Palm Launches the Treo 500v
Palm Europe today announced the Treo 500v smartphone. The Treo 500v will be available to European Vodafone customers in October. The Palm Treo 500 runs on the Windows Mobile 6 standard platform, includes a High Speed 3G/UMTS Internet Access and will be available in two colors: glacier white and charcoal grey.
It will initially be available to Vodafone customers in Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, the UK and Vodacom customers in South Africa.
"The new Treo 500v adds a third internet ready Vodafone live! and Microsoft Windows Mobile device to our recently announced Global Handset range," said Jens Schulte-Bockum, Global Terminals Director, Vodafone Group. "When combined with our high-speed 3G/UMTS network and fast access to the internet, along with great browsing and messaging support, we are confident the Palm Treo 500v will appeal to the growing group of consumers looking for the same functionality and ease of use our business customers continue to enjoy from this type of premium device."
Treo 500v Specs
The Treo 500 comes with a full qwerty keyboard and a 240x320 Transflective display with support for 65k colours. It has a tri-band GSM radio supporting the 900/1800/1900 bands and UTMS 2100. It includes 256MB memory with 150MB available for user storage and a microSD expansion slot. It also features a 2 megapixel digital camera and a Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR and stereo headset support. A mini USB port is provides for charging and connectivity as well as a 2.5mm headset jack. A removable 1200mAh battery is present for a claimed 10 day stand-by rating with 4.5 hours of talk time. It has dimensions of 16.5mm (D) x 61.5mm (W) x 110mm (H) (.65" x 2.4" x 4.3" inches) and weighs 120 grams (4.23 ounces).
click for a larger image.
The Treo 500v comes with the standard suite of Windows Mobile software including Internet Explorer Mobile, Microsoft Office Mobile, Windows Live, access to Google Maps and eBay and Vodafone live! for news, sports, and entertainment. In addition users can share the Treo 500v smartphone's data access with a laptop, so they can stay connected anywhere within wireless coverage.
Palm says the device will be available begining October 1st. It will initially be a Vodafone exclusive. Pricing will vary due to contracts, promotions and country. It is expected to be offered for free in the UK on contract, 32.9 euros dependent on contract in Germany, 199-149 euros, including local taxin Italy and between 0-99 euros, dependent on contract in the Netherlands. In store pricing may also vary.
UPDATE: Read our Treo 500v review.
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RE: Treo 500v brings Palm up to date
-- http://discussion.treocentral.com/showpost.php?p=1344781&postcount=5
RE: Treo 500v brings Palm up to date
NO "traditional" Palm touches: no ringer mute switch up top, no "smile" keyboard, no Athena Multiconnector. And Palm has always had a charger port and a sync port even on their cheapest Zire devices with mini-USB connectors.
If this thing is devoid of even the slightest bit of the Palm "special sauce" then I expect it to meet a swift demise in Europe and likely not even be offered for sale in the US.
For the handful of VERY welcome improvements Palm brings to the table in this device (larger screen, 256MB RAM, BT 2.0, 2.0megapixel camera) it also lacks any of the usual touches Treo owners have come to expect from Palm.
I have a feeling the keyboard probably suffers from splotchy, uneven backlighting too!
And even though it's a GSM handset, 1200mAh is STILL too small for a stock battery in this day and age.
I'll not even get into the lack of a 3.5mm stereo headphone jack.
Now, the Centro, for all of its ridiculously small size and ugly color scheme, at least has the potential to be more "Palm-ish" than this thing. A touchscreen, for one. 320x320 as another (though it may be so damm small that it's nearly unusable)And the Centro will almost certainly have to have a higher capacity battery than 1200mAh, seeing that it's a CDMA device.
Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P
RE: Treo 500v brings Palm up to date
If this thing is devoid of even the slightest bit of the Palm "special sauce" then I expect it to meet a swift demise in Europe
I totally disagree. The fact current treos haven't done well in Europe suggests that something different to Palm's special sauce needs to be on the menu.
I think the ringer switch is a bit redundant anyway, how often do people need to switch their phone in and out of silent/vibrate mode? It's something that can be easily done by software, as is the case with all other phones. I note that some dumbphones don't even have a dedicated on/off button!
RE: Treo 500v brings Palm up to date
Treo 500v - I like it.
But of course you do. It's a WM device. ;)
Honestly though, I can see how a phone like this could sell fairly well. Mind you, not to me, but it will have a market.
Thinking about Vista? Think again: http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.txt
Want an alternative? Try this: http://www.ubuntu.com/ or http://www.mepis.org/
RE: Treo 500v brings Palm up to date
I think the ringer switch is a bit redundant anyway, how often do people need to switch their phone in and out of silent/vibrate mode?
