Palm (finally) brings WiFi with the Trēo 800W

[NatCh]

It may not be Palm OS, but it is WiFi

After many years, Palm seems to have finally heard the clamor of its customers, and has released the Palm Trēo 800W, which has built in WiFi. It's not Palm OS, but presumably that the 800P will be a follow on before long.

The rest of the specs are mostly familiar, but there are a few new twists that will be much appreciated by some.

The display has changed to 320² pixels (color, of course), the expansion slot has shrunk to microSD size, supporting up to 8GB, and the connector is now one of the new micro USB ones. As you can see from the picture, the device is overall more Centro-like than previous Trēos. It will also sport EVDO Rev A. and a built in GPS function via Sprint's "benevolence."

That of course leads us to Sprint being the distributor on this one -- I guess it's their turn again. I'm sure the contracts will be similar to the ones we're already familiar with, the rebated price appears to be $249.

Some other interesting tidbits from the press release:

On EVDO Rev A:

As Sprint's first smartphone to ship immediately with EV-DO Rev. A network support, the Treo 800w offers customers the ability to quickly browse the web and send and receive emails - even those with large attachments - at broadband speeds.

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With EV-DO Rev. A, peak network download data rates increase to 3.1 Mbps and peak upload data rates increase to 1.8 Mbps; average download speeds improve to 600 kbps to 1.4 mbps and average uplink speeds increase to 350-500 kbps.

On WiFi:

Palm's WiFi hardware and software innovations make it easy to get online fast and manage network connections and power usage. The one-touch WiFi button provides a clean, uncluttered WiFi experience that gets Treo 800w users rapidly connected at home, in the office or in WiFi hotspots.(2) It includes 802.11b/g WiFi and built-in Internet Explorer Mobile, which means faster, more secure access to web-based data.

On GPS functionality:

With integrated GPS and Palm software enhancements, the Treo 800w smartphone offers maps, point-to-point directions and point-of-interest (POI) searches for locations such as restaurants or stores.(3) POI search is available directly from the Today Screen and is integrated with contacts, giving customers one-touch access to the places they want to go. Treo 800w also supports Sprint Navigation for turn-by-turn directions as well as other popular third-party location-based services applications.

On "enterprise" email service support:

It connects directly with Exchange Server 2003 SP2 or 2007 and works within a company's existing Microsoft infrastructure, eliminating costly middleware or the maintenance of additional servers.

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Microsoft Direct Push Technology is available out of the box and gives users connected to a Microsoft Exchange Server fast, automatic wireless updates from their email, calendar, contacts and tasks.(4)

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The Treo 800w is compatible with Microsoft's System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008, which delivers increased security and easier smartphone management as well as access to information on the corporate network via mobile VPN.

Looks like a direct run at Blackberry, that does.

Full specs here, and press release here.