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Notice of the release of the Palm Zire has caused me a strange association. I immediately remembered one of the latest motor shows. It patriarch of the Russian automotive Nizhny Novgorod, GAZ, presented an amazing car - GAZ-21 Volga in some super-duper performance of nickel-plated. Impression of this concept (current as hopefully, in a single copy) remained about the same as that of Professor Feith car from the movie "The Great Race." That is - cute, funny and extremely silly. You can not enter the same river twice - pants get wet ... That company was drawn to the same Palm. And turned her Zire ... wonderful, it should be noted, the machine. A mixture of Chinese, "Tetris" with a flashlight. But until a cheap and very simple impossibility. Money is cheaper and simpler calculator ... very good option for the waste of American "cents". I admit at once - a new computer I not only liked, he had me puzzled. Who is Sia gizmo? For students? I do not hold the developers Palm `s younger users for idiots? Or do they think $ 99 is so small money that future owners Zire (if any show up) with a smile, just some design tricks? But 99 dollars - it's still money. Given that Russia Zire will cost $ 30-40 more expensive, almost for the same money today you can buy a normal Palm m105. With 8 MB of memory, with four hardware buttons to run basic applications, and even came with a set of "cradle" (and, one of the most elegant and practical in a production line of Palm). Shot in the sky - that's what the new Zire. Absurd move in a big game. However, a closer look close. Suddenly, all is not so bad?
Simplicity, which is worse than theft
Appearance Zire, in principle, at the level of ... children's electronic toys, but not handhelds. Plastic construction with rounded, like a piece of soap, edges. Screen is small, making housing more smacks and a pancake. Or on the flat oladyshek (with maple syrup? "No, just a couple of dull buttons). Next - rectangular blotches pushbutton unit, located below the screen. Discern the influence of Sony, but this is not Sony. Buttons awkward - trying to scroll the screen image, you certainly caught the adjacent button and start the address book or calendar ... But do not start anything because the buttons are only two basic applications. Savings.
Located on the left button on your computer. And here lies one of the most curious details ... The new handheld is no backlight. Yes, come ... But that's not all. Among the other delights of the global oversimplification of the new machine can be found:
- outdated processor Motorola Dragonball EZ with such a frequency of 16 MHz
- neperezapisyvaemoe mask ROM (although, in general, and to anything)
- clearly insufficient amount of RAM - only 2 (in words - two!) megabyte
- the absence of any slots for flash memory cards
As compensation for the abuse of technology Zire - both black and white models - stored:
- Infrared
- nothing more substantial
From their counterparts of Senior borrowed:
- non-replaceable lithium-ion battery instead of replaceable dry cell AA and, accordingly, the external power supply and a separate cable for charging
- mini USB port as a port sync with a PC, too, a separate cable (total - 2 cable)
- Operating System Palm OS 4.1 (very, very new)
- Again - nothing substantial.
Who's disabled?
Operating System Zire is slightly different from the standard of the Quartet.If we carefully look at the screen - to the field of handwriting information, it is easy to notice the lack of touch launch buttons calculator. Instead it shows the kind of star ... What a star? Why Star? It turns out that a challenge to the program list-minions. That is, those applications that the owner enjoys the most. There may be the same calculator, and some kind of toy ... But the question is - what can fit in 2 MB of memory? A set of four games, which roams from the Palm `in Palm since the days of ancient Pilot` eh? Calendar - Address Book - a notebook? Reader and the detective to her? Is that all? Remember the agony holders machines m100. (And remember that - half of us, "palmovladeltsev" enjoy the m100 until now). As they suffer (we) because of the limited amount of RAM. How to search rukodelnyh artisans that are taken to add to their Palm `s an extra chip. How to pay money for this questionable (because of the amateur performance) case. It seems that the division of sufferers grow to the size of an army. Zire owners will also feel the lack of RAM in their machines. And, too, turn to handicraftsmen ... Here you have a new profession - the memory of Palm `s add ... By the way, today on our website has been published and news about this topic: turn up already skilled craftsmen who had increased" brief memory of the "new Palm'a to 8 MB. Worth, perhaps, to assume the existence of a Zire anything else that software baubles. Yes, I did something never found. Deficiencies alone lacks. Small slepenky screen (no backlight!), Unprepossessing form of a bulky body, uncomfortable (absolyutno!) button.
