Good starter PDA

Before you own your 1st PDA, you really have no idea what your needs are going to be. You might THINK you know, but you will find that what you want in a PDA changes after you actually own one. The Zire 31 gives you a taste of everything, and might just be enough to fill your PDA need forever.

For me, coming from a Palm Vx, the Zire 31 felt like a step down at times. The color screen was nice, but it was much smaller. The case was easier to pack along with me, but it felt cheap (plastic compared to the metal Vx!). For a long time, it seemed that the 20mhz Vx seemed BETTER at running games than the 200mhz Zire! I would find neat programs, but either would not run under Palm OS5, or they would, but needed the hi-res support of all the other handhelds. The Zire 31 seemed like a 'lost' palm... not quite into the world of the OS 5 big guns, but clearly no longer a part of the monochrome 'old school' palms of the past. Games would often run, but would be unplayable because odd button configuration of the Zire 31. When buttons DID match up, you could only press one at a time (believe me, this KILLS arcade gaming!).

BUT, it had two things going for it that my old Vx did not have: Sound and the ability to add an SD memory stick. After packing my new 512mb stick with databases, music and programs I found I quickly forgot about my old Vx, no matter how smooth the buttons were for games. Suddenly my Zire became my focus for most daily activies and ALL my e-documents, emails, phone numbers, quotes... ANYTHING, got shoved onto it. Using the Zire in this manner, the battery life was very acceptable. I would listen to some MP3 radio-plays on the hour-walk to work, go about my daily routine and when I got home the battery would just be just hitting 10% left. I crammed it full of non-button-pressing RPG games to kill the time at airports and I was set.

A good PDA should bend to your needs, and in some ways the Zire 31 fails at that. I initally wanted to run emulators and games, and the Zire 31 failed me. (I later I found UDMH and LIFEKEYS... two programs that really transform the Zire 31 in this area). On the other hand, I found that I was actually using the Zire 31 for PRODUCTIVE things rather than killing time, so I guess it was not all that bad. I have to admit that it really outclassed the old Vx in that department (which is strange considering we are comparing a 200mhz color palm vs. a 20mhz monochrome).

The Zire 31 is a great starter palm with the potential to perform like on of the top-guns if you are willing to work with it and buy a few 3rd party programs. To be fair, however, most PALM OS based PDA's require 3rd party software to catapult them above the organizer/MP3 player level.

Here is a quick rundown of the 31's abilities:

- MP3 (good quality sound, able to play music while you 'palm')
- Movies (You need to buy a 3rd party player, crush the movies down in size, and then they stutter and chug. I never bothered after seeing my 1st 'Zztop' clip)
- Games (If you get UDMH and LIFEKEYS the 31 is a decent gaming machine. The #1 limitation is the 160x160 screen and the button-mapping. Once you get the right emulator though, there are more than enough games to keep you busy)
- Battery (Stay away from the games and you will be fine. MP3 battery life is excellent)
- Screen (It looks nice until you see someone with a 320x240.)