40 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

MP3s, games, GPS, web surfing, you name it, June 17, 2004

Reviewer:   "scott_ct" (Simsbury, CT United States) - See all my reviews

As a long time PDA user (Palm OS and Pocket PCs) I was always looking for the latest, greatest new piece of tech. The Zodiac's specs and price impressed me so much that I started my own news and community site for it.

I bought the Zodiac 1 back when they first came out (end of November, 2003). It's compatible with most any Palm OS application and there's tons of freeware and inexpensive shareware apps to be found. While Tapwave is hyping this as a gaming console, it's really a do-everything device. Pair it with a Bluetooth cell phone and you can surf the internet or check your email. Pair it with a Bluetooth GPS and you can use it to navigate you around town or across the country. It has a Yamaha sound chip which gives you MP3 playback superior to an iPod and you can even play music in the background while you play games or do other things.

The library of cutting edge games is a little small right now, but it's growing. And, like I said, there's TONS more that you can do with this thing besides just gaming. But if you do want it for gaming, consider this...it's got a 3.8" diagonal 480x320 pixel screen, an analog controller, several action and shoulder buttons, and support for multiplayer gaming over Bluetooth. And Tapwave isn't being greedy with some proprietary nonsense either. You can use regular old SD memory cards to expand your storage space for MP3s, videos, applications, and games. Yes, you can download games over the internet and store tons of them on one single SD memory card rather than carry around dozens of cartridges.

If you want to take advantage of some of the advanced features, sites like Tapland will help you along. Plus, there's lots of useful game, productivity app, and accessory reviews there.

If you want more built-in storage, you can pay an extra $100 for the Zodiac 2, but my personal recommendation is to get a Zodiac 1 and use the extra money to buy a really huge SD memory card.

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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

It's like the PSP's older workaholic brother, April 6, 2005

Reviewer:   Vincenzo G. Mastrolilli "...." (Santo Domingo, Republica Dominicana) - See all my reviews

I won't mention the specs or functions as there are other reviews that have done that. I will tell that you can do all the stuff they mention in the official review right out of the box! Because tapwave bundles a lot of cool stuff on the zodiac CD.

As a game machine, it's the most PC like portable out there. You'll be able to overclock the unit, play RTS games, classic american-style RPGs, and even port your old DOOM games to it for free. It's pretty amazing to watch hexen on the zodiac screen running smoothly. You'll also be thankful that if you want to you can carry all your games on the SD card and not have to take space away from the 32MB memory or carry game carts. Also, because it runs on palm, you'll be able to do some really cool stuff that no other game machines do. Like using the touch screen as a PC mouse pad, waking up to any song you want, and typing documents on the road.

As a PDA, it's great, your able to browse the web comfortably thanks to the screen, and you can attach a keyboard and wifi card. The 2 SD slots are a plus. It charges in 2 hours. Not only that, but the slim design and smooth metal finish really impress people on the street. The controls also make games more fun than on other PDAs.


As a multimedia machine, it is good. And if you overclock a bit you can even use the PSPs MP4 format at a decent 15fps. The movies you make will look like mini DVDs and they only take about 400MB each. I have a 512MB card and can store a full movie, some MP3s, some photos, some game Roms and my programs too.

You can also get some cool accesories like the included headphones, a cool metal case to protect the zodiac and store cards, a screen protector, and even a grip to make the device feel like a playstation controller.

I love my zodiac, and with a healthy group of programmers developing free software for it, I see it as having good long-term value.

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