Pics of Palm Treo 850 surface: Not too shabby

(Credit: Boy Genius Report)

Just recently, we reported on some rumors about a Palm Treo 800, a CDMA smartphone with Windows Mobile 6.1, EV-DO Rev. A, and GPS. While the feature list was pretty impressive, the picture of the reported device didn't excite us very much. In fact, it was downright dullsville and forgettable. However, today, the Boy Genius Report has some images of another new Treo, the Palm Treo 850, and this time, it's got our attention.

If the pictures are to be believed, the device looks incredibly slick and slim, and there's even a comparison shot of the Treo 850 with the RIM BlackBerry 8800 to show off its comparable thinness. The full QWERTY keyboard resembles the one found on the Palm Centro, but the navigation controls seem to be brand new.

As for features, details are pretty sparse. It looks like it'll run Windows Mobile and have a 400MHz processor and 100MB of RAM. Overall, not too shabby, right?

[plbyrd]

Not too shabby? Bleh, it needs a normal PDA screen. I just got rid of my Treo 700w in favor of a Samsung device with the norm 240x320 display and a slide out keyboard. This is the form factor that people want and need. If the iPhone had a real keyboard it'd be useful as a real PDA. The keys on a Palm 7x0 are simply too small to type on the go (ie. walking through an airport) and thus nowhere near as useful as the phones with a slideout keyboard.

[plbyrd]

Not too shabby? Bleh, it needs a normal PDA screen. I just got rid of my Treo 700w in favor of a Samsung device with the norm 240x320 display and a slide out keyboard. This is the form factor that people want and need. If the iPhone had a real keyboard it'd be useful as a real PDA. The keys on a Palm 7x0 are simply too small to type on the go (ie. walking through an airport) and thus nowhere near as useful as the phones with a slideout keyboard.

[plbyrd]

Not too shabby? I needs a normal PDA screen. I just got rid of my Treo 700w in favor of a Samsung device with the norm 240x320 display and a slide out keyboard. This is the form factor that people want and need. If the iPhone had a real keyboard it'd be useful as a real PDA. The keys on a Palm 7x0 are simply too small to type on the go (walking through an airport) and thus nowhere near as useful as the phones with a slide-out keyboard.

[the2ndfloodofgod]

Your kidding right? So Palm is going to release the 800, which is just barely updated. Then release the 850, with a few, pathetic updates? And this impresses you? $599 Treo's with updated features that Moto, Samsung, HTC, ect have had for the past several years? 100MB's or RAM impresses you? A 400Mhz Processor impresses you? Have you seen what other PDA vendors have on the market today? Wow, it's thin..........And outdated... And costly... And is just a very, very, VERY minor update over the Treo 650. So I guess if the iPhone doesn't change in 5 years, then comes out with a larger screen or something, you will be impressed? Palm is dead.

[stew03]

This is a big jump over the 650 which was already awesome. GPS, Wifi, streaming video... For smartphones, the only legitimate contender against a treo is a blackberry, but when you look at the blackberry, there's definitely no reason to switch. That said, I would probably say the same thing if I were a Blackberry user.

[MaxLaw]

My goodness? Palm is dead? Then how do you explain 2 MILLION Palm Centros have been sold with the Palm OS. Now that it is a few months since the last comment here, why not go on over to http://www.intomobile.com/category/manufacturers/palm/ and see what they are calling the Palm Pro. Only one thing wrong with it: It does not have a Palm OS, but rather Windows. If it had a Palm operating system, then there would be something else wrong with it: It is not sitting on my hip....I am wanting to trade up from my Palm Treo 680, which would be my second upgrade. My wife switched from a Blackberry to a Palm Treo 755p, saying it was "so intuitive" an operating system. Long live Palm!