Palm launches £399 Treo Pro

It's only a day later than anticipated, but Palm has now launched the Treo Pro. Available SIM-free or from Vodafone, the new-look smartphone is somewhere between the Centro and the iPhone 3G. It does indeed pack in tri-band 3G UMTS connectivity with HSDPA, and provide GSM, GPRS and Edge as a back-up. Palm Treo Pro Palm's …

[Anonymous Coward]

Software?

It runs Win Mobile 6.1. I have Win Mobile phone. I used to like it, it never used to crash, just worked. With 3rd party software was actually really cool.

But... Since few months ago it started going bonkers. Sometimes I need to restart it to access Contacts! Application just doesn't want to start. Same with Phone App. I think it has something to do with huge amount of temp files lying in system folder. All that after about 1 year of using it. I mean, it's a phone it should last slightly longer than that! Why, oh why Win Mobile is the same like XP and slows down after a while because "it just works like that"?

Sorry for the rant, and thank God that my contract is almost over! Only 2 months left! GPhone, maybe???

[Tom Peach]

Windows mobile?

Give up Palm, all your customers have moved on by now.

[Andy]

I want this phone

... running PalmOS. When are they going to sort that out?

Some more pixels would be nice, too.

-A.

[Mike]

My brother stated it best..

True geeks run a mobile device with PalmOS. Others....well who cares about the others..

[xjy]

Not the Jesus Phone...

... the Herod Phone??

(Paris cos she'd have both of their heads on platters...)

"Hark the Herod angels mo-oan

Glory to our new-born Phone..."

[Mademoiselle Jones]

iPhone 3G

I'll have my iPhone 3G any day, thanks, not something costing four times the price and running a crappy OS.

[John Robson]

PalmOS and I'll buy it.

Especially if it can bridge between those connections - easy WiFi for the laptop (and the wife's obviously)

My last WM phone used to crash when receiving calls - the screen would turn on - say "So and so is calling you", the ringtone would play (endlessly) and the vibrate would stay on (rather than pulsing like it's meant to). If you pulled the battery it would reset. then you could call them back.

Windows isn't coming to a phone near me ever again.

[NoCo37]

Nope.

If I could get this with the PalmOS, I'd buy it. Until then, I'll keep my 680.

[Mad Hacker]

Best thing about Palm was Palm OS

Nice looking phone. The reason I went with Palm phones for so long was the OS.

Unfortunately because they wouldn't release a Palm OS based phone with WiFi I eventually moved to an iPhone. I still miss some aspects of the Palm OS (copy and paste and syncing memos and todos.)

My favorite phone ever was the Samsung SPH-i500. Palm OS flip phone. Truly amazing.

But alas, this Palm phone doesn't even run Palm OS, so I'm happy enough with my iPhone.

[chris]

How's this better than my E71

My E71 appears to do all that for less money. Although not sure which is worse symbian or win mobile

[Andre Carneiro]

PalmOS FTW

I'll have to add my "bring it on with PalmOS and I'll buy it" comment too. Not quite keen on Windows Mobile, having had a not very successful experience with it...

[Tom Chiverton]

Nice phone

Nice phone, shame about the operating system.

Do you realise there are currently *no* phone on the market with all the features of my several years old P990, that aren't a Crackberry or run Windows ? Shocking, esp. as my contract has lapsed.

October for a GPhone, eh...

[Joseph Haig]

Me too!

Glad it isn't just me. I would like a new PDA and I would like it with PalmOS.

Waiting ...

[Daniel B.]

Show me the PalmOS!

Screw Windows Mobile. That alone might be the reason the iPhone makes a blip in the radar. Palm doing Windows was the main reason I just gave up and went for a Blackberry instead. (Ok, the unlimited data plan also helps...)

When (and if) Palm releases this baby with PalmOS, I might reconsider. But meanwhile, my BlackBerry is here to stay...

[Alan W. Rateliff, II]

PalmOS or WM -- Palm was always crap

Firstly, my experience with PalmOS after 4.x has been horrendous. The version of Garnet (5.7, I believe) included on the LifeDrive was crap: couldn't switch between Bluetooth and WiFi networking without crashing (timer.c, blah blah,) sanctioned applications would crash regularly, Blazer is just a giant PoS, and I will refrain from detailing VersaMail pains.

