Orange Deploys Push To Talk With the Treo 600

Posted By: Ryan Thursday, September 2, 2004 2:50:54 PM

Orange has announced the commercial availability of Talk Now, Europe’s first advanced Push-To-Talk over GSM service. The first device able to take advantage of the new service is the palmOne Treo 600.

Orange Treo 600 Smartphone Over the last nine months, Orange has engaged in customer trials across Europe to develop and refine the commercial Talk Now™ service, giving customers a new instant way of communicating alongside their existing voice and messaging services. It enables easy-to-access instant one-to-one and group calling with the added benefit of a real-time availability icon, so customers can see who is available to talk, and who is not. Customers can also create “team lists” that can be used to facilitate instant conference calling with up to 10 participants at any one time. Talk Now can also be switched to silent mode to ensure that people in the vicinity are not disturbed.

Orange named Alcatel, LG, Nokia, PalmOne and Sagem, as the first manufacturers in its Talk Now pan-European handset catalogue. The service will have a common user interface regardless of the handset. In the UK, the service will initially be available on the Treo 600.

The Orange Talk Now service is powered by Kodiak Networks's Real-Time Exchange (RTX) System, which enables an entirely new category of Advanced Voice Services, including PTT, with offerings that include:

Instant Availability - Ability to see who's available to receive a call
Instant Calling - Real-time "Push to Talk" calling
Instant Conferencing - Real-time conferencing with members of a group
Instant Contact Management - Create contact and group distribution lists directly on the handset

The new service is available today from Orange Business Solutions in the UK, and will be available later in the year for UK small business and personal customers. As well as the UK, Talk Now™ is due to be launched this year by Orange in France, then in Switzerland, the Caribbean, Romania, Slovakia, The Netherlands, the Dominican Republic, Belgium (Mobistar) and Jordan (Mobilecom) during the following months.

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Awesome

LiveFaith @ 9/2/2004 8:18:12 PM #

Now that is awesome! If it's as good as NExtel, then the rush is on!

Pat Horne; www.churchoflivingfaith.com

Other cerriers?

Calroth @ 9/2/2004 8:30:10 PM #

I wonder if this feature has been specifically developed for Orange, or if it's part of the Treo 600 base software and can be rolled out to different carriers.

RE: Other cerriers?

gfunkmagic @ 9/2/2004 11:25:14 PM #

A patched version of the Kodiak client has been floating around for months already and NO, it does not work on other Treo 600's like the CDMA Sprint version. It just caused the Treo to reset into an infinite loop. Also, it only works via other Kodiac client enabled handsets and you also have to get a subscription and account with Kodiak servers...

I support http://Tapland.com/

--------------------
GNM

RE: Other cerriers?

eston @ 9/3/2004 6:19:00 PM #

At least it shows us what can be done with the Treo. Maybe an aftermarket developer will create something (monthly service, maybe) that extends the service to users of other, US GSM networks?

..: eston
http://www.hyalineskies.com/

Way cool!

beneden @ 9/6/2004 1:15:29 PM #

Glad to have this available in Europe at last!

Ben

Documentary Photography: http://www.beneden.com
Wedding Photography: http://www.beneden.com/wedding/

People that use Push To Talk should be shot

The_Voice_of_Reason @ 9/23/2004 10:21:08 PM #

Has anyone here EVER seen someone using those pathetic PTT phones and not IMMEDIATELY felt like strangling them?

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Sony CLIE UX100: 128 MB real RAM, OLED screen. All the PDA anyone really ever wanted.

RE: People that use Push To Talk should be shot

Gekko @ 9/23/2004 10:40:52 PM #

Funny you should post this tonight. I'm trying to eat dinner out tonight at a fairly nice place and I can hear a few tables away some numbskull using that annoying Nextel service on SPEAKERPHONE with that annoying Star Trek sound going off and on. I stood up a few times and looked around but each time I did, the sound disappeared and I could not find him. It's no wonder I hate people.

RE: People that use Push To Talk should be shot

The_Voice_of_Reason @ 9/23/2004 11:16:15 PM #

If you find him I hope you GUT him. Two words: Justifiable homicide.

;-)

*********************************************************************
Sony CLIE UX100: 128 MB real RAM, OLED screen. All the PDA anyone really ever wanted.