Palm z22

In a previous post I talked about how easy it is to remember birthdays using the Palm z22. Then I got to thinking, if a loved one happens to mention something that could make a great birthday gift, how do I use my z22 as a gift memory jogger.

And then it hit me, there are two methods I could use. The first is easy, simply attach a note to the contact. But, this method suffers in that if I have long notes about my contact, I would have to read everything to find my gift idea.

The second approach would be better, and this involves renaming one of the custom fields so it reads 'gift idea'. Renamig a custom field is easy, just goto options in the menu, select rename custom field, and overwrite the existing field name.

Now all I have to do is complete this field when they mention something, or if I'm out and notice something I think would be perfect.

Keeping track of birthdays is usually something I struggle with, often only remembering the dates that have some personal meaning for me.

However, by using my Palm z22 to list my contacts (and their birthdays) I can now receive a warning 7 days in advance, enough time to organise a card. For special occasions, like wedding anniversaries, I can set this to several weeks notice, allowing plenty of time to book a table at our favourite restaurant.

The screenshot shows the calendar view of a particular day. The birthday cake icon to the left of William's name tells me it is his birthday, and clicking the 'Go To' icon takes me straight back to his details in my contacts.

Within the contacts program simply scroll down to the birthday box, click the date which opens a calendar, and add the correct date. To change the year, simply click down on the left arrow until their year of birth is highlighted.

Did some hunting around the web for forums or help pages about the Palm z22, found a few, and then started to get a little annoyed with the overall tone of a lot of those people. Those of us who don't require the very latest gadget, and who don't feel an urge to push our z22 to the very limits could be forgiven for thinking our favourite gadget has some serious flaws. Pity the poor soul wanting to buy one who reads these forum posts and then blows their budget buying a pda that won't do any more for them.

One of the comments I read, which I won't link to because of its language content, seems to imply the Palm z22 has terrible battery life. Nothing could be further from the truth. Read this review for some benchmarks on the battery use. Note the author's comment that under normal use our little gadget could reliably run for many weeks without a charge.

More significantly though, the little Palm z22 doesn't lose any of its memory or settings if the battery does go flat. That is a real selling feature for me. I would not want to lose all my contacts or calendar entries because I forget to charge the battery.

Lastly, if like me you hotsync your z22 with your pc, did you know your battery is automatically trickle charged in the process? See the little lightning indicator at the top of the screenshot, the one sitting over the battery, that shows my battery is being charged.

Blogging with my palm z22 has made such an incredible difference to my life. To be able to type a blog entry whenever I get a spare few moments makes life more enjoyable.

If you would also like to use your z22 in the same way, here's how;

Open a new memo, and type/write your entry. Once your entry is complete, hotsync with your desktop, then simply click the memo icon in the 'Palm Desktop'. Now click or double click your new entry and copy [Ctrl-C] the contents to your clipboard.

I use serendipity blog so I just need to login to my administration suite, cleck a new entry, and paste the article I wrote on the z22. This very article was written following these steps.