Palm Treo Pro officially announced

Click on the image to see the Palm Treo Pro photo gallery

(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET Networks)

While not the best-kept secret in the technology world, what with all the leaked photos and videos, we're still aflutter over Palm's official unveiling of the Palm Treo Pro Wednesday. And why wouldn't we be? The smartphone is looking pretty sharp, both inside and out.

The first thing you might notice is the new modern look. The Treo Pro sheds the outdated, clunky design of previous Treos and trades it in for a sleeker design (4.4 inches high by 2.3 inches wide by 0.5 inch deep; 4.7 ounces) and nice black casing. It also sports a 320x320-pixel resolution touch screen and features a screensaver that will show you the time, any missed calls or new text/multimedia messages at a glance. You can also see some Palm Centro influence in there with the full QWERTY keyboard, but the navigation keypad is all new.

It's not all about looks either. As the name would suggest, the smartphone is targeted at business users and on paper, it looks to be fully equipped keep up with the on-the-go types. The Treo Pro runs Windows Mobile 6.1, complete with the Microsoft Office Mobile Suite and Direct Push Technology for real-time e-mail delivery. The quad-band world phone is stocked in the wireless department as well, as it offers UMTS/HSDPA support, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS.

It all sounds pretty enticing, no? Itching to get one? Well, here's the skinny on availability. The Palm Treo Pro will be available in Europe starting in September through Vodafone and O2, while Telstra will pick it up in Australia. Interestingly, here in the States, it will be sold unlocked through Palm starting in the fall. There's no word on exact availability date or pricing, or whether a U.S. carrier will eventually pick it up. That said, we actually have a meeting with Palm later Wednesday so we'll see if we can get any more information out of them and also give you a hands-on report about the Treo Pro.

In the meantime, please feel free to share your thoughts on the news. I don't know about you, but I have to say this is the first time in a long time that I've really been jazzed about a Palm smartphone. You?

[kingme99]

GPS Requires an account and data services at additional cost. GPS coverage not available in all areas at all times.

This means GPS will not work unless you are in range of cell towers, so don't go camping or hiking or anywhere of the "path" cuz GPS will not work.

[strykernyc]

woot are you talking about??? this is not an iPhone is the best treo yet!
All you need is google maps/live search or if you dont have a data plan which every treo owner most have one then u can dl a stand alone gps software like tom tom garmin etc.... the gps software will only and only use the gps for the satellite and zero nothing nada data/internet from ur phone. OMG you really have no clue about a gps. Teh gps is using satellites not cellphone towers...again its not a freaking iPhone. obviously you have never own a treo.

[ryork272]

Have you ever heard of Google maps??? You are wrong, wrong, wrong!

[HinaultBadger]

OK...... am I weird? I've been a palm/treo user for years. I loved them all. But the keyboard is pretty much useless for me. I end up using the stylus for everything, just like on my old Palms. Maybe my fingers are too big.....maybe it's just me. I think that the touch-screen keyboards - iPhone style, are just a huge improvement, back to the days of the old Palms, but done really right.

Maybe palm needs to make that an option.....one model as you see here with the new Pro, another identical with a bigger touch-screen without the keyboard.

[strykernyc]

they should have kept the kb from the treo 700w/x,755p. the 850 has the centro kb but for men the previous kb if not the best is one of the best kb any phone can offer. I think the future treo should b thinner, bigger screen with better resolution and ofcourse a slighting kb like the htc

[Anysia]

I found this interesting because I have the opposite opinion of the keyboard. I crank out text messages almost as quickly as I do with a computer keyboard.

[JavaLine]

Kingme99: it means that it uses the GPS to get your coordinates, then uses your providers' data plan to plot your location on an on-line map. If you want a full GPS with on-board huge maps, get a iQUE PDA/GPS with an 8GB SD card and all Garmin maps on-board. You can't seriously pretend to have all maps stored in the phone, those are huge!!

[strykernyc]

YES you can have all maps stored in your memory card. I have my treo loaded with tom tom on the 8gb card and still have over 6gbs left on the card. this new treo support up to 32GB card so you can throw anything at it lol

[JavaLine]

Sorry, not worth the money. I'm happy with my Palm Centro.
I learned to love the simplicity of the Palm OS, plus the applications are much slimmer. I found with my PocketPC PDA that Windows Mobile is one bloated OS just like Vista.

[Angus Chen]

JavalLine,
You are not a business user, are you? If you were, you should have realized the reason why Palm OS becomes less and less popular, is because the lack of supporting business. I was a Palm OS lover for 7+ years, but in late 2007 I was forced to switch to Windows Mobile.

[AnonTip]

A better effort, but still falls WAY short with crap memory & crap camera. Seriously, how had is it to just look at your competitors' best features and stuff those into your own phone. Palm needs to become a leader again instead of just repacking last-year's old tech into a shiny new box.

[matt-sa]

awesome. good thing i didn't blow 350 on that 850w monster of an ugo. this is way sexier. and hopefully the software will have less glitches.

[claquesous]

LOL is that a screenshot? There appears to be a cursor stuck in that pic.

[wilson45]

I am an early user of all Palm products. I have purchased and used up every model of their PDA's and Phones. The last product I purchased, a Treo 680, was a huge dissapointment. Battery life was crappy (yes, I did the upgrades) the OS was littered with problems and the email service never worked on any Treo I owned. The 680 crashed weekly and required a Hard Reboot twice. This year, for the first time, I moved to a MotoQ. It works, the battery lasts for days. But I hate it. I do not believe this Treo is a big leap for Palm. It looks like a repackaged Centro, and the specs sort of lead to that conclusion. Is Palm dead?

