palmOne has expanded its mass-market Zire line with two new handhelds; one adding new features on the high end and one pushing formerly high-end features into lower price ranges.
palmOne announced today two new handhelds in its Zire line. The Zire 72 replaced the Zire 71 with an integrated megapixel camera and Bluetooth, while the Zire 31 brings color and audio playback to the $150 price range.
 | Megapixels and Bluetooth combine in the Zire 72
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The palmOne Zire 72 features the same 320 x 320 color TFT display as its predecessor, but does away with the curved Zire design and sliding case of its predecessor. The Zire 72 now sports a 1.2 megapixel camera mounted on the back with no lense cover (similar to many camera phones), supporting 1.2 megapixel still images and 320 x 240 video with sound. The sound comes courtesy of a back-mounted microphone that also serves the integrated voice recorder. Backed by a 300 MHz ARM processor with 32 MB of RAM (24 MB user-accessible), the Zire 72 also now includes Bluetooth support with an improved setup system. The Zire 72 runs Palm OS 5.2.8 and includes a complete software suite, including an updated version of palmOne's enhanced PIM apps, RealOne audio player, a new integrated Media viewer, Documents To Go 6.0, VersaMail, and Web Pro. It is slated to sell for $299 USD.
 | Color and MP3s at a new low price
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On the other end of the market, the palmOne Zire 31 features a 160 x 160 color STN display inside the same curved design as most of the Zire line. As with the Zire and Zire 21 before it, the Zire 31 has only two application buttons but adds a 5-way Navigator. It also adds an SDIO-capable Secure Digital slot and headphone jack for audio playback using the included RealOne audio player. palmOne has also included their new and improved PIM suite, the same as on the Zire 72. All of that is backed by a 200 MHz Intel ARM processor and 16 MB of RAM (14 MB user-accessible). It sells for $149 USD, the lowest price yet for an MP3-playing handheld.
Both models are available immediately. Meanwhile, palmOne has quietly stopped production on the original Zire, Zire 71, and Tungsten T2, and is waiting for them to flush through usual sales channels.
High-resolution images of both new devices are available on the following pages.
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