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

[Branedy]

A company without vision, where is the new OS? Why are you wasting Palm's name on another Microsoft Product. Focus, Look forward, not backward, Dump MS and get on with the future!

[1-Ghost]

I've been a palm user since the original Palm Pilot and have upgraded over the years to the Palm III, V, VII, M505, Tungsten T3, TX, Treo 600, and my curren 650. To get the 650, I'm sure you probably see a trend here - ALL PALM OS!!!!! I had to get an exception to my company's policy of using Blackberry - but I did. I have spent a lot of money and have been extremely loyal, and this new device with Windoze OS is a slap in all your loyal customer's faces. YOU ARE PALM, your OS and your Brand are one in the same, yet you treat your customers like this with the Treo Pro? Perhaps it's time for me to face the fact that you are no longer a player in this market and that Palm OS is dead. This was probably your last chance with a lot of us and you blew it. You let us down.

[Luigi D. Sandon]

It's difficult for me to understand all this blaming Windows Mobile on Treos. HTC sells Windows Mobile smartphones, and no one blames it, instead big praises. If Palm does, a lot of people complain. I used PalmOS on my Treo for a long time, and liked it. I can understand some complains.
But Windows Mobile fits better in my company network. As a software developer, I understand the complexity of developing and mantaining a whole OS. As a user, I understand the issues our system administrators have to face to keep control over the devices, and ensure they respect the company policies.
IMHO Palm made a good choice to release a Windows Mobile device. This is more aimed at business users, than consumer ones. IT administrators like standard software they know.
And it's funny to see people advocating a yet-to-be-released, Java based OS like Android - let's see how does it fit in a corporate environment. Or others claiming that to "innovate" Palm should copy Apple or RIM devices - Treo has its own personality, and I like it over RIM (no touchscreen, proprietary services), or Apple (no keyboard, closed system).

[Mark]

This is nice. Drop the 800w on the CDMA world and a blink of the eye later come out with this in GSM... Really feeling like all your CDMA customers got the short end of the stick!

[tam]

And still no 320x480 Treo or TX with cell radio:(
How long until you realize that there are a lot of users waiting for such device. But please, with Palm OS!!!
Please!!!

[CES]

I cant imagine why there isnt at least one single Treo model with a large landscape screen and without physical keyboard. Look at the tremendous IPhone success Palm!!!

[Ed]

Wow nice hardware...too bad it does not have Palm OS. . .I gues I won't be buying this one. What a shame!

[gene]

I've long been a palm user, first with Treo650 then with the 680 with both running on the company's Palm OS. I'll be waiting too for the Pro's version for Palm OS. Like others and to remind Palm, Palm's OS should prevail over windows. With ease Palm had no problems running windows. If Palm through its own OS could make windows run its what windows still can't do with the Palm OS. When?

[Palm User]

@Kent Morwath
You are correcting others but don't have a 800w or Pro? I can tell by your comment implying that aGPS doesn't need cell towers. It does for Palm. And even the 800w which supposedly has aGPS "AND Standalone GPS" has been found by users to require cell towers or not work at all. Users have tested it overseas and found it will not function at all even with standalone GPS and aGPS as advertised features.

[joshis]

Well, the device would be perfect for me, but I am a bit disappointed with the price:

http://eurostore.palm.com/epages/Store.sf/secAXyZRk8AYZ_/?ObjectPath=/Shops/PalmStore/Products/1065_Palm_Pro/SubProducts/1065EU

http://eurostore.palm.com/epages/Store.sf/secAXyZRk8AYZ_/?ObjectPath=/Shops/PalmStore/Products/1065_Palm_Pro/SubProducts/1065EU

I think it is a really bad deal to buy this device for the price, I think it is just not worth it. If it was for 400EUR, I would think about it... sorry...

[Rodolphe Gerber]

Greetings from Switzerland,

If Treo Pro runs PalmOS it will be may next Phone. I'm a very happy Treo 650 User (before Zire72 and Palm 500). The speed and the ease of use of PalmOs is unbeattle by any WinMo Software...

Also all the apps available on PalmOS is just perfect...

[patrick]

I'm heartened by reading the above comments to discover that I'm not the only person who is on hold for a Palm device with phone and wi-fi and Palm operating system so I can keep all the applications I've grown to love over the years. I'll just keep my T/X and my old phone till the PalmOne folks grant my wish, but please make it soon...

[Bruce Garrett]

This is a Windows only device. At least with Palm OS you can sync with a Mac or Linux PC.

For what it's worth to you...I switched from my Kyocera 7135 to an iPhone when they first came out. After over a year with the iPhone I have become disillusioned with Apple's failure to grasp the basics when it comes to organizer software. Coupled with their suffocating lockdown of application software, I strongly doubt that I will ever see anything in the iPhone that resembles what I was used to having in the Palm desktop.

Palm, in my opinion, got the basics absolutely right. It's been almost a year and a half and the iPhone still doesn't have notepad synchronization. And none of the third party apps that Apple has allowed to trickle out let you sync notes in the phone directly to your computer. There are a couple that let you sync via the "cloud", but I don't want my sensitive information going through third party servers I know nothing about.

In the Palm organizer I can password protect individual records on an as needed basis. In the iPhone it's all or nothing.

I could go on but the point is Apple seems to see the iPhone as an entertainment device that happens to be a phone too. I need a phone that's tightly integrated with my PIM, and which I can sync with my household computer, my office computer, and my laptop. Those are, respectively, a Linux box, a Windows box, and a Mac. I could do that with the Kyocera. The iPhone syncs via iTunes, but having a .Mac account allows me to at least access my contact book and calendar via the web from a Linux box. With a Windows Mobile device, I have to use a Windows PC to get to my data. That is not acceptable.