ChiA, I disagree. I use the silent switch very often. At least once a day.
RE: Treo 500v brings Palm up to date
I definitely agree on the functionality of the ring/vibrate switch. I use it numerous times throughout the day, even though I seldom even use my Treo for phone calls! It's extremely handy to mute system sounds/alerts and to toggle sound on when, say, watching MobiTV and then muting it when going into a meeting or an appointment.
At the very least, I'd like to have seen Palm added some hardware "sauce" with their traditional ring/vibrate switch up top and at least tweaked the SMS app or the today screen or something!
But, as far as quick & easy cash grabs go, this thing at least appears to be pretty reasonable from a hardware standpoint. Without a quad-band radio it looks like this'll be destined to be a non-USA product....which is probably a good thing since everyone is iPhone & BlackBerry crazy in the States nowadays. Any decent-but-unremarkable scraps like this Treo would still have to contend with the new Moto Q, increasingly feature-laden dumbphones and any number of HTC devices for the leftover customers.
Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P
RE: Treo 500v brings Palm up to date
PROS:
The new add-ons which I like are... microSD and the mini-usb. I am glad they dumped the palm connector. I am on my second one for my 700P because after a while it barely stays in place.
CONS:
Battery could have been a 2400mAh
No Touchscreen! Web browsing on it will be a chore.
Bluetooth 2.0 doesn't mean Stereo Audio.
Still no WiFi.
Pilot 1000 -> IIIe(w/ Ricochet wireless modem) -> Handspring -> 700P -> ????
RE: Treo 500v brings Palm up to date
Surur
RE: Treo 500v brings Palm up to date
In the Spirit of Umoja,
Ronin
RE: Treo 500v brings Palm up to date
I have a feeling the keyboard probably suffers from splotchy, uneven backlighting too!
And this is based on what exactly?? Staring into your tea-leaves this morning? A Widji board? An inner need to find fault in everything?
I have a feeling you're an 1d10t.
JLM.
No silent switch? Why?
RE: Treo 500v brings Palm up to date
Palm likes to remove useful features and someone must have told Palm they don't use it that much. Actually is pretty shocking because that's one of my favorite treo hardware features.
RE: Treo 500v brings Palm up to date
I have a feeling I know what I'm talking about and you're just looking to stir up another flame war.
Testing a 755p from Sprint side by side with 2 700p's and a 650 clearly revealed the 755p to have the worst keyboard and hard button backlighting of the quartet.
The 755p (like its sister 750 and 680 Treos) omits the backlighting of the direcitonal pad as well as the space bar. Certain keys on the 755p were dimmer than other keys nearby and made certain punctuation symbols especially difficult to read in darkness. And the new "2-in-1" split app hard buttons on the 755p are less distinctly defined than the older Treos and definitely showcase the splotchy backlighting problem I mentioned.
So the above factors, combined with Palm's removal of the reset button on newer Treos and the new 500's inexplicable lack of a ring/vibrate switch (previously a hallmark of the Treo line), camera mirror, and IR port makes it painfully obvious that Palm's looking to trim costs and boost margins wherever possible. Some of the changes are understandable yet others are bizarre, especially in light of the otherwise solid hardware choices on the 500 (2.0MP camera, BT 2.0, 150MB RAM etc).
Mind you, I don't have a problem with Palm rebranding "me-too" WinMob devices like this--I'd just prefer for Palm to keep it all lumped in under a "value" brand like Centro etc. Keep the Treos as the flagship devices with a uniform set of baseline features (ring/vibrate switch, larger LCDs etc).
Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P
RE: Treo 500v brings Palm up to date
But, it's also important to note that the backlights fade unevenly over time too - my 650 was brilliant to start with, but nowadays looks like the old fogie that it is...
Tim
I apologise for any and all emoticons that appear in my posts. You may shoot them on sight.
Treo 270 ---> Treo 650 ---> Crimson Treo 680
RE: Treo 500v brings Palm up to date
inexplicable lack of a ring/vibrate switch
The silent switch has been a Treo trademark
I use the silent switch very often. At least once a day
I think it was a good idea for Palm to get rid of this ringer switch to bring costs down. I think it's a waste of money and engineering to have one switch dedicated to a function that's only occasionally used.
I find this complaining all the more ironic as I'm someone who finds the vibrate function essential on a mobile. All my mobiles since 1996 have had the vibrate function, none of them have had a dedicated key to switch it on or off yet I've managed fine.
Who knows, maybe the 500v uses a similar method to Nokia of switching to a vibrate/silent function, where a quick tap on the power button changes the profile. We can only tell by getting the phone in our hands.
