PDAs : Palm Zire 71

Palm Zire 71 deifnitely gives you the most out of a handheld for its price. For $300 you are getting a color-screen PDA with expansion capabilities, a good amount of memory, a digital camera, and an MP3/video player among other things. It also has the nice feature of a 5-way navigator that lets you perform functions without having to whip out the stylus.
The design is lightweight, sleek, attractive, and fun. The color screen is bright and provides high quality, sharp images (and fairs much better in sunlight than previous color screens).
Theres only two complaints: 1) The case that comes with the Palm is terrible. Everytime I slip my Palm in, it turns it on...so expect to purchase a new carrying case if this will bother you. 2) Beware of Palm customer service. I previously had a Palm IIIc, which I dropped accidently (after the 1-year warranty was over) and it froze. I called Palm Tech Support and there was a $25 charge to troubleshoot over the phone and $125 fee to have it sent it to be fixed. What a rip off! Hide Full Review

After being made aware of all the features this PDA has when compared to it's price, this is by far and away the best buy out there right now. The camera is great for taking impromptu pictures, but a portrait camera it is not. It did come in very handy, however, when I took my daughter to Disneyland....lasted ALL day. Be sure to give the camera a few seconds to adjust to the light level...Great for indoor shots too.

The built-in MP3 player and hi-resolution color display is fantastic. It does very well on battery life, although I wouldn't recommend using the external speaker for too long, as I've found this is the biggest battery drainer.

My only suggestion for improvement is they could somehow put a "reset" pin built into the stylus or something, as I have on a few occasions had the unit lock up on me and I was not able to reset the unit because I couldn't find anything small enough to fit through the little hole.

If you're looking for your first PDA, this is a fantastic place to start. Very user friendly, good styling, intuitive interface and an overall terrific value. Hide Full Review

The navigator button is constantly turning on the unit because it sticks out too far. With so short a charge life this button adds to the problem. The carrying case that comes with the unit is so tight it also turns on the unit as you try to insert it. Except for these complaints I like the unit. The camera feature is what caused me to select it along with the 16MB of memory. Hide Full Review

The camera feature on the Zire 71 really got me. Bluetooth? I can't use that anywhere except my home. And if I want to go online I go on my PC. Besides, I don't have the $$$ for some pricey blutooth enabled cell phone/wireless plan. I love the MP3 capability. My power button broke though. I took it in to Bust Buy and they gave me a completely new unit in 15 minutes. This is the best buy for you if you aren't a CEO or other suit. And if you want the mini Excel and Word on HP models for business, well - go buy a laptop. Hide Full Review

The function buttons and the navigator button turn the unit on when it slips into the case. I lost all data on one occasion and had no power on another. I returned the unit to the store. But for this problem, I liked the features. Hide Full Review