Looking at Zire 72...

[dimensiondvdrob]

I am wondering if any of you are converts from a CLIE (hopefully from the UX50) and have switched to the Zire 72. I am toying with the idea of this, since Sony left the PDA market I will have to eventually get a PALM or other maker's unit, but I am also thinking about something easier to operate one-handed, like a Zire or TT3; I am really not a fan of the slider and I think the Zire 72 is a really nice unit. It would be nice to be able to whip it out and enter or check an appointment or something, without having to open the top, like on the UX. Don't get me wrong, the UX is VERY nice, but I have noticed my usage dwindling with my CLIE since I got my Nokia 6600.

Would be nice to hear your thoughts on the subject.

Thanks.

[Alsicole]

Two things to consider. PalmOne have not yet issued a driver for the Nokia 6600, so if you want to use it to pick up mail/surf the net on your Z72, it doesn't work. I've tried all the usual workarounds and none of them work, so this is a non-starter for now.

Second issue is to read the thread regarding peeling paint. My personal experience is that this doesn't affect all models. I have a Z72 with no paint problems, my boss has had his less than a month and the paint is already peeling. Looks like a batch issue, but if you decide to buy, you should make sure it's from somewhere that will do an exchange. Oh and make sure you get/use a case with it.

Hope this helps. :)

[dimensiondvdrob]

Two things to consider. PalmOne have not yet issued a driver for the Nokia 6600, so if you want to use it to pick up mail/surf the net on your Z72, it doesn't work. I've tried all the usual workarounds and none of them work, so this is a non-starter for now.

Second issue is to read the thread regarding peeling paint. My personal experience is that this doesn't affect all models. I have a Z72 with no paint problems, my boss has had his less than a month and the paint is already peeling. Looks like a batch issue, but if you decide to buy, you should make sure it's from somewhere that will do an exchange. Oh and make sure you get/use a case with it.

Hope this helps. :)

OK. I will take this into consideration. Do you have any suggestions for cases? Also, do you think the Z72 is a 'good' enough replacement for the UX50? What did you go to the Z72 from?

Thanks.

[Alsicole]

I came from a Tungsten T2. I upgraded because I wanted the faster processor. If you use the wi-fi a lot on your UX, you'd probably miss it. PalmOne are supposed to be releasing a wi-fi card, but this would then mean you couldn't use your SD slot for extra memory.

The screen is very nice, the processor is noticeably quicker than my old T2, and I have no regrets.

On the subject of cases. PalmOne has a hard case already available, Proporta have cases in production (they may even be available now), and Vaja can do custom leather cases, but they're expensive. I opted for the Vaja case personally, but they're pretty pricey.

[Biddlesby]

How pricey....

[Alsicole]

Came to £63 with the current exchange rate, and then Fedex hit me for another £15 duty. I didn't get the duty bill the first time I ordered from Vaja as they shipped via an EU country. This time it came direct from South America, into Memphis and across to the UK. If it ships via Fedex you'll almost certainly get an additional customs bill.

Vaja are supposed to be doing some non-custom cases in the very near future and these will be around $55, which is better. I've attached a picture of the gorgeous blue custom case I ordered.

[Biddlesby]

That does sound rather alot, it's a nice colour though. Tell us if it's worth it when you get it :].

[Alsicole]

I have it. It is beautiful, really high quality leather and the blue is exactly the same colour as the Zire itself. It has perfectly placed cutouts for the sync cables, the headphone jack and even a little hole on the back so you can access the reset hole. I've owned Vaja cases before which is why I didn't query spending what I did. If you can afford it, they are very high quality cases and well made. Even their stock cases are as good, but you don't get the choice of colours.

My sister now has my Tungsten T2 (must be a year old now) and its accompanying Vaja case both are good as ever.

www.vajacases.com if you want to check them out.

[hamsammich]

Thanks for the replies to the original poster, all! I am eyeing a Z72 as well, and I wanted to know how everyone liked (or disliked) them.

[PDAddict]

I bought one a few weeks ago.

The camera on it was really off.
Oddly enough, the Clie, 0.3 MP, is better than the 1.2 MP.

Screen is better than TH55 or UX50. It's even better than the T3.

If the Zire 72 had WiFi I would've kept it. If you want a great screen buy the 72.

Otherwise keep the UX, or buy a TH.

[junglemike]

I currently have Zire71' i played with Z72 for couple of days, here's what i have to say about it:
advantages:
It's very thin and light, especially if compaired to my zire71.
Voise recording is pretty handy thing.
Video captureing is cool too.
32mb(though, less is available) is much nicer than 16mb in my zire.
BlueTooth enabled.
Disadvantages:
As in all fast models , 312mhs ARM cpu and bluetooth make it eat the battery very fast, much faster than you thought, I would recommend using Lightspeed or such programs to reduce processor speed. I did NOT see any improvements in performance (except from mpeg-4(divx/xvid) playback in comparison with my unit - 144mhz. Since afaik all ARM-based mashines work relly fast - and you have notheing to improve here.
2 PDAddict : I agree that the sreen is really good, but it is the same screen from sharp that is in my Zire71, In T|E and in some other units.
The only one important (for me) improvement in performance i saw in video playback, i'm talking about kinoma or some z72 media app, i'm talking about high quality full movies stored on even 128mb card. By the way, here's my movie guide (http://discussion.brighthand.com/palmhandhelds/showthread.php?s=&threadid=54950) . To achieve good playback for the movies on My zire 71 - i have to overclock it's cpu to 192mhz.
Camera is a real crap, It's completely unusable for me. At least Z71's camera i used to shoot some papers, schedules, etc. With z72 camera you can't do that - since it has fixed focus, (as all such cameras) - tryin to copy some document will lead to out-of-focus image. But this is completly separate topic. My personal opinion is - if somebody buys a pda or cell phone with camera - he/she should understand that it will not replace by any means normal digicam. It's just some nice addition.

[blaster219]

I recently upgraded/sidegraded from a TJ-35.

Although Palm has no drivers for the Nokia N-Gage I'm able to send and recieve email through my O2 account with no trouble using the Standard GSM driver plus a months worth of fiddling and tweaking and trashing the pregenerated profiles and creating one from scratch. Although I still can't use the browser to surf the web using BT-GPRS.

The paint is now finally all off. 20 mins scraping after it started peeling made for a very nice silver unit.

The camera is fine considering what it is. A small and basic digital camera on a PDA not a £300 standalone digital camera. The unit is quite fast and the onboard speaker can handle higher volumes than the TJ with less distortion. Real Player is fine with the ability to using the PC component to transfer files however I tend to use Aeroplayer as my music player of choice.

Since it uses Palm OS5 I was able to port over most of the software from my Clie with no problem. Although I did have to renogtiate the license for Aeroplayer. (I got the TJ35 deal on the lifetime license which was machine specific so I downgraded to a standard). Docs To Go Premium is a god send and has allowed me to minimise contact with the monster that is my home PC. One nice addition is the ability to download software of the net at work and email them the the Zire for installation.

[PDA_teddy]

I am actually considering on buying a Zire72 and I read quite a lot of its comments, so basically I would like to have a summary on its pro & cons in one go and is it really the most value for money purchase on the market now? Furthermore, can u show me how the silver colour looks like?

Thanx.... :P!

[Alsicole]

Well the pros and cons are here. If you visit the Palm forums at Brighthand and look for a thread called Naked there are loads of photos of the Zire 72 without the blue paint.

[TheZodiac]

:) dimensiondvdrob, does this mean eventually you are putting your UX50 up for sale :D

Always wanted one. :)