Introducing the Sprint Treo 800w: GPS, Wi-Fi, WinMo 6.1, EVDO Rev A, and more!

 

There’s a powerful new Treo smartphone for the Sprint network: the Sprint Treo 800w, boasting a combination of features that haven’t previously been available on any Palm device. Highlights include:

• integrated GPS
• one-touch Wi-Fi
• the latest version of Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
• fast mobile broadband speeds on Sprint’s EvDO Rev A network

along with several Palm enhancements to Windows Mobile that simplify and streamline the experience of using the Treo 800w.

You can pick up the Treo 800w now at the very affordable price tag of $249 (with two-year service agreement and mail-in rebate) in Sprint stores and online at www.sprint.com or www.palm.com. It’s also available through Sprint and Palm’s B2B sales organizations. (More information on the Treo 800w can be found here.)

Palm's Windows Mobile enhancements include:

• the ability to call, text, email, search the Web, and do a point-of-interest search (GPS/LBS) directly from the Today Screen;
• an "ignore a call" feature to send quick text messages -- such as “In a meeting” or “Can’t talk right now” -- from the Incoming Call Screen;
• superior phone and call-management features, including dedicated icons for mute, speakerphone and conference calling, and the ability to dial phone numbers in an email or webpage, all with just one-touch;
• a dial-by-name feature from the Today Screen;
• a one-touch Wi-Fi button to conveniently connect and manage Wi-Fi;
• GPS searches from the Today Screen and integration with Contacts and Sprint Navigation for turn-by-turn and audible directions;
• more program memory (128MB) and user storage (170MB internal, 8GB microSD expansion), along with a 2MP camera and high resolution 320x320 touch screen; and
• Palm's familiar one-handed navigation, including hard buttons for email and calendar, a five-way navigation button and tactile keyboard, and an on/off ringer switch to silence the phone in meetings.

Parag Gupta - Product Manager, Windows Mobile Smartphones

Comments

[Scotty]

Waiting on the 850 but good to see this finally become available...

Red end key now takes you back to the today screen instead of just turning off the screen (leaving you at the app you left off on) like every other model prior to the 750 (where this first appeared and was a great annoyance to many)? Oy

[driazen]

Any Idea on a time frame for a AT&T Treo 850?

[Lee Allen]

The Treo 800w looks great. Tempting but I'm waiting for someting with a bigger screen, SD memory cards, and Palm operating system. Yes it would be an iPod killer.

[David]

Why not a Treo 850p?

[David]

Why not a Treo 800p?

[Martin]

I must say, and I wasn't sure if I would ever get to say, but finally Palm has delivered Wi-fi and GPS. Finally!!!!! Maybe there is hope for the new OS and they aren't just toying with our emotions. Please deliver, and I did say please.

[palmdoc]

I'm sorry but what a pathetically weak battery for a device with Wifi and GPS. 1150 mAH? What were you thinking?

[Jeff Tschiltsch]

Does the GPS work with other WinMob software? Or do you have to use the Sprint Navigation? I already own TomTom's navigation software and would like to use that on the 800w without the external GPS unit. And I don't want to pay an extra monthly fee just for navigation.

[Andrius]

Huh :D iPhone fear in your heart (or pocket)?.

This is a nice step, just fix the looks of the poor Treo.

[Waitingfor800p]

Please, please, please come out with a new Treo that operates Palm software! I want the 800p!!!

[Gabriel Bennett]

Quote: palmdoc
Does the GPS work with other WinMob software? Or do you have to use the Sprint Navigation? I already own TomTom's navigation software and would like to use that on the 800w without the external GPS unit. And I don't want to pay an extra monthly fee just for navigation.

-----------------------------------------

Standalone GPS is not functioning. You can read more at:
http://discussion.treocentral.com/showthread.php?t=167240

[Darth Pooh]

The stand alone Gps does not work with stand alone apps. All the phone uses with the stand alone gps is assisted by the cellular network.

How do I know this? I was driving today and using Garmin XT and lost cell service. As soon as that happened, my location froze and it no longer updated. Also it doesn't work in flight mode, where the truth is, gps should be usable in flight mode.

I do love this device, but I bought it because it was advertised as having the standalone gps as a feature. Its a shame I feel like Palm has lied to me again.

[Sean Christopher]

I do like my Treo 800w, though I am disappointed in the lack of reset button, inability to use stand-alone GPS software like TomTom, and the inability to use Voice Command via bluetooth headset. My 700wx was my first PocketPC and I loved it. I want to love my 800w too. I'm debating whether or not it survives past Sprint's 30-day risk free trial.

[Levi Wallach]

Hello, I just upgraded from the Treo 700wx and so far love the 800w! I have one concern, though, which is the GPS capability. Your specs state "Built-in GPS (standalone and assisted)" however so far it seems that no one online has been able to get the standalone GPS to work. IE, when the phone's radio is turned off, GPS-capable programs (specifically those that don't require a data connection such as TomTom or Garmen XT) cannot see any sattelites. This could be a problem if someone travels abroad or even to areas of the US where there is little or no cell coverage. In such areas, stand-alone GPS is the only option. Can you please look into this and let us know if indeed stand-alone GPS will be offered/fixed or if your definition of "stand-alone" is not that of many of your customers? Thanks!

[Daniel Gonzalez Garcia]

¿ Cuando va a llegar a Europa y a México ]?

[Karl]

It is a great smartphone. I am so glad that we finally have WiFi and GPS.

