Rogers Brings the Treo 600 to Canada

Posted By: Ryan Tuesday, March 23, 2004 6:46:27 PM

palmOne Canada and Rogers Wireless today announced the availability of the Treo 600 smartphone in Canada.

The Treo 600 smartphone is the first quad-band smartphone (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) available in Canada and enables customers to make and receive wireless calls and use wireless data service on GSM/GPRS networks in almost every country around the world.

Operating on the Palm OS 5.2 operating system, the Treo 600 smartphone offers a full roster of organizational tools, including calendar, address/contact database, to-do list, and memo pad. The Palm OS platform enables customers to take advantage of roughly 20,000 commercially available applications, including office document readers, games and various other productivity tools. In addition, the Treo 600 smartphone provides access to a variety of advanced multimedia features, including MP3 playback functionality, an integrated VGA camera, picture caller ID, and the ability to send and receive images.

"Rogers Wireless is pleased to bring the Treo 600 - our first smartphone - to market in Canada," said David Neale, vice president, new product development, Rogers Wireless Inc. "We have combined the power of this fully integrated wireless voice and data smartphone with our recently launched Enhanced Wireless Desktop(TM) service to truly mobilize the desktop computer and provide a superior customer experience. Enhanced Wireless Desktop addresses the fundamental need of our business data customers for mobile control of their inboxes."

Rogers Wireless' Enhanced Wireless Desktop service delivers and wirelessly synchronizes personal and office email, calendar, and contacts to the device and enables users to download and view popular email attachments, all at no extra charge with any Data Service Plan.

The Treo 600 smartphone is available to Rogers Wireless customers for $599.99 CAD when purchased with a two-year voice and data service agreement and can be purchased online. It is $799 with a one year term, and $875 CAD on a monthly plan.

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I want the first one

chinchorrero @ 3/23/2004 7:39:37 PM #

I want the first one.
Cheers

"Life is Too Short"
Tungsten T3-Sony ericsson T610,HBH-60,SanDisk 256Mb Sd Card

RE: I want the first one

prospects @ 3/23/2004 8:50:16 PM #

I was the first one 6 month ago

Marc-Andre

Rogers ......

redregane @ 3/23/2004 7:58:06 PM #

has to be the cell phone operator with the absolute slowest adoption rate of new technology ... it takes them forever to offer new products and when they do they absolutely GOUGE their customers .... their data plans are also usurious so why would anyone in his right mind buy the treo 600 for use on Rogers GPRS data network ?

RE: Rogers ......

dona83 @ 3/23/2004 9:33:27 PM #

Who'd you rather go with? Telus "We improved our customer service" Mobility? Bell Mobility? Oh I get it, you're a Fido customer aren't you! Aren't you little boy? Go fetch the doggie bone!

Fido tried offering Vancouver area residents $40 plus tax a month for absolutely unlimited daytime evening and weekend calling, system access fee and all that included, and I wouldn't buy into that.

Telus gave me too many problems the 8 months I was their customer.

Yes Rogers' "high speed internet" is a bit slow but you know, accounting between Telus' horrible reputation, Bell's um... maybe Bell's good but they haven't been in the wild west long enough for me to criticize them, and Fido.... they're just weird.

GSM technology is wonderful, I don't know how could anyone stand that CDMA crap. If I wanted that I'd go to Japan, at least they got better and cheaper phones.

But here in Canada, give me a GSM Treo 600 anyday!

RE: Rogers ......

Dural @ 3/23/2004 10:55:04 PM #

> "Fido.... they're just weird"

That's a valid criticism! Now I just have to try and figure out what you mean by that! :)

RE: Rogers ......

MTM @ 3/23/2004 11:21:32 PM #

On a Google search, second hit, I found a Treo 600 for US$329 with a plan. Rogers is CDN$600 (~450US$) with a plan.

Hmmm.

Screwed again. Oh Canada!

Mike

Mike

—————

"Never ascribe to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity". --Richard Feynman

RE: Rogers ......

dona83 @ 3/24/2004 11:12:23 AM #

ALL technology that comes to Canada comes at a premium. Retail Palm models are 20% more expensive here than the US. I know a store in Vancouver that sold the Palm Tungsten W for $100 less than Rogers did.

Look around, you ought to find a better deal.

Don

RE: Rogers ......

redregane @ 3/24/2004 12:48:40 PM #

dona83 let's review my post and see if you addressed any of the issues in your irrational rant:

1) Rogers is abysmally slow in introducing new handsets - true as the Treo has been available since last fall at most US mobile operators. Nary a word in your rant. Also the prices charged when they are finally introduced tend to be prohibitive

2) Rogers charges usurious rates for data plans - true as one could get an all you can eat data plan with the hiptop through Fido for $20.00 month. As for Rogers their top "navigate" plan is $12.00 per month for 2 megs of download. Hardly a bargain. once again nary a word in your rant.

Insofar as technology being more expensive in Canada .. that tends to be true, but that's the fault of us consumers who accept that Futureshop and other retailers are still using 50% + US exchange markup when it is really much lower 35%.

RE: Rogers ......

dona83 @ 3/24/2004 4:36:14 PM #

1.) True, they're the SprintPCS of Canada pretty much. Telus, Fido, and Bell were coming out with industry leading/break through phones long before Rogers did. However, last September, instead of a camera phone, instead of a PalmOS or PPC smartphone, I chose a huge monochrome Nokia 6310i. I was so worried about cutting edge rather than the true functionality of the phone, and, what ALL phones should have, one week between charges. I can see how some people perceive Rogers as such a boring company... I ask you one thing though... if Rogers is so slow at releasing the Treo 600, why does Telus, Fido, and Bell not have it yet?

2.) I gotta admit I was frustrated by their network speed... and I admit that if I got the Treo 600 I would not use it for anything more than SMS, E-mail (POP3), IM via VeriChat, and basic WAP browsing. My usage right now is 400kb for WAP. If I wanted to see designed-for-desktop sites, I would do just that, use a desktop. I mean, tell me you need to use your phone to check full multimedia sites or download all the material you need to write a thesis, I mean, current data plans are designed with business customers in mind, and most business customers will never stray from SMS, E-mail, and occasional information lookup via WAP browsers.

For the one who asked about Fido aka MicroCell, it's a GSM based cell phone company in Canada, they're very weird tho. And connection is only in the major cities with pretty crappy quality. But they got cheap voice and data plans. But they're crappy.

RE: Rogers ......

tantousha @ 3/25/2004 3:05:11 AM #

Yeah...after using Telus (since they were BCTel) and Fido, I must admit I finally settled with Rogers. I found a store out in Willowbrook mall (in langley) that gave me the phone I wanted (at the time a Motorola T720) for free and waived all sorts of activation fees and stuff of the sort.

As for Fido...yeah they're great...as long as you don't plan on leaving the GVRD (Greater Vancouver Regional District), wanna go to Whistler for the day? The Island? Chilliwack? Parts of surrey? You're SCREWED!

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