10-16-2006, 05:00 PM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 15,171
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Palm's New GSM Treos: The 750v and the 680
Palm's been busy lately on the GSM Treo front, between the Treo 750v, their GSM Pocket PC Phone, and the Treo 680, a new consumer GSM Palm OS phone. I had the opportunity to play with the former and attend the launch event of the latter last week in midtown New York City. Read on for pictures and my thoughts on Palm's latest efforts.
Figure 1: My Treo 700w and the Treo 750v. Whoa, antennaless Treo!
NYC was busy with technology press events last week in and around DigitalLife, such as DigitalFocus, where I was able to stop by the Palm booth and play with the 750v.
Figure 2: Flashless pic of the 700w vs. 750v. The screen is actually a lot clearer than what is shown here; it's very close to the 700w/wx.
The 750v is a top-notch device; it has very similar specs to the 700wx CPU and memorywise, and features quadband GSM/GPRS/EDGE and triband UMTS. Yes, I mean UMTS 850/1900/2100, supporting UMTS in the US, Europe, and even Australia! About time that a device supported everything! The 750v is also upgradeable to HSDPA via a firmware update that hasn't been offered yet.
Figure 3: Rear view of the two devices.
The 750v's back is slightly more contoured than the 700w's and has a rubberized grip. It feels really nice in the hand. I also like the speaker/camera setup; overall, the device just looks a lot cleaner. The only downside is that they gave up the SD slot for a miniSD slot, located on the right behind a door.
Figure 4: Side view.
See that dimpled side panel? That fits one's thumb or pinkie naturally, so along with the rubberized grip, the 750v fits like a glove. It's remarkable how these little tweaks make the 750v so much nicer than the 700w. The top is completely clean except for the silent profile switch.
I pressed the Palm rep, but wasn't able to get any detail on anything of interest. About all I could get out of him is that Palm will indeed seek to market the 750v internationally, but absolutely no confirmation on when, where, or how much. The rumors I've heard is that the 750v will be eventually featured on Cingular, but he refused to even crack a smile or wink an eye to help me confirm this as fact or fiction. :|
If you can't wait for Cingular or Palm or whomever else they're partnering with, you might want to check out this Engadget article; they detail how they managed to unlock a 750v and use it on Cingular's network with UMTS. They even managed to get a Blackberry Connect setup working.
Figure 5: Engadget has the device working on Cingular. The "U" means it's locked onto a UMTS signal.
I've been drooling over several devices of late: Cingular's rumored 8525, the Hermes, and T-Mobile's Dash. I think I need to add this one more to the list. 
Next up: the Treo 680.
The Treo 680 Press Event
As you know by now, the Treo 680 is a PalmOS device, so I'm not going to get much into the hardware. However, here's a few pictures and thoughts from the event, held at DigitalLife last Thursday.
Figure 6: The PR venue was in the back of the press area, on the fourth floor of a little pavilion in the middle of the Javits center.
Figure 7: Ed Colligan, CEO of Palm, starts the PR event.
Ed stressed Palm's mantra of "ease of use", and is intending this device to be sold at a "great price point", although they refused to elaborate on the pricing as of yet. The device is quadband GPRS/EDGE (no UMTS or HSDPA), and intended to go international quickly. The device looks very much like a Palm OS-based 750v.
Figure 8: Phil McClendon, Senior Product Manager, introducing the Treo 680.
Phil introduced the device in detail; it's Palm OS (Garnet, I'd assume, although he didn't bother to mention :P), 64MB of memory, SDIO slot, and is thinner/lighter than other Treos, featuring a 1200mAh battery (although they claim this does not affect battery life significantly).
A variety of OS improvements are included, starting with a new Phone application and on-device user guides geared towards a better consumer experience. The new applications sounded interesting to me, until I heard further details. The phone app has quick launch items, a Today screen, wallpaper, and integrated contacts. You can now ignore calls with an SMS and add a new phone number to existing contact. The device has a list of most recently used email addresses. In addition, Exchange contact sync and autosync (i.e. x-minute intervals) are supported. There's PDF attachment support, a pictures and video app, slideshow with music, voice memos, streaming media, including WMA/WMV support plugged into Blazer out of the box.
