I also liked the Palm photo viewer that came with my T2 better than Tapwave's. You see, although it displays the photos perfectly fine, it doesn't support albums or categories. As a photographer, I like to separate my photos by category, and I can't with the Tapwave photo application, shown in Figure J.

FIGURE J


The Zodiac's photo program doesn't support categories. Roll over picture for a larger image.

I also didn't care for the leather flip-cover that comes with the Zodiac either. It just barely covers the screen and seems a bit cheesy to me compared to the rest of the unit. I guess I just prefer a solid, snap-on cover to protect my device.

Another shortcoming is the cradle. The Zodiac doesn't come with one; it has to be purchased separately. Every handheld should come with a cradle; a cable just isn't enough. Also, for a mobile system, the Zodiac, as yet, is lacking a car charger.

In my capacity as a journalist, I've dealt with some of the people in Tapwave's corporate office, and they're just great. I also had occasion to deal with the support services as a customer, and that experience was a bit different.

Due to some unexplained problem or another, the shipping of my order was delayed by 24 hours, despite meeting the criteria for same-day shipping. In trying to determine if delivery would be made by a Friday, like I planned, I contacted Tapwave's email support, but the auto-reply estimated a two-business day response.

Tapwave has a Live Chat support option, something I've never encountered before, so I decided to give that a try. Unfortunately, the Live Chat rep didn't have any more information than what I could get online, and this was almost two days later.

Later that day, the day my unit should have arrived, I got a response from email support and the shipping information became available in my online customer account.

Due to the delay in processing my order, I had to wait nearly a week for my unit when I chose 2nd Day shipping in order to receive the unit before the weekend. In Tapwave's favor, they did refund half of my shipping fee without me complaining.

I don't know if my case was an isolated incident or not. It's not likely that it is, but I think the ordering system needs an update to provide the support staff with real-time information access rather than periodic updates. The support department really isn't much help if they can't provide any more information than what's available online.

Predictions
Byron Connell, Tapwave co-founder and Senior VP of Marketing, tells me that Tapwave sees the Zodiac more as a mobile entertainment platform, similar to the upcoming PSP (PlayStation Portable) shown in Figure K, rather than a traditional handheld.

FIGURE K


The PSP, or PlayStation Portable, is to be Sony's portable entertainment console. Roll over picture for a larger image.

In comparing the Zodiac with the current information on the PSP, I think the Zodiac has it beat by a mile. The Zodiac runs an established and marketable OS. The PSP will run its own, proprietary OS. The Zodiac uses SD flash memory, an industry-standard format. The PSP will use Sony's own Memory Stick, which as far as I've been able to tell, is only used by Sony products.