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95%
PROS
Big screen; simple software, incorporates music, photos, videos, games, and organization all into one.
LOWS
Photo software sketchy; need to buy Kinoma Producer; no CF.
OVERALL
If you have the money and the free time to play games and need a multimedia device, the Zodiac is a great product you may find yourself buying.
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The Zodiac screen is light-years ahead of any PDA currently sold; it has a 480 x 320 3.8 inch 16 bit VGA screen. But one of the coolest things about the screen is that you can use it in both portrait and landscape mode, allowing you to look at your pictures in just the right angle. This screen ability can also be taken advantage of in applications, making the Zodiac even more versatile. But getting back to pictures… Once your desired pictures have been uploaded onto the Zodiac, you can view them in a multitude of different ways.
Just like in Windows, you can view all your pictures as thumbnail images, in a detailed view, or even a mode similar to Filmstrip in Windows XP. As thumbnails and in detailed mode, you can click on a file to launch a full screen view of it. You can then use the left and right joystick or triggers to go back and forth between photos. Even when dealing with larger file sizes, it doesn't take a long time to switch back and forth between photos. Slideshows can also be done very easily, making the Zodiac even cooler. One more thing about photos; you can rotate images right on the Zodiac, making sure you get the angle you like. The photo viewing application, unlike the music app, is so easy to use, a monkey could do it.
Are you starting to get an idea of how cool the Zodiac is? Well I am not even done. In addition to audio and photos, the Zodiac can also play video files. The package comes bundled with Kinoma Producer, which can easily convert AVI, QuickTime, MPEG1, and MPEG4 files to be used on the Zodiac. When I got the unit, previews of Shrek 2 and King Arthur were installed. Both looked excellent and took up the full screen; I was actually shocked at how nice it looked. I installed the trial version of Kinoma Producer on my PC, and loaded two larger video files to be reduced to work on the Zodiac. Even though the settings were pretty low, the audio and video was incredibly choppy. When loading smaller AVI files, the video was decent and sound quality acceptable, but you really need to buy the full version to take advantage of its capabilities. Even though it is only $30, I would have liked it if the Producer software actually came with the Zodiac. Oh well…
Before I get into the games, I'd like to talk about a few other programs the Zodiac comes bundled with. Palm reader is a great program, where you can upload e-books and read them on your Zodiac. The books I tried looked excellent on the Zodiac's resolution, and were very easy to read. Aside from the standard Palm apps, the Zodiac comes with Wordsmith, allowing you to create and view Microsoft word files. It's incredibly easy to get these documents on the Zodiac or back onto the computer.
Now for the games. The Zodiac has TONS and TONS of games available… only problem is that they cost money. But what games don't? From the Tapwave store, you can pick yourself up a copy of most popular titles for $30 each, like THPS4, Duke Nukem, Doom II, etc. The less popular games retail anywhere from $13-$25; Bubble Shooter 2, FireHammer, Colony, etc. The Zodiac handles each game very nicely, using its ATI Imageon W4200 graphics accelerator. Once again, the screen rotation comes into play here as some games will take advantage of the portrait angle of the screen. In addition to single player, some games offer a multiplayer mode. The Zodiac has a built-in wireless Bluetooth radio, capable of hooking up with other Zodiacs to play together online. Some games take advantage of this, while others do not. I am going to give you a brief description of a few of the Zodiac's more popular titles, but keep in mind that many, many more exist.
Spyhunter-- You may have heard of this title out for PC and console… and now on the Zodiac! It's very fun to drive, and easy to get started and play. If you are driving slow, your surroundings will look blocky and you can see polygons; but when you are speeding by enemies, the game looks great. Overall, Spyhunter is really fun, but you will have to get past using the somewhat annoying analog controller. When you are trying to make tight turns or corners, the stick feels flimsy in your hand; making you think you will loose your grip. Besides that, the sound is excellent, and the force feedback really makes a difference when you are being fired upon.
