Personalizing the Palm

There is no more gadget, no matter how high-tech, multi-functional or designed for multi-users, that is not personal. Every tool, software or machine is destined for some private user ready for re-invention.

The Palm isn’t only personal, it’s distinctly personal. "Palmists" in this side of the world have seen how Palm handhelds have evolved from the simple devices that they once were – gadgets designed to electronically organize one’s life – to the versatile digital companions that they have become.

Palm’s Zire 71 has it all: wireless voice and data services, a built-in digital camera when you need it, music and videos straight from you playlist, your favorite games and even your favorite book. In Palm’s own words, the Zire is "a handheld to organize your life and a camera to capture it."

Staying in touch

Man continuously hankers to connect with fellow humans in greater and better ways. In this generation of computers, mobile phones and the Internet, man seeks connectivity beyond the ordinary.

Because of this, the Zire 71 has a Phone Link Updater, which automatically downloads mobile phone drivers and settings from the Web, to allow users to configure the device to communicate with a mobile GSM phone. With this you can actually send SMS or text messages from your handheld.

Another big leap for Zire is that it has an e-mail application that enables users to send and receive e-mails from up to eight accounts, including popular Windows desktop mail clients as well as Outlook or Outlook Express.

Entertainment plus

Today’s generation is big on entertainment. Fun, amusement and recreation seem to be the name of the game everywhere and the ultimate de-stressor of weary executives.

The Zire 71 comes with a RealOne Mobile Player that enables playback and management of MP3 and real audio files. Tell me your kind of music, they said, and I’ll tell you who you are. Definitely, one’s music playlist is a clue to one’s soul.

The Zire 71 can also be equipped with a Kimona Player and Producer that lets you watch high-quality digital media on the palm-sized device. Whether it’s your own video, a well-loved movie clip, your child’s favorite animation and or a slide show you’d like to view often, it’s just right there on your Palm. This is great if you’re far away and missing your loved ones, and great if you want to engrave something on your memory for a long time. The first step is to load it on your Palm.

With the Kimona Player, you can also get movies, TV shows or news delivered right into the Zire 71.

For bookworms, you don’t have to bring along heavy hardbounds on your way to work or to an out-of-town trip. The Zire 71 has a built-in Palm Reader, an eBook reading application that allows one to download digital copies of best-selling books from premier publishing houses. It takes a reader to know that reading a story with a stylus is as much fun as leafing through the pages of a real book.

Too tired and stressed out to read? Why not listen to news and information and audio editions of popular books, lectures, radio shows and even your comedy show on television? This is made possible through the Zire 71’s Audible Player. Isn’t it that once upon a time, you were tucked to bed by the voice of a loving woman reading your bedtime stories?

Capturing moments

All it takes is a few seconds and a great moment is gone forever, unless you can capture it right when it happens. But you wouldn’t lug a camera 24/7 as you would your PDA or your cellphone.

Now, the Zire 71 is in itself a digital camera. With user-friendly controls, even a five-year-old can capture that special moment. Pictures need not be all about life’s big events like graduation, birthdays or victory parties. A digital shot taken from the Zire is seeing meaning in ordinary events that we take for granted – a baby’s smile, a lover’s wrath, a friend’s embrace, a cat’s feline grace.

In the end, it’s the individual’s needs and lifestyle that would determine how these features can be used. There are Palm users who will never use any of these bonanzas and stick to its original feature, which is to organize one’s schedules, address book, appointments and other life’s details. But the Zire 71 is offering a choice of what a handheld device can be in this age personalization. After all, as Palm users would attest, "Palming" is a personal experience.