In the early days of smartphones, Palm was the leader in the market. That was then. The now is decidedly less exciting for the company that seems to lag way behind other manufacturers when it comes to advanced mobile technology and, let's face it, the cool factor. How many of you have come to regard the Treo as a clunky piece of hardware that you sheepishly pull out in front of your friends who drag and pinch their sleek, shiny touch screens as they browse the Web, flip through their music albums, and show off their photos? Yeah, can you tell I have major phone envy?
That could all soon change. Maybe. On August 20, Palm announced it will be releasing the Treo Pro, its latest and long-awaited offering into the crowded smartphone market. In Wednesday's edition of the Daily Debrief, I talk with CNET Reviews senior editor Bonnie Cha about what consumers can expect from this updated model and whether this handheld will help the company refresh its image.
Cha has yet to lay her hands on the hardware, but judging by photos, she tells me it's sleek, narrower than earlier Treos, and is chock-full of tech that other smartphone users have been enjoying for years. That list includes access to the 3G network, a touch screen and much, much more. Whether the Treo Pro can jumpstart a lackluster company is yet to be seen. I imagine those of us with a mediocre Treo experience won't be clamoring to upgrade but will await the unspecified fall release date with cautious optimism.
Palm's Treo Pro isn't quite official yet, but after two leaks, there's a lot of information out there already.
(Credit: Slashgear)Palm jumped the gun on the introduction of the Treo Pro on Tuesday, briefly posting a few pictures and a video on its site before yanking them down.
Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on whether you work in Palm's marketing department or if you're a Palm fanboy, the Internet captures all. Electronista and Slashgear grabbed the photos and video, which have since been scattered far and wide across the Web.
This happened just last week to Palm, when an internal presentation on the Treo Pro was inadvertently leaked. The long-awaited update to the company's Windows Mobile series of handsets is expected to arrive any day now, which should help Palm's bottom line.
The company is selling a bunch of low-cost Centro smartphones, but that doesn't appear to be helping Palm return to profitability. The Treo Pro will command a higher price than the $99 Centro, and will slide into Palm's lineup for enterprise customers.
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