Product: PalmOne Zire 72 Price: $2,388 Pros: Upgrades its older sibling in every conceivable way Cons: Seems expensive for intended market
Palm's new Zire 72 is an update on its first camera-integrated personal digital assistant. Nearly everything about it is a refinement on its already smart predecessor.
A notable addition is Bluetooth functionality. This will allow it to communicate with other Bluetooth-enabled devices within 10 metres, including hot-synching wirelessly.
This puts the consumer-oriented Zire 72's functionality on a par with more expensive models targeted at executives.
Compared with more upmarket devices such as Tungsten models or the recently integrated Treo, Palm's Zire line has always been designed to introduce new consumers to its PDAs.
While Palm traditionally tries to lure new users by building PDAs with nothing but the basics, the Zire 71's metallic blue casing, colour display, integrated camera and music playback capability attempt to take back ground lost to Sony.