The audience seemed rapt at this feature list, but I was kind of... well... the 700w already supports most of this! The 680 is basically the 750v form factor, and the 700w customizations backported to the Palm OS, and on a non-3G device to boot. About the only value proposition of this device is its aggressive price point, which we don't even know yet, and nice form factor and colors. I'll be honest -- it does have the potential to be a great consumer device -- but I also think this proves, beyond all, that the Palm OS is strictly in catchup mode to Windows Mobile now. Even Palm's customizations on Windows Mobile have been far ahead of their customizations on Palm OS! They did demo a nice Google Maps app, but that's done by Google anyway, and we certainly have had Virtual Earth Mobile for quite some time.
Figure 9: Palm's demographic slide.
Palm is clearly intending the Treo 680 to be geared towards a broader audience than just "mobile professionals", rather, the "mobile accomplishers". To this, they are offering the device in four colors (Arctic, Copper, Crimson, and Graphite), which is a great idea, but from a technology standpoint, again, there's really nothing new here.
Figure 10: Palm will launch an aggressive advertising campaign for the Treo 680.
And that was about it. Most of the press mobbed the devices, but I wasn't particularly keen on crowding in, so I left. I didn't even take pictures of the unit. It's all available on Palm's site if you're interested in the Palm OS, but me, I'm going to stay with Windows Mobile. I think Palm basically proved their own Windows Mobile devices are far more advanced, so why should I bother with older tech? I do have to admit that the new work they've done on the form factor is very nice, and as such I'll be looking forward to the 750v. But their Palm OS technology just elicits one big yawn.
Edit: One other interesting point came up during the Q&A session at the end: the Treo 680 is not being manufactured by HTC, unlike most (all?) of their previous Treos. Palm is branching out to Inventec for this unit. It'll be good to see if Inventec manages to land other large deals; HTC has a bit of a monopoly on the new converged device market, and competition is a good thing.
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10-16-2006, 06:07 PM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,202
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I really do like the minor form-factor changes on the 750v. It looks like it will be even easier to hold and use. I've been playing with a 700wx lately and that already fits very nicely in my hand. However, I still can't get used to the lower resolution screen, it's really noticeable to me both in Internet browsing and e-mail, 2 primary functions that I count on from my device.
I've also started playing with the Hermes, and it is really a fantastic device, with a great screen and fast response. However, no UMTS in my area yet, and I do miss the keyboard/number keys being exposed on the front of the unit. It is much easier to quickly look up a contact on the treo because I can just start typing with one hand. With the Hermes, I've got to use both hands and then slide the keyboard out, or fight with the tiny toothpick provided that HTC thinks is a stylus. :roll:
I think that both are very good, but neither is perfect for me. The Dash sounds like a very promising compromise, but doesn't offer 3G, so that probably won't be "the" device for me either. Here's hoping someday Palm decides to branch out and try something different than the square screen Treos. With a few tweaks they would have a killer deviced.
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10-16-2006, 07:14 PM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 15,171
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by whydidnt
I really do like the minor form-factor changes on the 750v. It looks like it will be even easier to hold and use. I've been playing with a 700wx lately and that already fits very nicely in my hand. However, I still can't get used to the lower resolution screen, it's really noticeable to me both in Internet browsing and e-mail, 2 primary functions that I count on from my device.
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For Internet browsing I agree. For email, not so much. Tick the font size in WM5 down one notch, and it's actually quite useable.
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I've also started playing with the Hermes, and it is really a fantastic device, with a great screen and fast response. However, no UMTS in my area yet
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Well, this is not specific to the Hermes. Or are you saying there is CDMA 3G but not GSM 3G?
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It is much easier to quickly look up a contact on the treo because I can just start typing with one hand.
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Yup, agreed, but a front-mounted thumbboard usually necessitates the square form factor. Alternatively, you could use Voice Command, but I prefer just typing out the name if I can.
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The Dash sounds like a very promising compromise, but doesn't offer 3G, so that probably won't be "the" device for me either.
