I wanted to buy a PDA in the spring of 2004, and was hesitating for a long time between the Palm Zire 72 and the Dell Axim X30. I chose the latter one for those which "look beautiful" (e.g watching movies and playing games on the device). It turned out, however, the decision was totally a disaster. In short, the reason lies in the horrible usability of Windows Mobile.

When it was time to buy a new phone after 2 years, I bought Palm Treo 650 without any hesitation. This time I was right, the 650 was the only phone that I had been using for more than one and a half years (I used two Moto and two Alcatel before). As a matter of fact, I still couldn't find an alternative to replace it after using it for 3 years. Why? The reasons can be found in "Zen of Palm", a book with mere 30 pages.

"Zen of Palm", written by the staffs at Palm Inc, is originally intended to introduce to developers how to design applications for PalmOS. It is considered a classic by Palm users, however, because the Palm products have gained their love and respect.

The book contains 4 chapters, which are: Design Philosophy, Design Practices, Design Validation and Design Improvement. Its content covers every aspect of product design. With the refined language and the simplified explanation, the book is definitely a must-have for product designers.

In the following posts, I'd like to share some thoughts I have learned while reading the book.