RE: Treo 500v brings Palm up to date
Web browsing on it will be a chore
The Nokia N95 doesn't have a touchscreen yet browsing with that is a pleasure. I distinctly recall Palm emphasising how all the functions on the the debut Treo 600 could be used without having to use the stylus. Browsing with a five way pad is surprisingly easy, you get used to it in the same way you get used to using a mouse. After all, most desktops/laptops don't have touchscreens either.
Without a quad-band radio it looks like this'll be destined to be a non-USA productIt has a GSM 1900 radio. There are GSM1900 networks in the USA so never say never! I'll even hazard a guess that the 1900 networks outnumber the 850 ones in the US.
And even though it's a GSM handset, 1200mAh is STILL too small for a stock battery in this day and age.It's not just the size of the battery that counts bu the amount of power the device draws from it. Putting it simply a D size battery being used to power a microwave oven (!?) isn't going to last as long as an AA size battery for a pocket torch.
Palm says 10 days standby and 4.5 hours talk. Even if real world figures were half that they're still respectable duration. Again we'll just have to wait and see.
RE: Treo 500v brings Palm up to date
So I'm fine with the POS Centro having lesser-spec'd hardware vs. the 500 if it means keeping the touchscreen.
As far as the 500 in the USA, well, I'll just say that Ryan was denied a review unit by Palm since they'd not letting anyone outside Europe have eval units. So I'm almost certain that limits its global appeal. I see the Treo 500 as a sort of one-off rebranded device....relatively short lifespan (like the T|T2) with strong early sales that'll taper off pretty quickly and be replaced by the next big "thing" from Palm in mid '08.
Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P
RE: Treo 500v brings Palm up to date
I use it all the time. When it's in my pocket, the switch goes on - I'm more likely to feel it vibrating than I am to hear it ringing in there. A hardware switch is just more user-friendly than a software menu, and it also provides an easy way to check silent status without having to turn it on or pull it out of your pocket.
Michael Ducker from Treocentral had a great piece wrote a great piece about it in 2005:
http://www.treocentral.com/content/Stories/616-1.htm
It is surprising; no other phone has ever used the simplicity of a ringer switch. Every phone has a method to turn off sound, but all except for the Treo's ringer switch are flawed. In every case, these methods require the user a) push multiple buttons to get the task done, and b) look at the screen to confirm that the sound is off. The Treo's ringer switch solves both of these issues, providing one button control, and physical feedback (run your finger over the top of the Treo) over the status of the device.I was curious to how the idea of a ringer switch cameup, so I asked PalmOne, and Chris Cadwell, Director of Product Marketing, responded. As the story goes, Donna Dubinsky, the co-founder of Palm and Handspring, "hated having someone's PDA or cellphone ring or sound an alert during a meeting. It distracted her, and drove her up the wall." Donna's immediate solution to the problem was to enact a $1 fine whenever a phone or PDA went off.
It was under these condtions that Handspring engineers designed the Visorphone. During one design meeting, "Jeff Hawkins, [inventor of the Palm Pilot, Palm and Handspring co-founder], said he wanted a way to turn off the ringer and other sounds quickly, and a slider switch just seemed like the obvious idea. I do not remember who came up with the slider idea initially, it may have been Jeff himself, but honestly the team didn't realize that we were doing anything unique or different at the time - such was our inexperience with cell phones back then! It was just obvious to us that this was needed, so we did it. What really surprised us, I think, was realizing later that other cell phones didn't have this feature, and moreover, I continue to be surprised, given how useful that little switch is, that no company I know of has copied it!"
Cadwell ended, "So as far as I know we've never considered getting rid of it. Most of us use it often (even now that Donna isn't here anymore) and we do get lots of positive feedback from our customers about this feature."
Long live the ringer switch!
Tim
I apologise for any and all emoticons that appear in my posts. You may shoot them on sight.
Treo 270 ---> Treo 650 ---> Crimson Treo 680
RE: Treo 500v brings Palm up to date
** Testing a 755p from Sprint side by side with 2 700p's and a 650 clearly revealed the 755p to have the worst keyboard and hard button backlighting of the quartet.
The 755p (like its sister 750 and 680 Treos) omits the backlighting of the direcitonal pad as well as the space bar. Certain keys on the 755p were dimmer than other keys nearby and made certain punctuation symbols especially difficult to read in darkness. And the new "2-in-1" split app hard buttons on the 755p are less distinctly defined than the older Treos and definitely showcase the splotchy backlighting problem I mentioned. ** ... HKK
JLM,
Do you have anything substantial to respond with here? If so, I would like to hear a quality explanation for your "feelings". If not, are you willing and mature enough to make a respectable apology?
