NZ) to be a complete dead end, forgetting the essential quality of a PDA: pocketability. Actually the best answer to the Zire 71 would be the same functionality and price, with the thickness of the Palm V.

Last but not least, the Zire 71 uses the same stamp as the T|T and FitalyStamp3 works perfectly on it.

Jean Ichbiah
www.fitaly.com

[Joel]

Great to hear that FitalyStamp3 works great, Jean. :) Yes, I also agree that the the Zire 71 is a superb machine... this fact in turn makes me more excited about what the next Clie would look like. :D

[JackAxe]

I played with one at Office Max. It's so tiny and the JOYSTICK WAS MY FAVORITE PART!!! Easier for me to navigate with then the d-pad on my PPC.

Did I mention I like th joystick.

If PALM releases a device with a VG and joystick I'm buying it the day it's released.

<]=)

[T1000X]

There are three things that keep me from seriously looking at the Zire 71. One, it doesn't have a 320*480 screen, it still has less then 16MB of RAM (I want 32MB or more), and it has no voice recorder. That is one feature I use a lot on my NX70V everyday. I record meetings and other notes, then export them as WAVs on the computer.

[JackAxe]

But it has a little tiny joystick.

<]=)

[Jean Ichbiah]

Originally posted by T1000X
There are three things that keep me from seriously looking at the Zire 71. One, it doesn't have a 320*480 screen, it still has less then 16MB of RAM (I want 32MB or more), and it has no voice recorder. That is one feature I use a lot on my NX70V everyday. I record meetings and other notes, then export them as WAVs on the computer.

The 320*480 screen is nice but not to the point of paying $600 instead of $300. In addition, the pocketability argument is devastating for the current virtual machines. There is no good reason for this and I am sure a machine as compact as the Zire 71 or even smaller, can be produced with a virtual Graffiti area.

Other points, like the voice recorder are to me less convincing. I never use the one on my Tungsten T. Neither do I use the BlueTooth capability (maybe I should be ashamed about it, but I have not found a use for it).

Knowing Sony, it is not going to stay very long with a product line that is currently completely outdated and inferior to the competition: We are likely to see major advances in the coming months.

Jean Ichbiah