Third party suppliers seem to jump on pretty much every new palmOne and Pocket PC device that hits the shelves, but they've been rather absent when it comes to the Zodiac. Still missing is a hard case, an external power supply, like the devices that allow you to use alkaline batteries to charge the handheld, and as I mentioned above, an auto charger. Virtually all of the third party accessories you can buy for the other Palm OS devices and Pocket PCs are missing when it comes to the Zodiac.

I see the Zodiac as a niche device that's not quite finding its niche. It really seems marketed more toward gaming, but Tapwave has told me they see it as more than just a gaming device. Considering the available software and accessories, I really don't see it as much more than a gaming device though, and I think that's how the public perceives it as well.

In my original review, I gave the Zodiac 4 out of 5. But six months later I have to amend my rating to 3 out of 5. The quality control at Tapwave was missing the boat for basically the first year of the product's life. And after all this time, software and accessory support for the device is rather lacking.

Do I regret my purchase of the Zodiac? Not at all. Now that I have a device that functions perfectly, I love it. Would I recommend the Zodiac to a friend? Probably not, as it's just not quite hitting the mark. Outsourcing to third world countries can save companies millions in wages and benefits, but at the cost of customer service and quality control, and I think this is partially at fault for some of the Zodiac's troubles.

OUR RATING: 3 of 5

Dr. Humayun Bakht completed his Ph.D at the School of Computing and Mathematics in Liverpool at John Moores University. Prior to his current course of studies, he has successfully completed his MSc Software Engineering and BSc Electronics Engineering from University of Liverpool UK and Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology in Karachi, Pakistan. Humayun's research interest is mobile ad-hoc networks, in particular, the development of a new routing algorithm for this type of networking. He can be reached at humayunbakht@yahoo.co.uk and you can visit his Web site at http://www.geocities.com/humayunbakht/.