Tapwave Zodiac Features

The Zodiac included the standard PalmOS Date Book, To Do List, Address Book and Memo Pad PIM functions, and also came with an MP3 player, the Kinoma Video Player for digital video, the PalmReader e-book reader, along with Stuntcar Extreme and AcidSolitaire games. In addition, the device could also display photos and contained a word processor (WordSmith), graphing calculator (powerOne), graphics program (Inkstorm), SMS application, internet browser (Browser) and Alarm Clock. The unit also accepted SD format cards as removable storage.

Design

Due to its metal construction, the Zodiac was more rugged than most contemporary PDAs; however, the standard flip-top screen protector could easily damage the screen if grit became trapped between it and the screen surface, and on some batches, the adhesive on the shoulder buttons was known to fail.

In order to save space, the stylus clipped laterally into a recess on the back of the device, rather than locked into a slot as in most PDAs, and could be knocked loose when the unit was kept inside a tight pocket or carry bag space. Modifed styli were produced which could be attached to the rear of the case via a cord, so that they would not become separated from the unit or lost if they were shaken loose. Some third party cases also served to hold the stylus in place while closed.

Screen and Controls

The Zodiac included a standard touch screen (at 480x320, one of the highest resolutions at the time) and had additional gaming inputs. The unit was held in a landscape configuration, with four digital buttons on the right, a function button and an analogue thumbstick on the left of the screen, and two shoulder buttons (triggers) on the top of the device.

The Zodiac's implementation of Palm OS 5 was modified to take advantage of these controls, with a radial menu that could be navigated by pushing the analogue stick in one of eight directions to select menu options, and a side list for use without the stylus.

Battery Life

The Zodiac had a total battery life of about 3 hours when using audio, backlight screen and CPU-intensive tasks, and about 6 hours when running as a dedicated audio player. However, these times could vary depending on use; reducing the screen brightness and volume and using headphones rather than internal speakers could extend the battery life, whilst programs that supported the unit's rumble function tended to drain the battery.

Alarms

Unlike other mainstream Palm PDAs such as the Sony Clie series or the Tungsten series, the Zodiac had some unique features out of the box. This included polyphonic quality alarms, and the ability to play MP3's for alarms from either its SD cards or internal memory. This was made possible by the 100MB of user available RAM, with the Zodiac being the first PDA to offer this amount. Whilst other Palm devices could also play MP3s, they required 3rd party software such as RAMdisk to enable MP3 playback from internal ...