Meet the Treo Pro Smartphone

 

The new Treo Pro, announced today, packs a host of features like Wi-Fi and GPS into a sleek and elegant smartphone. (Wi-Fi and GPS fees depend on your coverage and data plan - click here for details.) Running Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, this world phone aims to keep the IT department and end users equally happy and productive.

Get a closer look in this video featuring three of the Treo Pro's very proud parents -- Stephane Maes (VP of product marketing), Peter Skillman (VP of design), and John Moses (VP of customer relations) - discussing the Treo Pro's thoughtful balance of powerful business-friendly features and surprisingly simple design.

Mike A. - Senior Product Manager

Comments

[Luigi D. Sandon]

At last!!!! Where can I buy one????

[Mark]

Why can't you make a Treo like this that runs Palm OS? There's nothing "pro" about Windows Mobile in my opinion.

[Ederic]

At last! :)

Will there be a Palm OS version?

[Maik]

Hi from Germany!

I'm a bit disappointed (there is always someone disappointed, isnt it? :-) )

I'm a Palm customer since the beginning and I use my Treo 650 the hole day for all private and company todos that I have.

But since you start producing also Windows Treos I feel more and more as a Treosaurus. :-(

I would like to have a Treo with all those features as the Treo Pro and with 3G.

When will it come?

-----
Why PalmOS:
I know it is old and not so fancy, but it works almost everytime without any problems or resets... something I cannot say about Windows based phones.
There exist a lot of very useful applications for my daily work that are also less complicated than some of their Windows pendants.
And I don't care about windows within applications on a 320x320 screen... :-)

Someday in the future there will be a better OS but this takes a lot of time and money to develope. Also there are other phones actually on the market or shortly before (iPhones and Androids) that will take their chance if they can to take over Palm users....

But you have so many customers with PalmOS Treos outside that it would be very short thinking not to fulfill their desires and let them stay as your customers.

----
Why do I stay with my Treo650?
- Great phone, all my data (about 4000 addresses, schedules etc fit easily), even some special applications are no problem and I'm able to change my applications within the rom because of some programming enthusiasts on the net. Because of this I'm actually using it with a 16GB SDHC card without problems.
- I need the external connector for the antenna!!
Would be great if this feature will come back on new phones!!

Why not a new iPhone? No thanks, I have all I need...except 3G, WiFi and GPS (in this order)
-----
How can Palm excel and survive in the future?
Easy: Keep your EXISTING customers happy and they will talk about it. Cheapest investment in the future.

Example: We have a company in Germany who builds DSL CPEs (www.avm.de). They are based on Linux. Since they are on the market they improve their software continuously even for older units.
So their functionality improved and still improves over the time and keep old and new users happy. I think they have actually now the biggest part of at least the German market. Only because they are working not like "shoot and forget".

There are some possibilities to improve even older Treos just with new good made software. Example: The browser has some problems, the mail application should be changed against ChatterEmail (but this piece of software should be redesigned too. It is a great emailprogram of one of your employees but with some design flaws and low stability)
And so on.

So, the easiest way to get new customers is to keep the old happy. In your bussiness it would be a piece of cake to improve the OS and applications not only once per lifetime.... you should do it more often, because this is the key to stay out of the croud and be excellent.
-----
About Maik:
I'm an ICT professional, 44 years old, working with computers since 1979 and used a lot of different HW and SW in my lifetime. My Treo and its applications are one of the most often used piece of technology for me over the years and I would like to use it even longer... but you have to improve.

FYI: I mean it very serious. I make only about one comment per year about a product or company. This year you are the famous one :-)
-----
This comment is longer than expected, but I haven't had the time for a shorter one.

Thank you for your time.
Best Regards,
Maik

[Eric]

Finally! I'm starting to regain some faith. But don't let that go to your heads Palm. Get the new OS out quickly! Please!

[Harold Goldner]

Lovely. A genuinely nice piece of work. Now how about LEAVING YOUR DEVELOPERS AND FANSITES ALONE so you don't dry up your consumer base.

I know this comment will never make it past the moderators, but this shareholder and long-time user would like to suggest you spend the money you are paying your IT lawyers to release a Garnet (!!) version of this phone or something more constructive.

This new unit shows what you can do when you aren't distracted.

H

Pretty. Doesn't mean I won't want to smash it to bits every other day out of sheer frustration, like my 700p. Please, just hang up when I press "Hang Up"!

[ConcernedFan]

Nice job with wi-fi and GPS. Very good work on the touchscreen being on the same level as the phone case, and the 3.5" jack.

But, where is my beloved Palm OS?
I hate Windows Mobile.