[tech_junky48]

I'm gonna go for the samsung blackjack 3. Palm devices have always seemed out of date, and this looks like a repacked centro with a few more features. Face it, Palm is dying.

[Kreuzer33]

With all of the announcements in the mobile industry this week, it's a great time to be a consumer. Let's see which of these products lives up to the hype.

http://kreuzer33.wordpress.com/2008/08/21/palm-releases-its-treo-pro/

[Macajuel]

I've only owned 2 Palm devices in my time........one that I've really loved and one that truly despise but still use daily. I once owned a revered Treo 650 but have now settled for a Treo 680 (which has left a bitter taste in my mouth regarding palm products)

If Palm wants to get my excited about their products again, they'll need to quit it with the Windows mobile nonesense and launch a new Treo with an update Palm OS as well as all the other high-end features that are now standard in smartphones.......Don't keep us waiting Palm....many of us diehards are beginning to move on......

[angry jubu]

After all the clunkers Palm has come out with in recent years, I'm actually quite surprised to see something this trim and updated. Frankly, I didn't think Palm had the design chops.

Re: is Palm dead? Good question. They certainly seemed to have been dying for years. Everyone else has passed them by in terms of style and technology. It looks promising, but I'll wait to see the reviews. And, in terms of reliability - they haven't been able to produce a device that could make it five minutes past the warranty in years.

[Tinshield118]

Macajuel, WM is not "Non-sense". It's really the only OS that integrates right out of the box with most business networks that use Exchange. Believe it or not many small to large businesses and government agencies use Microsoft for their email and for them Windows Mobile works great. No added hardware, instant integration and push as well as remote wipe. There's a place for a Palm OS but for those of us who use Exchange, Windows Mobile is great. No need to add additional components to sync calendars or anything else. Palm is smart to embrace WM.

[roanavelt]

well i am pleased to be part of the palm nation. with the Palm OS its quite easy to use and quick to learn. i also am pleased to see the they are migrating the Palm industry "standard" and experimenting with more user friendly form factor. i do have a couple discrepancies with the OS(Palm and Microsoft). the most monumental pet peeve is the temporary freezing of the phone when it goes in and out of service. I am a heavy texter so if I am in the middle of a text an i go underground it stops typing momentarily. Gets aggrevating after a while. another thing I noticed with the 800w for Sprint is that if you try to type a text message over the usual 160 limit, it will stop you. 'duh' yyou say? not really. You see I had a Moto Q Before I stepped into the light and the ONLY good thing about the Mircosoft OS is that you could go on forever withe the typing(especially if you have a good thought process running and you dont want to stop every 160 characters). And last but not least( and I hope that someone for Palm is listening intently) you should make the new like the old.. Meaning.... 700p vs. 700wx!!! I LOVE the Palm OS like my own skin. I dont know what I did all those years without it. usability is soo fluid and soo user friendly that business people to boys(and girls) could get these fine devices and not feel overburdened by its relatively solid power.

[ryork272]

I like it! I have been using the Moto Q9M and will gladly give it up for this phone. WiFi is great! I will be very interested in battery life, browsing experience and customization of the main screen.

[ChrisLang]

I would be a lot more excited if I saw it running the Palm software rather than WM 6.1.

I miss the two clicks away Palm OS of old. I carry a WM 6.0 phone now, and spend too much time getting to where I need to be.

I would be WAY excited about a more stable Palm OS with a 3 mega pixel camera, a 10GB internal memory and the ability to sync with Outlook seamlessly, a removable battery, cordless bluetooth headphone support and a browser that works as well as Opera mini without the constant memory leaks mini sports.

Now that would be the phone to buy, and NO it is not an iPhone. I want a computer in the palm of my hand, not another iPod toy.

WM 6.1 is almost there with conversations now in text, but come on MS, how about a browser that works?

[Anysia]

Oh yes, how I agree with this. I like PalmOS. And I like my Treo650. And now that I know how to flash the bios to make it FAT32, I plan to update it when FAT16 isn't supported anymore.

[Anysia]

I have a separate handheld GPS unit, so it having that as a feature isn't that big a deal to me. What I don't like about Treo 700 on up is the Windows Mobile. I like Palm/Treo for the Palm Apps. Yes, I know that you can multitask using the Windows Mobile, but I prefer small footprint, lower cost, and excellent product of Palm OS software.

[djspongeworthy]

An easy way around the GPS-by-cell-tower issue is to use a bluetooth mini GPS receiver. They're faster and GoogleMaps supports these devices.

I already know that the OS is stable and this version is finally a comfortable in-pocket size. I'll upgrade to it when I can get one and comment objectively (as possible) on what I really think.

[car4dave]

Too late...

I traded in my Palm Treo 650 for a Moto Q Global (AT&T) phone. I could not wait for Palm to come out with 3G and I would have preferred a palm os phone with 3G.

Dave

[Angus Chen]

JavalLine,
If you are happy with your Palm Centro, I guess you are not a business user, are you? If you were, you should have realized the reason why Palm OS becomes less and less popular, is because the lack of supporting business applications. I was a Palm OS lover for 7+ years, but in late 2007 I was forced to switch to Windows Mobile.