The blue and silver Zire 71 is light, 5.3 ounces, and it fits comfortably in the hand with measurements of 2.9 x 0.67 x 4.5 inches. In fact, it is considerably smaller than the Tungsten T when that device's cool slider is open, exposing the Graffiti area. The slider in the Tungsten T, nevertheless, when retracted makes it the smallest PDA on the market, measuring a mere 3 x 0.6 x 4.0 inches. It jumps up to 4.8 inches in height when open. It is also pretty light at 5.6 ounces. Though the Zire 71 is lighter than the Tungsten T, its case is made out of plastic, while the Tungsten T's case feels more solid as it is made out of gunmetal. The same cannot be said of the Tungsten C, which also has plastic casing like the Zire 71.

Tungsten T

Speaking of sliders, with the Zire 71, Palm has added more function to the form, with the creation of the easiest to use digital camera we've come across in a handheld.

Camera
When the slider is opened, the Zire 71's camera software is automatically launched, turning the display into a view-finder and exposing the camera's auto focus lens on the back of the unit. At the bottom of the slider is a button with a picture of a camera on it. Just push the button and you've got a picture. As far as PDA cameras go, the images it takes are good but not great, but you can't beat it for convenience. In fact, it is a lot of fun to use, even though the lack of a flash limits when it can be used.


Zire 71 Slider & Camera

With the camera, you can take pictures at 160x120, 320x240 or 640x480 resolutions and choose to either save the pictures in RAM or on a memory card. A new feature of the Palm Desktop, Palm Photos (also available with the Tungsten C), lets you transfer pictures between your PC and handheld. The Tungsten T comes with an earlier version of the Palm Desktop which doesn't have this feature. You can, however, download the latest version from the Palm Website.

Photo Applicatoin in Latest Palm Desktop

Audio/Visual/Expansion
The Zire 71's 320x320 display is among the best we've seen on a PDA, rivaling the ones found on Pocket PCs, such as HP's iPAQ 5400. That's no surprise, as Palm has finally decided to go with the transreflective technology used in the iPAQ rather than the reflective type found on the Tungsten T, whose 320x320 literally pales in comparison. Both the Tungsten T's and Zire 71's screen delivers 16-bit/65,000 colors. To be fair to the Tungsten T, its display is a dramatic improvement over Palm's previous high-end handheld, the m515, which is still available for $299..

The Zire 71 has the same 144MHz Texas Instruments OMAP310 processor and 5-way navigation found in the Tungsten T, except it adds an all-new joystick-like button for one-handed operation. The new joystick is designed to make the Zire 71 more games friendly. Like the Tungsten T, it has 16MB of RAM, of which 13MB are usable. The Tungsten T has close to 14MB available.

One Handed Operation of the Tungsten T

For listening to music files and playing movie trailers, the Zire 71 handheld ships with RealNetworks' RealOne Mobile Player and Kinoma video Player and Producer. The Tungsten T doesn't ship with an MP3 player, so you need to download one from Palm. MP3 or RealAudio files stored on an expansion card can be heard adequately through the Zire 71's built-in speaker, or via the 3.5mm stereo headphone jack located at the top right of the device, which the Tungsten T also has, except on its upper left side just above a button to quickly take voice memos via its built-in microphone, which when pressed, automatically launches a voice memo application. The Zire 71 does not have this feature.

The stereo jack for both devices accepts standard headphone plugs and provides excellent stereo sound quality. With RealNetworks' RealOne Mobile Player software, users can create and manage play lists, as well as run music in the background while using most other built-in Palm applications.

The Zire 71's power button is just in front of its headphone jack and a little further to the right rear is the stylus silo. The SecureDigital (SD) slot, which supports both memory and peripherals, sits on the top left side of the unit. The Tungsten T's SD slot is located at the center top of the handheld with the power button and stylus silo on either side. The Tungsten T features a nifty method for holding and accessing its stylus. To get the stylus out of the Tungsten T all you need to do is push down on it and it pops up, a nice feature that's similar to what's found in HP's iPAQ series.

Like all Palm models since the m500, the Zire 71, Tungsten T and Tungsten C all include a Universal Connector, which should make them compatible with any number of Palm accessories, such as keyboards and modems, already on the market.

Wireless

In terms of communication, while the Tungsten line features Bluetooth in the Tungsten T, WiFi in the Tungsten C and GSM/GPRS in the Tungsten W. The Zire 71, like its predecessor, the m150, comes up short. We think the convenience of Bluetooth should start to become standard once a handheld reaches a cedrtian price range. Integrated Bluetooth would allow the user to more easily connect to the Internet, for instance, with a Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone to download email. While IR can be used for this purpose, there is no comparison in the experience for the end-user.

Battery
Like a lot of Palm handhelds, battery life is placed at a premium. The Zire 71 features a rechargeable 900 mAh lithium ion that specs out to give user a week of usage, the same as the Tungsten T, or five hours of continuous MP3 playing. Our usage of the both devices impressively approached these numbers. However, since the battery in both PDAs is not user-replaceable, as with Tungsten C, you'll either have to have a cradle or travel charger with you when you're on the road or plan to listen to more than five hours of MP3s, not very convenient on a long flight.

Software

The Zire 71 and the Tungsten C are the first Palm handhelds to ship with Palm OS 5.2.1, which adds Graffiti 2, based on CIC's Jot, instead of traditional Graffiti. Since the Tungsten T uses the original version of Palm OS 5, it has the old fashioned kind.

As to how you'll feel about Graffiti 2 depends on where you're coming from. New users, who've never experienced Graffiti, will be better off with Graffiti 2, as it requires strokes that are much closer to real letters for handwriting recognition. Those who are familiar with standard Graffiti will have to get used to something new.

Other applications bundled with the Zire 71 includes VersaMail version 2.5 for email, which has an improved feature set over version 2.0 found in the Tungsten T, and a Quick Install desktop application for more easily transferring files and software from the PC to the handheld, but no DataViz Documents To Go for syncing Microsoft Office documents, which the Tungsten T has. You would think that Palm's intended market for the Zire 71 would still like to have this ability.

Conclusions

Zire 71
Though the Zire 71 comes up short in a few areas, it still shines as Palm's first really successful multimedia PDA. The integrated camera is elegant as any we've seen and its audio capabilities are as good as most of the Sony's. Add in the terrific screen and a moderate price and you've got a PDA that will appeal to new users and Palm veterans alike.

Tungsten T
The wow factor for the Tungsten T has subsided a bit since its release last fall, especially with the better multimedia of the Zire 71 and dramatic increase in power and memory capacity of the Tungsten C, in addition to both devices much improved displays. However, the Tungsten T's compact size, solid design, integrated Bluetooth and stereo capabilities give it a feature set that is not offered by either of the other handhelds, making it an appealing option. Now all Palm needs to do is come out with a second version of the Tungsten T that has 64MB of RAM like the Tungsten C , the latest Palm display and a faster CPU, and then the Tungsten T will once again be on the cutting edge.

For more details on the specifications of the Zire 71 and its software bundle, visiit our Zire 71 Hardware Information Page.

For more details on the specifications of the Tungsten T and its software bundle, visiit our Tungsten T Hardware Information Page.

Click Here for the Introduction to Our Reviews of the Tungsten C, Zire 71 and Tungsten T

Click Here for Our Review of the Tungsten C - Palm's New Powerhouse