Palm Makes the Treo Pro Official

Ed Hardy · 08-20-2008, 09:51 AM

Palm, Inc. has taken the wraps off its next Windows Mobile smartphone, the Treo Pro.

Unofficial reports on this device have been all over the Internet the past week, but now Palm has given the world its first official information on this model.

An Overview of the Treo Pro

This smartphone will have the design that's become a hallmark of the Treo line, a candybar shape with 320-by-320-pixel touchscreen above a QWERTY thumb-keyboard.

It run Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional on a 400 MHz processor from Qualcomm. This operating system from Microsoft comes with a suite of applications for browsing the Web, email, working with Office files, playing audio and video, and more.

The Pro will be a quad-band GSM device with tri-band UMTS/HSDPA support, which means it can be used for both phone calls and 3G wireless access around the world.

In addition, it will have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

This smartphone will have 128 MB of RAM and 256 MB of Flash ROM, of which 100 MB will be available to users for holding files and applications. It will also include an external microSD card slot for additional storage.

The Treo Pro will also offer a built-in GPS receiver and a 2.0 MPx camera.

Palm says its 1500 mAh lithium-ion battery will be good for up to 5.0 hours of talk time and up to 250 hours stand-by time.

Overall, this device will be 4.5 inches tall, 2.4 inches wide, and 0.5 inches thick. It will weigh 4.7 oz.

Palm's Special Touch

Palm is emphasizing that this isn't a "stock" Windows Mobile device, because it has the benefit of Palm's long experience in making smartphones.

The Treo Pro includes this company's screen saver, which lets users know at a glance -- without turning on the device -- what time it is and whether they've missed a call or have a new SMS/MMS message.

It also has some non-standard hardware buttons, like one that immediately silences the device.

"The Treo Pro smartphone brings together a powerful combination of Palm's feature innovations and Windows Mobile 6.1, providing access to the information people need when away from the office," said Andrew Lees, senior vice president of Microsoft's Mobile Communications Business.

Pricing and Availability

The Treo Pro will be available next month in Europe through Vodafone (from free to EUR 400 with contract) and O2 (pricing to be announced later), and in Australia through Telstra (from free with contract).

It will be available in the United States in the fall through the Palm online store as well as other retailers for a suggested price of $550. The U.S. version will be unlocked and unsubsidized, so customers will be able to use it with any GSM carrier -- like AT&T and T-Mobile -- by inserting their SIM card.

Palm also plans to release an unlocked version of the Treo Pro in Europe and the Asia Pacific region.

More information on this smartphone can be found on Palm's website.

Related Articles:

Palm Treo 800w Review

Antoine Wright · 08-20-2008, 10:05 AM

nice; official and all fancy with it too. I likes everything except the included browser. Palm really should have went with Opera Mobile. But other than that, it looks nice, very nice.

That price is nice; not great, but nice considering other unlocked models with this feature set.

Adama D. Brown · 08-20-2008, 10:35 AM

Sounds like they fixed 90% of what was wrong with the 800w. So why aren't we going to get a US carrier release? Palm's produced something that's genuinely competitive, and now they're not going to release it here?

Hook · 08-20-2008, 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AWright

nice; official and all fancy with it too. I likes everything except the included browser. Palm really should have went with Opera Mobile. But other than that, it looks nice, very nice.

That price is nice; not great, but nice considering other unlocked models with this feature set.

This is why I hate the smartphone business model. Without a phone radio, this could be priced at $399, maybe $450. Guess this won't tempt me to the dark side either.

Ed Hardy · 08-20-2008, 10:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adama D. Brown

Sounds like they fixed 90% of what was wrong with the 800w. So why aren't we going to get a US carrier release?

I'm not sure why AT&T isn't interested in the Treo Pro. It's shaping up to be a solid smartphone for business users.

Still, an unlocked version of the device will be available in the U.S. Here's hoping Palm makes it easy for users to configure it for AT&T's and T-Mobile's networks.
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goducks · 08-20-2008, 10:52 AM

I guess Palm CAN build a thinner smartphone, 2 years after everyone else started doing it. There was an article about Palm in the business section of the NY Times today: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/20/te...gy/20palm.html

I'd think a CDMA version of this would be more important to Palm, since AT&T is concentrating on the Iphone right now.

Adama D. Brown · 08-20-2008, 11:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ed Hardy

I'm not sure why AT&T isn't interested in the Treo Pro. It's shaping up to be a solid smartphone for business users.

I can only guess that they think it would compete too directly against the Blackjack III, which'll have more or less the same feature set. Although the Treo has by far the better battery, which will be important.

Ed Hardy · 08-20-2008, 11:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by goducks

I'd think a CDMA version of this would be more important to Palm, since AT&T is concentrating on the Iphone right now.

The CDMA version of this device is already out, it just has a different name. The Treo 800w was introduced by Sprint earlier this summer.
You can read more about it at:
www.brighthand.com/default.asp?newsID=14178
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questionfear · 08-20-2008, 11:59 AM

Maybe AT&T will eventually pick it up, but they're just nailing down the agreement?

Too bad, since that's a mighty nice looking phone, but not so different than the others that are out there that it's worth the unsubsidized price.

rkevwill · 08-20-2008, 12:01 PM

I tell ya, I compared the dimensions against the Curve, the Bold, and my current treo 755p, and the size is great! I was only considering moving to a Curve (because it is available on Sprint), but I think I have to consider this, even though it means switching carriers. And.....I have personally never been a winmobile fan. It sure has the right feature set.