The problem is that the GPS does not work without the phone radio turned on. This does not jive with the specifications and wont do us any good when we travel out of our coverage area. We were supposed to have full stand alone GPS. Palm needs to fix this ASAP

[Andrew]

While I like my new 800w, I don't like the GPS which will not allow me to use my TomTom 6 software, as my Sprint Mogul easily did. Please provide a solution to this so that the built-in GPS will recognize my existing software that I depend on for my business.
Also, could we please have an option of the WM volume icon rather than the Palm battery icon on my top bar? This was a very frustrating feature of my old 700Wx, and I hoped the 800w would no longer have this "enhancement."
Thanks!

[NPR_Aficionado]

It seems that the stats on the phone are not fully correct. Had the phone 4 days and the GPS is NOT STANDALONE (it requires cell reception). If you power off the phone connection, or leave coverage, after a reset on the phone it will not get any GPS location (this is when using an independent map program that does not need data for the maps eg. TomTom). I really hope Palm comes out with a fix, cause this is not what was advertised with the phones specifications.

[JJ72]

As a recent purchase of two 800Ws I have a couple of quesitrons.

The first has to do with the battrey. Let me state this is not my first smartphone, I don't expect a 7 day battery life and I am jsudicious about turn off the power robbing features. Still the battery life is unacceptable in business device. It will not complete a business day. As a beta tester of several devices in the past I cannot believe this did not come in up in beta.

At this point I think the fair and reasonable thing to do is come up with a higher capacity spare (1500 or more mA range) and for you to sell it cost to be fair to your customers. We really want to support you. We want to say the others have sex appeal but the Treo is for people who know better. But if you fail on sex appeal AND utility, and the battery is a core element of utility, how can we recommend the 800W?

I also am utterly flummoxed by the supposed autonomous GPS. Either this GPS works as one would expect from "autonomous" on a smart device with wmobile, ie it can work with Garmin and TomTom using satellites completely independent of of mobile coverage or it is not autonomous. The answers from your support are that the "autonomous" GPS works with satellites but needs a CDMA as well. Respectfully, the actual word then is "non-autonomous."

Not to belabor it, but this is as logical as if you advertised WiFi, but the 800W needed a data connection to Sprint EVDO to establish a WiFi connection. A lot of good that would do you if you want to get your email at a WiFi cafe in Madrid.

So:
1) do you expect to do something about the poor and unacceptable battery life?
2) Can you formulate a straight answer on GPS and an apparently needed fix. To be precise I want my Treo to work with GPS anywhere including in Europe as my prior non European smartdevice could. From the looks of it you need to release a quick update to allow optional disable of forced aGPS ("tower assisted") that the 800w is some how fixated on before moving onto Sat GPS.

[Dennis Rockwell]

If the 800p had been available six months ago, we'd've bought two. Instead, I bought a refurb TX on ebay, a cheap LG flip phone, and my wife got a TE2 and an LG ENv to (poorly) replace her dying Kyocera PalmPhone.

Great timing, guys.

[palm tx fan]

There are many people like myself who prefer having separate products for different tasks, i.e. phone, handheld organizer, gps. I really like the T/X because of the flash memory system which does not lose your info when it crashes.

With the new iPhone coming in at only $199. Palm should reduce the price of the T/X which has remained at $299 forever!

[willysp]

I'm new to Palm hardware, though have been using WM for 10 years. A few comments, in random order.

PRO
- fast; hardware graphics acceleration is great!
- GPS locks on quickly
- good quality feel, fit & finish
- lots of memory
- good one-handed operation
- I like a lot of Palm's customization of WM
- Micro-USB is nice
- Easy to get micro-SD card in and out

CON
- plastic stylus is fine with me, but this one is too flexible; needs to be stiffer
- need a soft reset hole or a soft reset app; popping the battery is very 1980's
- BT audio quality is mediocre; I use a nxZEN 6000 which sounds great with Touch and Razr2.
- please let me use Option key + buttons, without holding down the Option key.
- weak battery; needs more juice
- no case in box
- don't have separate brightness controls for battery and AC
- please give me the option of using either Palm threaded SMS or native 6.1 SMS
- use Device ID to identify 800w when BT pairing, not Owner Name
- fix some of these in next ROM version, OK? :)

[Mike USA]

I hear that the GPS does not work stand alone when bought through Sprint. If I pay $599 and buy from Palm will Sprint be able to screw with my GPS? I think Sprint is blocking the GPS chip on purpose. Does anybody know if this phone plays AVCHD/H.264 mp4 VDO? If this phone was designed for business it would be a World phone(GSM/CDMA). Need to add this to the Palm 800p. Business people travel to Europe you know! The biggest problem I find with smartphones is the external moblie flash memory cards. 99% of all new non apple smartphones use micro or mini sd cards..WHY? Regular SD cards now go up to 32GB. I have lots of files to carry around and I hate these little micro and mini cards, they only go up to 4GB and 8GB. Seems like these phone designers are going backwards. In Summary the Palm 800p needs to add World phone capabilities and regular SD card reader up to 32 GB support. Come on people get on the stick or RIMM and Apple will put you out of business. I would buy the iphone but I hate internal memory, external memory is the way to go!

[The Lepricon]

If this Treo had a better quality Speakerphone and Earpiece, a bigger battery, voice dialing via bluetooth, and true standalone GPS it would have blown every other PDA phone out of the water. But, alas, the speakerphone and earpiece sound terribly distorted,the battery is waaay too small, no voice dial via bluetooth, and the "Standalone?" GPS requires tower service to get any signal at all.

Come on Palm, seems to me all of these were just efforts to cut costs, except for the "Standalone" GPS, which seems to have been a programming error.

[James Pennington]

Still trying to figure out why the GPS is not working on standalone. Can you please send out an update to get it working.