A series of budget handhelds of the company Palm. The series included models from the most primitive with a monochrome screen (in fact, not a PDA, but just an advanced organizer), and models with a color screen and advanced multimedia capabilities.
Due to its low cost, Zire were very popular, including in the CIS. The people affectionately called them "Yashki" (the word "zire" typed with the Russian layout turned on).
The first Palm Zire appeared in 2002. A simple model with a monochrome screen without backlight and a weak 33 MHz processor Motorola Dragonball. The amount of built-in memory was only 2 MB. However, the cost of this device was exceptionally low, which allowed it to gain some popularity. A sort of advanced notebook with the ability to install simple but useful programs. The model did not become a bestseller, but was quite famous.
However, real fans of Palm pocket computers preferred to purchase much more advanced (and much more expensive) models of the line. Tungsten.
The Zire line continued to develop - the Zire 21 and Zire 31 models. Later, PDAs appeared with a high-resolution color screen (320 × 320 pixels), support for MP3 files and built-in cameras. In April 2003, the very successful Zire 71 was released, based on the processor TI OMAP310 with a frequency of 144 MHz. This computer was made in the manner of a slider, which hid the camera when folded. The author managed to smuggle the Zire 71 into places where cameras were not allowed. In the folded state, the camera was securely hidden, and the guards did not even assume that the PDA could be foldable. A good screen with a resolution of 320x320 pixels and 16 MB of built-in memory, expandable via SD memory cards.
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| Photo taken with a palm Zire 71 camera photography in this place was prohibited |
The apogee of the development of the line was the appearance of Zire 72. For the first time, these devices had a Bluetooth module. The amount of memory has increased to 32 MB, the frequency of the processor up to 300 MHz. The camera was already 1.3-megapixel (this time, however, it was not hidden). The output of the model was overshadowed by a poor-quality coating - the paint simply peeled off, even with not too active use. The company reacted quickly by introducing the Zire 72s, which differed only in its quality coating.
This is where it all ended. Although there were rumors on the Web about the imminent appearance of the Zire 73, no one saw it. The shaken position of Palm and the narrowing of the PDA market forced the company to abandon the budget line. The Tungsten didn't survive it much longer. The era of smartphones has arrived.
