Palm Rolls Out A Second New Model An As Many Months


Apparently Palm has been busy over there in Sunnyvale. A little birdie just dropped a notice in my mailbox of a new Trēo model.

Since this one is so close behind the Trēo 800W, I'll just hit the differences between the two.


Now this is a quick-comparison, so I'm likely to miss something, but I'm confident that others will help me out.

Differences between the Trēo Pro and the Trēo 800W Less user accessible RAM -- 100 MB to 170 MB
Maybe a different display, but I'm thinking probably not
Its camera has 8X digital zoom, to the 800W's 2X
Bigger battery 1500 mAh to 1150 mAh
Supports up to 32 GB microSD card
.08" wider, .08" taller, .2" thinner, and .31 oz lighter
Only comes in "Obsidian" -- presumably "Black" in man-colors

Here's the software that's on the device, I notice something called "Adobe Reader LE" in the list, anyone know what that refers to?
ActiveSync®; Adobe Reader LE; Bluetooth®; Bubble Breaker; Calculator; Calendar; Communications Manager; Contacts; File Explorer; Get WorldMate; GoogleMaps; Internet Explorer® Mobile; Messaging; Microsoft® Office Mobile including Excel® Mobile, OneNote Mobile, PowerPoint® Mobile, and Word Mobile; My Treo; Notes; Pics & Videos; QuickGPS; Quick Tour; SIM Manager; Solitaire; Sprite Backup; Streaming Media; Tasks; Telenav; Voice Command; Windows Live™; Windows Live™ Messenger; Windows Media® Player Mobile

All in all, no big surprises there, just another pro/am variation such as they've done before.

Here's a link to the product page (http://www.palm.com/us/products/smartphones/treopro/index.html).

Here's the software that's on the device, I notice something called "Adobe Reader LE" in the list, anyone know what that refers to?


Yes it's Adobe's Reader for the mobile phones/PDAs. It reflows and display's on the phone/PDA.

It looked terrible, as any reflow text would look. I ended up using "Piscel Browser" installed on my phone, which was much better.

=X=

I thought it might be something like that, =X=, but I hadn't run across it yet, so I was just guessing. Thanks for the info!

But it does have a flush screen, I think. And it's also only available for something like $580 or so in the US, unlocked GSM.

Personally I'm torn between something like that and something like the Touch Pro or Xperia X1 coming soon (supposedly). I like the convenient Treo keyboard, but I hate the small screen.

The Android dream is apparently due out soon also. But not enough maturity in the platform and 3rd party apps to win me over yet, I suppose. (I'm hoping, instead, that an Android emulator will run on many WinMo devices!!!)

I thought it might be something like that, =X=, but I hadn't run across it yet, so I was just guessing. Thanks for the info!

There's been a version of Acrobat Reader for Windows CE for many years. It works, but it's VERY slow for complex pages; the CPU of portable devices just isn't up to the task.

The Treo Pro is being launched in the UK in September. £399 (inc VAT) for an unlocked version, or available at lower cost (or free) on various contracts with Vodafone or O2.

The screen is definitely different. It's flush, and probably tougher than the 800w (since it is more exposed, supposedly they really torture tested it).

There's rumors that the original 850 is what Jon Rubenstein shot down when he started at Palm, and that the new 850 was ODM'd by HTC, hence the HTC touchs (beefier battery, separate power button) and the random Palm touches (ringer switch, etc).

Between the two, the 850 is probably a harbinger of what Palm aims to look like going forwards.