What should be done
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In a production program, Palm still was listed model m105 (pictured). This is a good, time-tested computer. If you thought up himself to take the Palm, but money is not so much - take the m105, can not go wrong. Price, then they have a new Zire is almost the same. But the opportunities for m105 - Pobol ... Only one drawback with Palm m105, or rather - two. The first - an outdated operating system version 3.5, which can not be changed. And the second - to synchronize with a PC is carried out only by slow serial ports (except for built-in infrared port, which is just as slow). On the other hand - and what the benefits of Palm OS 4, if the machine no slot for flash memory cards? The main difference between the fourth version of the operating system is a management software memory cards. The rest is not so much ... And the COM port is not satisfied with only the owners of small notebooks in which the serial no, yes makintoshnikov. The rest, as expressed in today's youth, "the drum" - there is a pocket typewriter USB or not. That cost the company to upgrade Palm m105, replacing Stitched in mask ROM, the operating system on a more modern, but changing the (needed as some revolutionary innovations?) "Muzzle" of the computer itself? Would receive the same $ 99 ... But he was hungry company Palm. I wanted her to fame Japanese competitors. And she decided to outdo a cheap monochrome machines Sony CLIE SL10.
And what was not worth
Still a no demand for Zire will. You should not discount the extent of the manufacturer. If the market will vbrosheny tens of thousands of new devices, with appropriate advertising, they certainly find a buyer (note the packaging - computers are sold in plastic blister packs, like dolls, "Barbie"). Not for 99 dollars, of course, but this is detail.
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We can only analyze the engineering failures developers Zire, not to fall in the number of users of these machines ... or vice versa - to get to. Someone as my thoughts are not convinced? And well, that does not convince. I'm just a user Palm `a, like many of us, not some kind of" computer guru ".The most ordinary people, "run down" on this wonderful technique, and no longer imagine life without e nurse ... I wish I could be mistaken for Zire! We have been waiting for new models ... What is the internal battery on a monochrome PDA? The absence of a headache with the acquisition of batteries. And what - "threw" Tonight your Palm in the cradle, and let them charge ... This is on one side. On the other - from two alkaline (alkaline) elements of AAA Palm with a monochrome screen works for about a month (my last "record" 29 days - I do not play games that are more spending power). Fifty rubles a month - unlimited battery life of PDAs. Anywhere, anytime, at any time, any place to find fresh batteries and replace them with no problem. But finding an electrical outlet to recharge the internal battery is another matter. Not for nothing that the manufacturer offers as accessories to the Zire electrical adapter kit that the owner was able to recharge the battery is stranded in America, Australia or Europe. And the battery on a monochrome handheld computer - is the need to carry a power supply (the Zire quite small) and a cable to it. That is a pocket computer immediately turns into a "portfolio", right? And if we add to this the sync cable? Incidentally, the cradle for the Zire does not exist in principle. And anyway - there is no periphery no longer available. There are only translucent covers, spare pens, a set of electrical adapters, adapters, a pair of cables (if staff lost) - and all. Keyboard, backup module (available for the m100 and m105), modem, etc. to connect to nothing - no communication connectors. Just mini USB. I do not think that the producers pocket periphery offended commercial prospects Zire (what are the prospects, you are my God ") and will produce something for the new items. And to be pleasant without Zire makeweights. And cheaper, cheaper, cheaper ...
A sad look at the present
Yes, yes - sad ... But - not dull. If I needed today, a simple monochrome PDA, I would have found itself. Firstly, there is a Palm m105 and Palm m125 (I just m125, and I'm indescribably happy). Secondly, there is a low cost, "Sonya" - with a normal amount of memory, with a normal (albeit a little bit, say, brake) screen, powered by replaceable elements. Finally, there is all sorts of clones - mostly Chinese. Clones have not sold, but you can also on occasion to fly into China, and yourself? If the mountain will not come to Mohammed, Mohammed goes to the mountain ... Thousands of dollars on the road, a hundred on your computer. My company a way to save! What is found on the creators Zire, if they are on the verge of world events awaited Palm OS 5 released a typewriter the day before yesterday a level? The situation becomes clear, if we try to predict the near future. Runs for three months. Almost time for Christmas sales. And the price is reduced by half for Zire ... If this happens, the Palm Zire become the best selling machine in the world. For cons hundred dollar models become pros pyatidesyatidollarovoy. You could, for example, spent 1,600 rubles on this one Zire? I would - without hesitation ... authors, translation:
Nikolai Yakovlev