You have an opportunity here. People aren't happy with the way Apple is squandering the excitement it generated with the iPhone. It fails in a number of really breathtakingly stupid ways at being a good organizer, and Apple's attitude toward third party software isn't winning them any friends in the developer community. The basic Palm application suite gets everything right. You could build on that. You marry something like the Palm TX to a phone...maybe with a slide-out keyboard, and you win. All Windows Mobile gets you is chained to Redmond.

[Julien]

How great, how nice, how full-featured, how... how...
How come you bundled such a long-waited device with this *inopportune* OS ?!?

I bought my Treo650 with intense satisfaction when I found it could favorably replace the Palm & Nokia devices I always had paired (Pilot+2110, Tungsten+7110...)

Finally, one unique & efficient device.

I had it fall & break 2 years later, I bought a new one in the evening. Definitively a 650-addict.

Then my operator offered the new Treo750 (M$ inside) as a long-time fidelity bonus. Got it, tried it, buried it. Slow, unstable, far from user-friendly... just to say a few.

Now comes *the* accomplishment, the Treo we all dreamt of, WiFi and even GPS included. And - I just can't believe it - pow(d)ered by Windows (not so) Mobile...

You people ought to read a *great* document that was published more than 5 years ago.

The name was "Zen of Palm", and the author was... you !

*Please* release a PalmOS version.

[samsung]

really cool phone.

[Drincho]

I want this device with PALM OS!!!!

[thedon]

So I purchased the Treo Pro and i would like to know how to hide the SIM contacts. I just want to see my outlook contacts, but currently, i see both my outlook and SIM card entries. Does anyone know how to hide the SIM contacts???

[med]

OK. I have to comment and say the exact same thing as everyone else just with more begging and pleading: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE release something similar to this phone with the Palm OS. I spent $700 on the Treo 650 and never regretted it for moment (ok... so a little bit when my girlfriend broke up with me over it and when I had to argue with Sprint tech support for 3 hours to get my $150 rebate). The point here is: YOU HAVE TO RELEASE A NEW PALM OS TREO WITH WIFI VERY SOON or your company will fall into the flames right behind Ford, GM, and Chevy. I finally parted with my treo 650 a year and a half ago and have been using prepaid nokia phones in the interim. I search google every couple months to find that much awaited Palm OS announcement that will have me packing away that $700 bill to be first in line, but still nothing. I AM PATIENT. I AM WILLING TO WAIT FOR YOU. I've seen rumors circulating for the last 2 years about this new linux-based rewrite of the Palm OS... but WHY HASN'T IT BEEN RELEASED OR EVEN OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCED YET? At least let an officially anonymous employee leak the information to the tech blogs so that we won't feel like we're waiting for nothing. PPPPPPPLEASE. I am so close to buying a fricking Blackberry or holding out for a 2nd or 3rd generation Android phone, because they're the closet thing to REAL treo (yes, I'm belittling the Windows OS TREOs with that comment... i'd rather buy an iphone than one of those (not really)). PLEASE. I want a Palm OS Treo with wifi so badly. GPS doesn't even matter. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE. I'm 25, good looking, slightly cool... if you release a Palm OS Treo with Wifi, I'll take it all over the place in public and make it look sexier than an Iphone ... I'll tell everyone about how incredible and powerful it is and how, while it doesn't have the initial sex appeal of a touch screen (douche bag) phone, IT IS THE GREATEST PORTABLE DEVICE TO EVER EXIST.

That is all,
Love,
MED

ps... a built-in 3.5mm headphone jack would also be nice.

[Palm]

Exceptional beauty!

[Zeenat S., Edelman for Palm]

thedon, I would start with the Palm user forums: http://forums.palm.com/palm/. Another option would be to contact our customer support: http://www.palm.com/us/support/using.html. Good luck!

And med, thanks and appreciate your feedback!

[VRMJ]

Treo Pro may be great, but with a different OS? i will still prefer the Palm OS.

[LBravo]

I have used Palm OS since its inception. I remember those awkward Sharp pda wannabees... Palm ruled in those days. I dropped Palm OS to go with the Treo 800w, being assured that it would be the Treo 700 and then some. What a mistake that was. Yes, it had a few more features than the 700, but lacked the 'power' of simplicity that my 700 had. Well, having converted, I now look at the Pro, and wonder... will this Pro be better than my 800w? My son (13) now has my 700, my wife (who has only used her phone for calls and now wants to text), will inherit my 800w, and I have ordered the Pro. This is my last stronghold. We'll see if this is the last Palm phone I ever owned. PS. there is something to be said about being able to open attachments in the 800w and using some windows based programs not available in Palm OS. But I have to admit that looking at the minor advantages have been mainly a way to console myself, for the loss of my wonderful Palm OS.

[Alex H. at Edelman for Palm]

LBravo -- both the 800w and Treo Pro run the same OS -- Windows 6.1. The Treo Pro has been described by reviewers as a sleeker device so we think you'll like it. Let us know how it goes.

[Only Won]

I've been a loyal Palm with Palm OS since the original Palm Pilot. Even rap about it & sample Palm sounds on my new CD "Only Won - The Lyrical Engineer" in the title song. But if there's no new Palm OS in the future and I need to upgrade phones, I might have to leave Palm. Please, New and better Palm OS that uses Desktop!

[Angele Zamarron]

I don't want windows on my phone!!!!! Boo hoooooooooo
I'm so saaaaad
I really really really want palm treo pro to have os plz plz plz the centro version
can you make a special one just for me, palm???

it's like the pixi and centro got smushed together (my dream) but then a horrible mutation happened! Please, help me!