The written musings of a long-time Apple //e and Macintosh tech nerd. Opinions are my own.
Palm has posted a new article on their company blog called “In the Queue – Windows Mobile 6 for AT&T Treo 750 Smartphones”.
In the blog post, Palm indicated that the inside sales team has started taking orders from corporate customers who want the 750 running Windows Mobile 6 Professional and that an update for current AT&T/Cingular Treo 750 customers “is just around the corner.”
Palm is running a 4-day sale on the unlocked GSM Treo 680 from now until Sunday, November 25, 2007. The graphite Treo 680 can be purchased directly from the Palm online webstore for $379. (The Treo 680 without a service plan is typically $449.)
The unlocked Treo 680 can operate on any GSM wireless carrier that offers voice and or data services. (You will need an existing SIM card or obtain one when you sign up for service.)
For more information, including the technical specifications for the Treo 680, please visit the Palm website.
My fellow Brighthand moderator, Holvoetn, has received a Treo 500v review unit and has written up his first impressions of the latest Treo smartphone.
“Palm’s latest device is the Treo 500v, a Windows Mobile smartphone that is being launched on the Vodafone network all over Europe and some other places in the world, too.
After a small logistical hiccup that lasted 4 weeks, this device arrived in my hands a couple days ago. I received the white version (the 500v also comes in black).
A New OS
As a die-hard Palm OS übergeek, I was very interested to see how I would handle a Windows Mobile 6 Standard device. Let me tell you I am very pleased, even impressed.
For the very first time I was able to experience 100% keyboard and/or 5-way nav navigation. Sure enough, some settings are not in the places I expect them to be, but that’s because I haven’t played around enough yet.”
Palm has released a generic English update for unlocked Treo 750 smartphones. Owners of unlocked English Treo 750s will be able to upgrade the pre-installed version of Windows Mobile from version 5 to version 6. This upgrade can not be undone, nor should it be applied on AT&T/Cingular branded Treo 750 devices.
For more information about the Windows Mobile 6 Professional upgrade for the Treo 750, see our August 30th article.
Treo 750 owners can download their updates directly from the Palm website. Please note that this update can only be downloaded once. Please be sure that you are downloading the correct version for your phone. Once the updater has been downloaded, I strongly encourage you to burn a copy of the installer to CD or otherwise it up.
The folks over at TreoCentral.com are running an story about a possible design image of the Treo 800w that was leaked on the Internet.
Since this is a still a rumor all the information needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Not much is known about the Treo 800w at this point. Some are claiming that there will be a new data port on the device that is different from the Athena Multiconnector currently being used on many of Palm’s Treo and handheld PDA products. Some are saying that the new data port will be a mini-USB port. Others are talking built-in Wi-Fi. Of all the rumored specifications, we can probably safely bet on a 320×320 display and Windows Mobile 6 Professional. Anything beyond that is speculation.
Looks like Treo 800w Silly Season is in full swing.
Related articles
Rumor: Treo 800w Coming to Verizon…
Those of you who have been following along with my weekly “Palm Powered” podcast over on 1SRC.com know that I’ve been wondering out loud about Verizon and their Palm Treo line up.
Until recently, the Treo 700p and 700w|wx maintenance releases where unavailable, the new Centro will be a Sprint exclusive until the new year, and the 755p, which has been available on Sprint for months how is nowhere in sight on the Verizon radar. Will Verizon go a holiday season without a new device from Palm? Until recently, it looked like the answer might be “Yes”. Starting today, I’m officially calling for the start of “Treo 800w Silly Season.”
Silly Seasons are the months leading up to a new Palm product launch where Palm fan sites, like Foleo Fanatics, and discussion boards are a buzz with rumors and wild speculation about the next rumored device. In this case, it is the rumored successor to the Treo 700w|wx, the Treo 800w.
I’m not even going to start making predictions about what this device will have on board or even what form factor it will have; except to say that I expect the Treo 800w, if it is real, to be running the Windows Mobile 6.0 Professional operating system. (And I’m not even going to go near any rumors of a Treo 800p running Palm OS II. It is way too soon for anything like that to be even close to ready.)
For those who want to get a head start on the Treo 800w Silly Season, check out TreoCentral member howicam’s post from this past weekend. If that doesn’t jump start rumors, I don’t know what will. Just keep in mind that this is only a rumor at this point, and I have not confirmed any of the information in the post.
Do you think we’ll see a new Windows Mobile Treo on Verizon before the Christmas holiday? Let us know by clicking the Comments link below and sharing your thoughts.
This past week Palm and Verizon have cleared the Verizon Treo 700p Maintenance Release 1.10 update. As you may recall, Palm took down all of the Treo 700-series updaters after customers discovered a bug that prevented customers from consistently connecting to Verizon’s EVDO data network.
Palm recently posted on their support website:
The initial version of the Palm Treo 700p Updater 1.10, posted on July 12, 2007 incorrectly set a data connectivity parameter which may have produced an error when trying to connect to network data services.
These errors associated with this issue may include:
“Error 3000” errors when attempting to browse
“PPP Link Time Out error 0x1231” when attempting to connect to data
The Treo 700p Update 1.10 was modified to properly program the parameter which had been incorrectly set, and is reposted as either the:
VerizonTreo700pSDUpdate-rev1.zip.
– Or –
VerizonTreo700pDesktopUpdate-rev1.zip
For the full details on the update including upgrade directions and the download link, visit the Palm website.
The Treo 700w|wx update was reposted back on September 18th.
Verizon Treo 700p 1.10 update…
Verizon Treo 700w|wx 1.22 update…
Palm has updated their European website to include the new Treo 500v which was announced earlier this morning. Product specs and device photos can be viewed on the Treo 500v page.
Earlier this morning, Palm officially launched the Treo 500v, previously named as “Gandolf” in Internet rumors, for European Vodafone customers. (Note: The European Palm website has not yet been updated, however, Palm has issued the following press release at 6am, Eastern Time in the United States.) The new Treo will become available for sale this October, meaning Palm’s customers may still have to wait another 4-6 weeks.
The Palm press release reads:
“Palm Europe Ltd today announced the Palm(R) Treo(TM) 500v smartphone which combines multiple forms of communication and multimedia capabilities with high speed 3G/UMTS mobile internet access, allowing users access to popular websites such as MySpace, YouTube and eBay whilst on the move. The new Palm Treo 500v smartphone will initially be available exclusively to Vodafone customers from October.
The Palm Treo 500v smartphone runs on a Windows(R) Mobile(R) 6 standard platform and has a full keyboard, large screen, video streaming capability and a comprehensive multi-messaging functionality covering Instant Messaging, SMS, email and phone and personal information management software in a new design(1). The compact form factor is available in two colours: glacier white and charcoal grey.”
The press release goes on to list some of the features of the Treo 500v, including:
Earlier today Palm community websites went nuts with a leaked picture of what is probably the new device coming to Europe this Wednesday, the Treo 500.
The device specifications are still a bit sketchy, but if the rumors are true, this might be the first Palm device to run Windows Mobile Standard, which does not include touchscreen support. If the rumors continue to be true, there are likely to be two versions of this phone: a Windows Mobile/GSM device, and a Palm OS/EVDO device. It is not clear if there would be a Palm OS/GMS device here in the United States running on the AT&T network.
Regardless of what what is true about these rumors or not, the world will find out what is coming to Europe on September 12th.
[Thanks to Holvoetn for the tip.]