Palmone Zire 72

Affordable, but packed full of features.

Palmone's PDAs have always been cheaper than the Microsoft alternative, but the Zire 72 is redefining the budget market. Its blue plastic case might not to be everyone's liking and is reminiscent of 'youth market' products, but it's what's inside that counts.

First, the 65,000-colour 320 x 320 TFT is superb. The image is crystal clear and one of the better screens that we've seen. It's the same screen as used on the Palmone Tungsten T2.

Equally impressive is the 1.2megapixel camera housed in the rear of the chassis. It's not quite digital camera quality, but for a quick pic to use in an email it beats the majority of camera phones hands down. If you install a Secure Digital (SD) card then the camera can be used for 320 x 240 videos, although the quality isn't great.

The SD slot itself isn't very well designed. It sits in a recess at the top of the case where it's difficult to insert or remove a card. On the plus side it's SDIO compatible, so it can be used to house a wireless card for hooking up to a hotspot. However, the slot is likely to be used for upgrading the memory and playing mp3s via the headphone socket. Palmone preloads the Zire 72 with the Real One player for mp3s, although you might want to install something better.

To keep costs down Palmone doesn't supply the Zire 72 with a docking cradle. Instead separate mini-USB and power sockets are in the bottom of the case. While this means that older Palmone peripherals won't work, travelling is easier as you only need to cart around the power supply.

Despite lacking the style of, say, the Tungsten T3, the Zire 72 is a decent enough handheld. Considering the price, you get a lot of bang for your buck.

Contact: Palmone 0118 974 2700
www.palmone.com/uk

Specifications:

• Palm OS 5.2.8
• 320 x 320 display (65,536 colours)
• 32MB of Ram (24MB free)
• 16MB of Rom
• 312MHz Intel ARM processor
• 116 x 17 x 75mm (h x d x w)
• SDIO slot
• USB connection
• Headphone socket