Palm Treo on Windows Mobile 5
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Palm Treo on Windows Mobile 5
CNET editors' take
for Palm Treo on Windows Mobile 5
Reviewed by: Bonnie Cha
Edited by: Kent German
Review date: 9/26/05
First Apple and Intel, now Microsoft and Palm? Yep. In a world of unlikely partnerships, longtime rivals Palm and Microsoft have teamed up to produce the first Windows Mobile-based Treo. During a press conference today in San Francisco, the man himself, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, along with Palm president and CEO Ed Colligan and Verizon president and CEO Denny Strigl, unveiled the Palm Treo running on Windows Mobile 5. Due out early next year, it will be available exclusively for Verizon Wireless for several months at least. The news doesn't come as a complete shock, as rumors have been swirling around for months, especially in the days leading up to this event. Palm CFO Andrew Brown even admitted to our own News.com in August that such a device would benefit business by attracting more corporate customers who have been hesitant to buy Palm OS-based devices.
The trio was evasive on the smart phone's specs, including the name of the product, which has been rumored to be the Treo 670 and the Treo 700w. We do know it will run on Windows Mobile 5 with support for push e-mail, have an Intel processor, and will support Verizon's 3G EV-DO network speeds.**************After the initial release in early 2006***************, Palm and Microsoft plan to bring the smart phone to other carriers and to GSM networks by the middle of the year.
Upside: Windows Mobile 5 obviously brings a number of benefits to the table, especially for corporate users who use a Windows platform. You get Word Mobile, Excel Mobile, and PowerPoint Mobile, but the draw for many may be Outlook Mobile. With support for push e-mail, you can now receive Outlook e-mail (along with POP3 and IMAP4 accounts), appointments, contacts, and tasks directly on your device via a connection with Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync. Verizon's EV-DO network means faster download speeds of about 400Kbps to 700Kbps. The companies would not confirm the amount of memory on the device, which is believed to be 64MB, but Windows Mobile 5 includes support for persistent storage, so even if your battery runs out of juice, your data will remain safe. Plus, there's an SD expansion slot for adding memory.
The Windows Treo keeps almost the same form factor as the Palm-based product, with a full QWERTY keyboard and slightly redesigned navigation buttons. It also features the same slider switch, which lets you ignore and silence incoming calls during important meetings, but there's an added twist: Instead of completely blowing off callers, you can now reply with a text message to let them know you received the call but were otherwise engaged. Some other added features include a photo speed dial and a user-friendly, icon-based voicemail app that supports numerous systems.
Downside: Although the three companies didn't reveal too many details on the Windows Treo, it looks like the smart phone won't have integrated Wi-Fi--again. Colligan said the only way to immediately get Wi-Fi access on the Windows Treo is through an SD Wi-Fi card. He also acknowledged that Wi-Fi is an emerging tech trend and said we would see wireless integration in future Palm products, but we can't help asking what the holdup is. We've seen it successfully integrated in other Windows devices, such as the Samsung SCH-i730 and the Siemens SX66, and we suspect this may be a sticking point with a number of potential buyers.
Outlook: Much like Apple's iPod, the Palm Treo is one of those devices that you either love or hate, but no matter how you feel about it, it has been an industry standard-setting smart phone that has dominated the market. The addition of a Windows-flavored Treo should capture a larger audience for Palm, which shipped 470,000 Treos in the first quarter of 2005--a 160 percent increase from last year. Still, it won't be an easy road, with new devices such as the Motorola Q and the Sprint PPC-6700 on the horizon. And this does not mean the Palm OS-based Treo 650 will be shown to the exit door; it will continue to be available. Pricing for the Palm Treo on Windows Mobile 5 was not released at the time of this writing, but it's expected to be more expensive than the Treo 600 and the 650 due to EV-DO support. Check back soon for updates and a full review.