Palm Zire 71

Palm aficionados looking for a Pocket PC alternative now have two choices - the Tungsten T at £299 (£100 less than when we reviewed it in issue 127) or the new Zire 71 at £249.

The Zire 71 has the same basic specification as the Tungsten T- a nippy 144MHz processor and 16Mb of memory (although only 13Mb is available for use). It doesn't have Bluetooth but so what? You won't miss it. What it does have is a new, magnificently crisp 320 x 320 resolution colour screen that's a joy to use. Better still, the slick, stylish case slides open to reveal a 640 x 480 digital camera that's perfect for impromptu snaps.

The Palm OS 5.2 operating system is slightly more up-to-date than the Tungsten T's but the only real difference is the new Graffiti 2 handwriting recognition. That said, we couldn't spot how it differed from the original Graffiti application. MP3 player software to make use of the headphone socket is also supplied but the lamentable Date Book application is essentially the same as the one used on the first Palm Pilot in 1996. It wasn't much good then; it's less than useless now and its about time Palm sorted it out.

Contact: Palm 0118 974 2700
www.palm.com