Pros:
Features for the price. Works well as mp3 player.
Cons:
Only 2 buttons. Screen not bright enough. Wish it were easier to change the battery.
The Bottom Line:
Good entry level device, it handles the basic pda functions well and even offers a few extras like the media player.
Overall Rating:
Author's Review
I've owned my Zire31 for several years now. I replaced a trusty PalmIII with the Zire. I chose it for 3 reasons 1. price, 2. Features 3. Price (ok there were really only 2 reasons) I paid about $130 for it from an online store. I had it for about 2 weeks and the screen went south. Palm replaced it for me without fuss and I've been in business ever since. The screen is indeed not the greatest in brightly lit situations but that isn't where I use it most of the time. It has been totally reliable and I think for the price and features the best value I've seen from Palm to date. I slapped in a 1 gig sd card ($20 at the time) and presto I had a portable media player as well. One thing that I did early on was purchase a good quality case, I've done this with every palm I've owned (this is the 3rd) and I've never had any problems with durability. I spent about $30 bucks on the case (a Krusell) and it was worth every penny. The durability of a device like this is most often directly related to it's treatment. They've come a long way but there simply isn't any way to make them indestructible and still sell them for @ $100. I would recommend this device highly. I do wish it had 4 buttons tho!