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Gizmondo gets email upgrade

It can do just about everything now.

Owners of the Gizmondo games and multimedia handheld, which launched in the UK at the end of October, will soon be able to use the device to send and receive email wirelessly via GRPS, Gizmondo Europe has revealed.

The newfound email functionality will allow users to send, receive and forward emails as well as attaching files, and together with the system's existing mobile phone functionality (SMS, MMS, and tri-band GRPS for global roaming) will hopefully "broaden the device's appeal as a lifestyle component" according to the company.

Other additions to Gizmondo functionality making it into the email update include an alarm clock, currency converter and a calculator. Gizmondo can already play games (with commitments from a number of major publishers), music and movies, and features GPS support with optional Sat-Nav, Bluetooth connectivity and even a digital camera.

Gizmondo, which runs on Microsoft's Windows CE.net platform and uses a GoForce 3D 4500 NVIDIA graphics chip, is available in the UK (via Gizmondo's irritatingly noisy website in the main) and should roll out across continental Europe and the USA in the first quarter of 2005.