Palm Treo 500v launched in Singapore

(Credit: Crave Asia)

First announced exactly a month ago, the Palm Treo 500v smartphone is now available in Asia, at least in Singapore. The 500v was launched in partnership with European carrier Vodafone in September and still bears that operator's brand name even though Palm has released it with M1 here.

Using Windows Mobile 6 standard, the 500v is Palm's first Treo without a touchscreen. It still has the same QWERTY keypad found in every one of its PDA-phones but sports different features from earlier Treos because it is targeted at the consumer market rather than businesses. One point that really stood out for us was the exclusion of threaded messaging, a mainstay of Treo devices--whether Palm OS or Windows Mobile-based ones. We have a unit and will be posting up a full CNET Asia review soon. In the meantime, read a review done by our colleagues in the U.K.

The 500v will be available in some countries in the Asia Pacific by the end of the year, though Palm could not be more specific about when and which countries at this point. In Singapore, it is available only in gray from M1 at S$498 with a two-year contract as well as at S$698 from retail outlets.

(Source: Crave Asia)