Palm Z22 Handheld
by PALM
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Our Price: $179.99 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $30.00 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Palm Z22 Handheld
Customer Review: Great product, perfect price.
Summary: 5 Stars
I was a little disappointed when I received a defective item on May 3, but I called the following day and was surprised at how helpful the customer service reps were at both Palm and Amazon. I received my replacement handheld less than a day later and I've had no more problems so far.
With that said, there's a lot to love about this little guy...
First of all, the obvious: what a great price! As a student, I was on a budget and only wanted something to replace my old-fashioned agenda and various unorganized papers, schedules, etc. It gives me all the features I need at a price that's beyond reasonable. I've always thought buying cheaper electronics almost always results in problems, and while I see that other reviewers experienced some and I received a defective model at first, this appears to be a very stable, useful device. Basically, it is what it is. It's not trying to be an mp3 player, a video player, or any other kind of portable media device. Personally, I know I don't need the extra features of PDAs that cost 100s of dollars more, because I already have devices that do those things.
Aside from this, it's very easy to use. I had never even picked up a Palm handheld before and after I charged it up I messed around with it a bit and was able to figure out everything I wanted to do. The setup is very straight forward, syncing is easy, and even adding software is a breeze. While I'm pretty experienced with electronics, I imagine even someone who has no experience would have no problems setting up and using this device.
And from a less technical standpoint... you have to love the Z22's design. I love how stylish it looks in the little rubber case I got for it. It's compact, super cute, and fits nicely in your hand. The screen isn't too big, but it's definitely not too small. I feel like it's a comfortable size and weight to take anywhere with you, without sacrificing anything. Some might feel the screen size is on the small side, but I really think it doesn't need to be any bigger. And though it's something that a lot of people might overlook, the buttons on this thing are great. I've had a lot of devices with buttons that are too flat or small and sometimes don't respond when you push them(because it's a mission to do so), but I can't see that being a problem with this one.
Overall I'm very happy with my Z22 so far and if I don't have any problems like I did in the beginning, I can see using it for a very long time.
Customer Review: Exactly as it says - a PDA
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought the Palm Z22 after reading about 500 reviews online. I would come online and stare at it to try and decide within myself whether or not I really needed another gadget in my life. I only recently upgraded from my 6GB Zen Neeon to a 160GB iPod Classic. I'm cautious with my choices. I want my electronics to be exactly as I thought they would be.
A year or so ago I sat with a friend and watched her entering my contact details into her PDA. I'm not sure what model it was but it had a few bells and whistles such as wireless and mp3 player. I was simply interested in the organiser part.
After looking at PDA's for the last year Palm has released one that simply is an organiser first and foremost.
The Z22 is about the length and width of a deck of cards but thinner and possibly lighter. The white cover is sleek with a few buttons to navigate for those that don't have two hands to hold the Z22 and a stylus. The back of the Z22 is slightly transparent and a dark blackish-blue. The stylus fits within the device securely with only the tip exposed although not exposed to be pulled out accidentally.
The screen has good resolution for an item of this price range. It isn't going to play a movie but it gets the job done. The set up is straight forward and anyone that has used word/outlook/excel/notepad will pick up how to navigate and enter data pretty quickly. For those that don't know how there is an interactive tutorial available when the device is switched on for the first time.
I have never needed to enter data with a stylus before. I have learned how to write on it quite easily. Palm provides a tutorial that displays how to write each letter and a space underneath to practice. Very handy.
Best features:
The buttons can be locked to avoid accidentally turning on the device when it is in your pocket.
The organiser has customisable colour coded categories for you to enter data under such as Work, Family, Social, Medical, Assignments. I use mine for classes, assignments, social events and family events.
At the bottom of the screen are shortcuts to the most used applications (Calendar, search, options and main menu).
As a student I don't need something that is going to run my life. I simply needed something that was affordable and would help me be more organised and punctual without breaking my bank or providing me with another procrastination device.
I love my Z22.
Customer Review: Palm Z22
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm highly impressed with the Z22 Palm organizer! It has absolutely everything I need all contained in one small device. The calendar, tasks, and contacts lists are invaluable and save me a ton of time.
Before I bought this Palm, I had a paper organizer, which filled up very quickly! My contact list was overflowing, "to buy" lists were in the front and back of the organizer in messy handwriting and different colored pen/pencil markings...it was a mess. I knew there had to be a better way to organize pieces of information I came across over the year.