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Well, my previous comment applies. There's also the Q...
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With a few tweaks they would have a killer deviced.
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I think any such revamp will be medium- to long-term, if it ever happens. Palm's famous, as we all know, for moving relatively slowly. 
--janak
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10-16-2006, 07:35 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Nov 2003
Posts: 181
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I have been looking forward to seeing more on this site about the 750v. It seems like it will be or already is one of the better WM5 devices available. I wish Palm would have been a little quicker to put this kind of device on the market for GSM users.
I just bought a HP iPAQ 6915 because I like this form factor and this Treo was not available...plus, I wanted the GPS. It might have been different if this was already in stores though.
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10-16-2006, 08:02 PM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 15,171
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Silver5
I just bought a HP iPAQ 6915 because I like this form factor and this Treo was not available...plus, I wanted the GPS. It might have been different if this was already in stores though.
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I would have liked to see more posted on the 750v too, but we don't have European editors to have given it a run through. The 6915 is nice, and it does have the GPS, but it's also quite a bit bigger. But as long as you're happy with it, that's the most important thing. 
--janak
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10-16-2006, 08:03 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 67
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What pisses me off on the Palm Treos is the non-support of the Palm WiFi SD card. I am not even asking for an onboard chipset that's a technical challenge. I am just asking for an update of the driver. I blogged about this a few days ago, I won't let it go:
http://eugenia.blogsome.com/2006/10/...arriers-whore/
__________________
PDAs: x50v, rx3115, PalmV, TH-55, SL-5500, T-615C (previously owned: Axim X5-Adv, h2210, e800).
Phones: QTek 9100, W810i, M600i, E61, A780, 6288, SLVR L7, U8500, KG800, ROKR E2, D840, K300i, 3300, K700i, i-Mate, T310, (previously owned E680i, E398, MOT M1000).
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10-16-2006, 08:12 PM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 15,171
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Eugenia
What pisses me off on the Palm Treos is the non-support of the Palm WiFi SD card. I am not even asking for an onboard chipset that's a technical challenge. I am just asking for an update of the driver.
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Well, the Pocket PC Treos do support Palm's WiFi SD card, so it's not quite so simple. I think Palm has made a corporate strategy decision about not investing R&D into finishing WiFi support on the Palm OS Treos. Not sure why they'd want to make a decision like that, but one possibility is that they view the Palm OS devices as strictly consumer items, and thanks to modern cellular data networks, WiFi is more of an enterprise need. (I've personally never had a need for WiFi thanks to EVDO service.)
--janak
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10-16-2006, 08:14 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 17
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Re: Palm's New GSM Treos: The 750v and the 680
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Originally Posted by Janak Parekh
why should I bother with older tech? I do have to admit that the new work they've done on the form factor is very nice, and as such I'll be looking forward to the 750v. But their Palm OS technology just elicits one big yawn.
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It probably won't need resetting as often as the wobbly Wondows Mobile o/s so, on an always-on device that's a big plus point!
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10-16-2006, 08:20 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 67
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Janak, I fail to see why not spending $5,000 to an Indian programmer to *update* the palm wifi driver for the sd card is too much of an R&D. They simply don't want their PalmOS treos to support Wifi, and this is the carriers speaking, not Palm.
__________________
PDAs: x50v, rx3115, PalmV, TH-55, SL-5500, T-615C (previously owned: Axim X5-Adv, h2210, e800).
Phones: QTek 9100, W810i, M600i, E61, A780, 6288, SLVR L7, U8500, KG800, ROKR E2, D840, K300i, 3300, K700i, i-Mate, T310, (previously owned E680i, E398, MOT M1000).
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10-16-2006, 10:30 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 20
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750v
I proudly own a 750v since last friday. It's really a great device especially with the Palm improvements to the Today-Screen.
I was using a 650 for a long time and always hated the external antenna and the limitations on Palm OS.
I also tested a Nokia E61 as another front facing keyboard-device but didn't like the width of it. I prefer a thicker device as the Treo is.
If you like more informations or some side-by-side pictures with other devices ( SDAs, Qteks, Nokias ) let me know.
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