BTW, I vote for the ringer switch also. What a super feature that I use a whole lot with almost no effort.
Pat Horne
RE: Treo 500v brings Palm up to date
>trademark right from the beginning - heck, it stretches back even further to the VisorPhone. Why eliminate it?
>It's incredibly useful. Even Apple copied it on the iPhone.
Freak, you're a riot! There are hundreds of phones that have a dedicated silent switch - doubtful Apple copied that from Palm.
It's not amazing that Palm left it out - it's yet another example of their famous attention to detail.
RE: Treo 500v brings Palm up to date
In the Spirit of Umoja,
Ronin
The Treo 500v - I like it.
The Vodafone carousel seems to trump any special sauce Palm has added before to WM, in exposing a lot of functionality and ease of use for casual users.
To re-iterate - it will do decently, but not 100 000's or millions.
Now if Palm had included GPS...
Surur
RE: The Treo 500v - I like it.
Not surprising for a WinMob user.
ROTF, etc...
RE: The Treo 500v - I like it.
RE: The Treo 500v - I like it.
RE: The Treo 500v - I like it.
Thus TVoR's (or whomever's) "stamp a logo on someone else's phone" may be here with PALM already.
[Is this a BAD thing? For fanboys probably yes. For PALM's bottomline, however, maybe not. We'll have to see how it sells to end-customers though, of course, PALM makes most of their bucks by selling to Vodafone. It will be interesting to see, if we ever do, just what the order size requirements from the ODM to PALM were for an entire device...]
RE: The Treo 500v - I like it.
He is attracted by the brighter white colour of the Palm 500v, vs the dark business-like colours of nearly all the other devices. He sees some phones have WIFI, but they also seem to cost a $100 more. He sees that it seems to match all the other specs, and the GUI seems attractive. He decided to settle for the 500v.
The short of it is the main feature of this device is that it MAY be cheaper than is competitors, and this really makes a difference, especially if its not very far of from the other devices in specs. Thats the definition of a low-end device.
Surur
RE: The Treo 500v - I like it.
RE: The Treo 500v - I like it.
RE: The Treo 500v - I like it.
What about SMS junkies? And IM? Or even people who want to use the device for GPS (very common in UK) Smartphones are not just about streaming SlingBox.
Surur
They said I only argued for the sake of arguing, but after an hour I convinced them they were wrong...
Hey!! I made associate writer at PDA247. Come see my nattering over there!!
www.clieuk.co.uk/wm.shtml
RE: The Treo 500v - I like it.
Far from it. The thing is, every phone is on its way to becoming a 'smartphone' of sorts. Sooner or later the distinction between dumb, feature and smart phone is going to be so infinitesmal it'll be practically non-existent.
Tim
I apologise for any and all emoticons that appear in my posts. You may shoot them on sight.
Treo 270 ---> Treo 650 ---> Crimson Treo 680
RE: The Treo 500v - I like it.
Sure, the LCD & innards might change but the basic underpinnings are the same, IMO.
http://www.pdablast.com/images/articles/iris.jpg
http://www.pocketpcblast.com/articles/2007/8/2007814-HTC-Iris-gets-FCC.html
And remember, the 800w leaked pic that was reported here a while back on Sprint looked nearly identical to the iris above.
Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P
RE: The Treo 500v - I like it.
I am almost positive that both the Centro and Treo 500v are based on this HTC design.
Bzzt! Wrong again...! Keep guessing.
JLM.
RE: The Treo 500v - I like it.
http://www.slashphone.com/uploads/3589/inventec_mercury_1s.jpg
Pat Horne
How's it stack up?
RE: How's it stack up?
Its not great and its not too far behind. Unlike may Palm products, it could have been a lot worse.
Surur
RE: How's it stack up?
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Treo 500v brings Palm up to date
It uses Windows Mobile 6 Standard Edition and therefore it's the first Treo without a touchscreen.
- impressive 256Mb of which 150 MB is available to the user.
- it's a 3G phone but no hint of whether it's HSDPA capable.
- Bluetooth 2.0 - it can use stereo headsets.
- 2 Megapixel camera: Hallelujah!!!
- microSD slot - I can hear your groans now but it seems most phone manufacturers are going for these tiny cards now.
- A 1200 mAh battery which Palm says gives 4.5 hours talking or 10 days of standby.
- a headphone jack next to a miniUSB socket. I suspect it's 2.5mm.
- no wifi
The Treo 500v is a most welcome step forward by Palm and has a reasonably good specification that should see it sell well.