The electronic organizer instantly came to mind, and when I saw that the Z22 had every feature I needed for under $100, I was sold! This little device packs almost endless amounts of information in an organized, color-coded fashion. My to do lists are dated and organized...so are my contact lists, shopping lists...well you get the picture. To input, update or backup information fast, all I have to do is plug in the USB cable and sync it to my Mac, and within seconds each calendar (on the Palm and Mac) are updated. I love how easy and intuitive it is to use both the Palm and software on the computer. There are alarms to alert the user to their next appointment or task, which is very helpful. There's even an option to import your own images to serve as wallpaper for the background, and you can create a slide show as well. Being a photographer, I especially loved these features! I also like how stylish this compact organizer is, and that it can fit almost anywhere you want to put it; your back pocket, purse, book bag, it can fit pretty much anywhere. The screen is also very pleasing to the eyes, and not too small either. The letters are very legible and the screen is adjustable and very bright.
[I noticed on a previous review, a user complained about the device shutting off and not coming back on. This happened to me as well, and I looked up the user manual online, and found some tips concerning this "problem". All that needs to be done is a soft reset (pushing the "reset" button on the back of the devise with the stylus). This restarts the Z22 without damaging or erasing any information, and reboots it. It makes sense since this is a computer running virtually all the time; of course it's going to need to be rebooted every once and a while!]
In any case I highly recommend this product to anyone who wants to get his or her life together in an organized, fun way!
Customer Review: Cheap Video Game Machine
Summary: 4 Stars
My granddaughters wanted a handheld video game machine for Christmas. I bought them Nintendo Gameboys a couple of years ago. The gameboys were never used because their mother didn't have money for video games and eventually disappeared (to the local pawn shop?).
I thought a PDA would be better for these girls, aged 10 and 7. So I searched for one I could find for under $100.00 that had free and cheap games available. This was the only one for the price that was said to have a good color screen.
I got the PDAs a week before Christmas and spent the better part of a day downloading games and installing them. The games are free and cheap, respectively. Even the "per-pay" games could be downloaded and tested before purchase, and cost from $10 - $30 each; significantly cheaper than buying Nintendo GS games.
The girls actually use these PDAs, where they didn't use the Nintendos. They're easy to use. I might add that the character recognition is really good, and it's easy to install and remove software. The removal feature isn't apparent immediately and I had to look in online help to see how to delete files.
I had 13 games installed simultaneously, with plenty of space left. I estimate that 30 or 40 games could be installed at the same time. No cartridges to lose.
There are bonuses over a game machine, too. These are PDAs, with other features including web browsing, that handheld game machines don't have.
This PDA wouldn't run some of the games I downloaded because the screen resolution is too low on the Z22. That is a downside that was offset by the price, of course.
My girls got plenty of Christmas presents this year. But a couple of days ago I was talking to the youngest, Kay-Lynne on the phone. I asked her what she was doing. She said, "I'm playing with my PDA." I think that sums it up.
I was recently asked where to go to download games: My source was [...] On the left side of their main page is a Categories dropdown. You can select games (or another category) to get a list of software to download. Some of this is free and some costs money. But all (or most?) of it can be downloaded and tested before purchasing. I strongly recommend that you download any game and test it before buying for the Z22. Because of its smaller screen size, not all Palm games will work.
Customer Review: Getting the Right Tool is Half the Battle
Summary: 5 Stars
I have struggled to organize my life for years, and discovered last week that I just didn't have the right tool. I got the Palm Z22 to "try out" a pda without spending too much money. I'm already hooked, and am eager to be able to upgrade to a handheld with more memory and more features.
This handheld is a great starter pda. It has enough memory for basic organizer tasks. I have the calendar, task list, contacts, shopping list, memo and note pad features that came with it. I love being able to sync with my Outlook calendar on my desktop. The alarms on it are pretty hard to hear unless you keep the pda close to you, which I do. However they do continue to go off until you turn them off, so I have found them helpful for remembering tasks and appointments in advance, but not so much for alerting me of impending appointments. I added NIV Bible software to it, but found it sucked up too much memory, so I've removed it for a while. I did add Documents to Go and the Diet and Exercise Assistant which I love, and which don't use so much memory. For what I need right now--just a basic organizer--this one is great.
It doesn't come with an MP3 player, but I already have one of those. The Z22 is limited on the game software it will play, but again, that's not what I got it for, and I've decided that having games my be counter-productive. I don't think I'd load it down with too many photos, but it can handle some current ones that I want to show off. All of the software is easy to manage.
I have had a little trouble syncing it to my computer, but the Palm support site had great troubleshooting steps, and I was able to get it working even more easily than they indicated I would. (Evidently there were some conflicts with the Media Center edition of Windows XP, but I've been able to quickly work around them.) I love the Grafitti feature that lets you write directly to the pda instead of using a keyboard. It was a little hard to get used to the specific ways and locations that letters and characters had to be written at first, but I adjusted my writing pretty quickly.
I would recommend this to someone just starting to use a pda, or someone eager to replace their paper daytimer, or someone like me who loses all those little pieces of paper with notes to self written on them. This is a great alternative!