News

TORONTO, Nov. 18 — palmOne Canada, in alliance with TomTom, has announced the Zire 72 GPS Navigation Pak, which transforms the Zire 72 multimedia handheld into a vehicle navigation tool.

The Zire 72 GPS Navigation Pak includes a silver special edition Zire 72, 64MB expansion card, and TomTom GPS Navigation Kit featuring real-time 3D and 2D navigation display, detailed street and motorway maps for Canada and the United States, and more than 4 million points of interest.

The Bluetooth product delivers directions based on the latest global positioning system technology. With voice-guided turn-by-turn instructions, the palmOne GPS allows drivers to focus on road conditions and eliminates the need for paper maps. It includes a charging cable and vehicle power adapter to keep both the Bluetooth GPS receiver and the Zire 72 charged.

The Bluetooth technology-enabled receiver sits on the car dashboard, where it identifies the car's position using at least three satellites. By communicating with the GPS receiver via Bluetooth, the Zire 72 handheld obtains real-time location information and displays 2D or 3D maps. Using the handheld's high-resolution screen, these maps automatically show the receiver's (and hence, the car's) current location.

The Zire 72 GPS Navigation Kit sells for $599 (Cdn.), which includes recharging cables and a removable windshield mount.

The Zire 72 handheld includes a built-in 1.2-megapixel camera to capture photos and video clips; one-button access to an MP3 player; a high-resolution, 320-by-320 colour screen; the ability to create and edit Word- and Excel-compatible files; synchronization with Outlook for e-mail, calendar, contacts and tasks; built-in wireless Bluetooth technology to share files and photos as well as receive wireless e-mail and Internet access and 32MB of memory and an expansion slot for SD Memory Cards and MultiMediaCard media.