Work and play with one stylish device

By ADAM GIFFORD

The world of the product developer is like an adult version of dress-ups - "let's imagine our target user is a skateboard kid who wants a contact manager, an MP3 player and a trigger for a thermonuclear bomb in the same device."

The new Palm Zire 72 looks like the PalmOne marketing department has been trying out scenarios.

It is at the top end of the Zire range, so there was the liberty to add some of the features found in the big brother Tungsten range, like the built in 1.2 megapixel camera.

Shoot pictures and video and play MP3 tunes. This is a world where multimedia entertainment lives in your pocket - there is no escape.

People might actually use the Zire as a working tool, say the design elves, so let's throw in Documents to Go, so they can read and edit Word files and Excel spreadsheets on the plane (or bus).

Just to emphasise the corporate connection, there is an expenses application installed as well.

It's not a Treo smartphone - yet. That may be one or two generations away. But it has Bluetooth and a dialler, so you can connect to the web with a Bluetooth-enable phone to surf or check email.

You can also sync wirelessly. Otherwise syncing is by mini USB cable, a welcome advance on the proprietary sockets and cradles which added an additional layer of expense to the Palm experience.

What struck me immediately about the Zire 72 was the look - a rich blue brushed metal surround and silver rim framing the 320 x 320 pixel colour display.

Pick it up and the curved sides fit neatly in the hand. PalmOne always does a good job on the ergonomics. The Voice Memo monitor told me I had 95 minutes capacity at start-up. That is some serious talk time. The quality when speaking directly into it was acceptable, although it is not recommended for recording lectures.

The MP3 player is designed to work in with the SD memory cards, using RealPlayer for Palm OS, so if you go down that track there is additional cost involved.

You will also need an expansion card to shoot video. It won't be broadcast quality, but there may be times you want to quickly capture a scene: insurance assessment; changing sheds; hold that thought.

The camera is what it is, something to grab an image when you don't care it will never be much more than a snapshot. We've come a long way from the Box Brownie, but maybe not that far.

All in all, there are a lot of scenarios where I could see the Zire 72 making a contribution to productivity or enjoyment. You can never have everything on the one device, but this one has a pleasing combination of form, functionality and connectivity for the price.

If your requirements are lower, PalmOne has also released the Zire 31, which for half the price has the MP3 player and colour screen but no camera.

Palm Zire 72

Pros: Multimedia in your pocket

Cons: Not a phone - yet

Herald rating: 8/10

Price: $699