Palm Drucker to Finally Bring WiFi to the Treo Line?
Palm's other leaked Windows Mobile 6.1-based device for today is a considerably higher-end offering. Codenamed the "Palm Drucker", this is billed by Vodafone as a direct replacement for the aging Treo 750v and also comes to us via the Boy Genius Report. "Drucker" will sport a 320x320 touchscreen that Palm OS fans have come to love alongside, of course, Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional (Pocket PC) instead of the WM Standard edition.
This device will appear earlier than the rumored "Palm Wanda", as it carries an estimated launch date of July 2008 with a pricetag of 270 GBP, equivalent to a whopping $533 USD. Unfortunately, no picture is provided of this device but I would expect it to look similar to the leaked images of the speculated Treo 800w from a few months ago—basically, thicker than a Centro but thinner than a Treo, with a slightly wider body and the usual "smile" pattern keyboard.
It's very possible Palm requested the Drucker not be shown in the presentation slide here because of its striking resemblance to the CDMA 800w that might be officially announced soon. The rumored Palm Drucker's specs appear comparable to the long-rumored flagship CDMA Treo, the 800w, that we have covered previously here and here. A quad-band GSM radio with HSDPA makes the Drucker's appearance in the U.S. all but certain.
The leaked slide also touts a 320x320 "flush" screen and a 2 megapixel camera. The battery capacity is rated at 1500mAh, a nice boost from all of Palm's current GSM Treos. Finally, assuming nothing changes between now and launch, integrated GPS and wi-fi are confirmed as standard features, giving Palm fans worldwide cause for celebration.
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RE: No mention of touch capabilities...
RE: No mention of touch capabilities...
RE: No mention of touch capabilities...
Pat Horne
Your spin makes me dizzy
WTF?
You should have written:
>>>will sport a 320x320 touchscreen that Palm OS fans have been whipped into compliant whimpering submission to accept
Geez.
So where is the innovation?
Every Treo is roughly the same except for a few tiny ergonomic difference.
Consumers will not justify an upgrade with all these micro-sidegrades.
What are they trying to do exactly?
Its going to take other companies to innovate because Palm cant seem to produce anything new. This has been going on for many years now.
RE: So where is the innovation?
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RE: So where is the innovation?
This is getting ridiculous.
Exactly.
We get to see a silhouette of a very "standard" shape, told it will have a "flush screen" and then are told it will still only be 320x320 ("classic" small, square screen) with a full keyboard. This is nothing new! Wifi is the only "innovation" here, and that should have been done so long ago that when Palm finally does do it, it won't even rate a mention. I'm also guessing that they will be leaving out some "unnecessary" feature from their previous phones that "no one really uses".
Didn't we just hear someone over at Palm going on and on about how they are done with just the same-old designs and we can expect really great, new and innovative designs in the future? What is it with this company?!
Seriously folks, I'm really hoping Apple or FIC or Nokia or someone will step up the the plate and hit one out of here. There are a lot of companies that are "almost" there. Palm's self-inflicted slump has been really sad to watch. How many more at bats do they expect to get before they get sent down to the minors (or simply cut altogether)?
Maybe I'm just being overly pessimistic, but "this is getting ridiculous."
"twrock is infamous around these parts" (from my profile over at Brighthand due to my negative 62 rep points rating)
RE: So where is the innovation?
There are plenty of other mobiles equiped with WM that are much more advanced than these poor Wanda or Drucker.
I thought when Palm hired the "father" of iPhone from Apple that something will change but apparently not ...
RE: So where is the innovation?
That's the first I heard THAT one!
E.g.:
-- http://grouchygeek.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2007/06/04/beware-of-geeks-bearing-grudges/
RE: So where is the innovation?
== "...But we’re working on absolutely breakthrough
== designs, breakthrough user experience, breakthrough UI
== and other functionality on next generation systems, so
== we’re as I said we’re not stopping at anything short of
== revolutionary and fantastic design on at least our next
== generation platform products..."
None of the devices that have just been "leaked" are "new OS".
[note - a couple days ago I checked PALM's "job openings" - at THAT time they were looking for senior people to DESIGN those breakthrough UIs so I think it may be awhile before we see a device with same...gotta luv the marketing side of Colligan!]
RE: So where is the innovation?
Peace Out
Alan
RE: So where is the innovation?
http://tinyurl.com/33nlgy
http://tinyurl.com/2j8ck6
http://tinyurl.com/3y5p6r
RE: So where is the innovation?
I would bet that the Drucker would be the first device that Rubinstein & Co. have ANY say in the basic design of and it was also probably fleshed out (more or less) and maybe his "touch" consisted of making it have a flush touchscreen (ala iPhone)?
I think Palm's 2008 strategy is going to be to phase out all Garnet-based Treos and throw a lot (relatively speaking for Palm, of course) of "me too" Treos at the wall in hopes that at least one or two of them are reasonable successes. 2009 is the year (late Q2 '09 I predict) is when we'll finally see a compelling handset design from Palm running Plinux. Of course, they may not survive that long as an independent entity but that's speculation for another topic.
Remember, folks, 320x320 is going to be Palm's new 240x240. And in all likelihood we'll keep seeing square 480x480 or 640x640 square screens under WM7 and/or Plinux...
Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P
RE: So where is the innovation?
When they say "flush," they don't mean EDGE-TO-EDGE on that screen. It means it won't be sunk beneath the level of the fascia. I think that's the Centro screen.
BGR Posts yanked
Good thing almost every other site mirrored the images.
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No mention of touch capabilities...