[Steven Hughes]

Palm just officially announced the Palm Treo Pro...

[Robson Porto]

Well, it's a great hardware evolution, but... if lauch this same phone, but with our 'actual' Palm OS, I really gonna be very, very happy!!

Who knows... a "Treo 880"?? ;-)

Okay, I know that the Garnet OS cannot support 3G (because need a multi-task), but all other functions he support and a simple PalmOS Treo with 400 Mhz, Edge, Wifi, GPS, 128/256MB (or 256/512MB, or more), 3.5 mm earphone, 2.0 Megapixel camera, 1500 mAh and some icons/interface that use this high resolution it's 'close to perfection' to me, and to many other peoples, too!

Well, you have the knife and the cheese... only need use!

Best Regards... B)

[tk421]

This is just amazing! Windows Mobile is not for me, but I can certainly appreciate the attention to detail and quality of the work that went in this product.

If the PalmOS 2 products are made with such taste, Palm will again become a MAJOR player in the mobile world. Time to buy Palm stock.

Oh, and please make a Palm TX with cell radio. And a beautiful large screen.

I'll hang on to my precious TX in the meantime.

Great work guys!

[Matt]

GPS Requires an account and data services at additional cost. GPS coverage not available in all areas at all times.

This means GPS will not work unless you are in range of cell towers as with the Palm 800w, so don't go camping or hiking or anywhere of the "path" cuz GPS will not work.

[bronxred]

oh man this looks like a great phone. but why is there no announcement of an upcoming Palm OS (or next-gen) version? I was waiting for one. my Treo 700p is dying. sad, too, cause I loved it. just needed a sleeker, faster, slightly more capable upgrade.

do I really have to go Blackberry Bold? *sigh*

please, Palm, don't leave me!

[Dave DiBiase]

My 2 cents as well - PalmOS please - I would probably switch to the limited GSM coverage in my area for that,

[Randy Ksar]

Very cool. Glad to see innovation still happening at Palm. BTW, cheesy intro on the video but otherwise good.

[Max]

Well, Palm....it seems almost unanimous from reading the posts prior to mine: GREAT phone and features (glad you left the slide off sound button, as an example of the old things that work well) BUT when will a Palm OS be sold with the Palm Pro. When you have thoughts about that, please call (collect, even!) or e-mail and I promise to be one of your very, very first to buy a Palm Pro with the Palm OS. 'Til then, I will hang on to my Treo 680 which works fine, but I sure do like the Pro!

[Where oh where in Europe?]

The device looks great, but where do we get it in countries that are not part of the UK? Like Czech?

Well, the hardware's nice, at least. Make it run something that's not Windoze and I'll think about replacing my Centro.

[JM]

I'm afraid i feel the need to chime in with several of the other commentors.
I wish that either the treo 800 or the new treo pro came available with the Palm OS.
I've been a treo user since the Treo 300 and have owned a treo 600, and a 650.
Currently I have a centro and even though other coworkers of mine have more powerful hardware in their pockets (I work in an IT department) I have had a better user experience than them because I am using the Palm OS.

[Kent Morwath]

Oooh, the usual whining about the missing PalmOS version - IMHO Windows Mobile is a better choice. Software like Skype doesn't have a PalmOS version. It better integrates with my company Windows network. It has a common interface with the software I use daily. And I can blame MS if something doesn't work, not Palm...

[Cozmot]

Has Palm leaned NOTHING? Windows does not belong on a PDA. It's a dog; drop-down menus on PDAs are antiquated and passe.

This is the world of TOUCH, Palm. You lost your innovation and edge. I finally abandoned you for the iPhone 2 after over 12 years of owning Palms. You created the PDA industry and you drifted and got lost.

Now get lost.

[zzchipster]

i am looking for my first smart phone and after reading the blog am wondering why everyone dislikes the win os..i will not be a heavy corporate user, but would enjoy the advanced features...i am a light email user and would be more interested in streaming video, music and internet access...thanks

[Harold Goldner]

Who says Garnet doesn't support 3G? What do you call the Treo 755p on Verizon?

H

[http://mdjosephkim.blogspot.com/]

Will there be a CDMA version for Verizon/Sprint? Or only the GSM version?

I'm married to Verizon for the next few years, so I'd really love to see a CDMA version!

[Aldo]

I can't believe what see my eyes... An amazing Palm device, with all the features needed in this days (WiFi, GPS, Camera). A lot of time have been passed before this smartphone... BUT WITH WM !!!! Incrédible, having a terrific OS like PalmOS, and put this thing in replacement???. Please, you can't do that to all fans of the world... it's an insult to us. I think never more buy a palm device. Seriously. :(