Now, move on to the Treo with PalmOS. EVERY single person to whom I provide service complains about the phone crashing, locking up, synchronization problems, Bluetooth issues, and so on.

Putting the two together, I decided that perhaps PalmOS was the culprit and that a WM-based Treo would be better. Unfortunately, no such luck. After recommending Palm WM phones to several people, I was disappointed to find that they suffered crashes, lock-ups, networking issues, and, most annoyingly, schizophrenic Bluetooth.

But who to blame? Given the LifeDrive fiasco and later experiences with the T5 and T|X, I point squarely at Palm and its shyt OS -- one crashed application brings down the whole phuqn machine? That crap went out with the Atari ST, Amiga, and Mac.

But then the mobile phone introduced a whole new playing field: system software modified by Palm, firmwares then further modified by carriers, or so the story is told. Palm blames Sprint for the mangling of its beautiful Treo 700wx WM5 software, and Sprint blames Palm for doing the mangling in-house using Sprint specifications and requirements.

Irrespective of the finger-pointing game, we tire of phones which crash and lock up and do not function as promised. I have had great experiences with HTC phones (other than on Alltel, on which reception is horrible,) Sony Ericsson (love my K790a, even given its functional short-comings, it has rarely locked up or crashed,) and I hear great things about Nokia.

Paris, detailing the pain of poor reception (why does she never call back?)

[SB]

Windows mobile...ha ha

...what a crap OS for a phone. Others have stated it that Palm OS is the way to go and I agree. Even the Jesus phone struggles to keep up with the usability of my aging Palm OS Treo 650 for THE MAIN uses of a phone / pda. Much quicker to find / enter a calendar appointment or send a text message or make a call. Whether they can get the Palm OS replacement out in time before the others catch up is debateable though. The iPhone with a real keyboard would get close if it happens.

[David Cantrell]

Windows? Fuck off

I was getting ready to go out and buy one at lunchtime, until I got to the bit about Windows. Windows? Who the fuck wants to run Windows?

Let's hope that they release similar hardware running a sensible OS soon.

[Hany Mustapha]

So what's wrong with Windows Mobile?

Familiar interface, good synchronisation with my PC and Exchange Server so on backup worries with SIM cards, push email, contact and calendar updates without any middleware or middlenetwork, meeting today and tomorrow's calendar on my screen, together with reminders and quick little voice notes that appear in my Outlook as soon as I connect. Add in a Terminal Services client for on-the-run repairs and the ability to make phone calls and use SMS. What's there to complain about?

Currently running an HTC Tytn - no real complaints... battery life could be better, but then it spends much of its life USB'd to my PC so never normally a problem. Oh - and the occasional reboot - probably once a fortnight. I can live with that.

I'm no Microsoft apologist, but if you use your phone for business, and I do, genuinely - what's there to get so abusive about?!

@ David Cantrell - thanks for your foul-mouthed rant. Really added value to the discussion!

[Ewen Bruce]

Reminds me of something

No let me see; the styling of the back and the buttons reminds me of something. Can't quite think what is though; I think it begins with an 'i'.......

Nice to see they're being original.

[Steve]

@Mad Hacker

> I still miss some aspects of the Palm OS

> (copy and paste and syncing memos and todos.)

Chapura's KeyTasks syncs outlook tasks to an iPhone.

[Norfolk Enchants Paris]

Win Mobile 6.x is fine

I've had it on my Treo for ages and have found it great. Stable, usable, better than I expected. Granted, I didn't expect much after 5.x but was pleasantly surprised.

I like the way that you can replace the shell and make it look nice and work better.

Can you do that on an iPhone or on Palm OS? Not owning either I don't know.

[Hans]

Palm???

They not dead yet?

@Norfolk Enchants Paris

1. You forgot the "Hilton" in your nick ;-)

2. "I like the way that you can replace the shell and make it look nice and work better." Now I can guess what you like about WinMobile.

@Alan W. Rateliff

"That crap went out with the Atari ST, Amiga, and Mac" Common issue in the 90's for all vendors. I think you have forgotten Windows 9x and especially Me, which as its name implies came out in 2000 and was the last OS I am aware of to have been shipped with this "feature" lol

Well, actually, I like Palm, so I went and had a look at their phoney kit! Now, on their French website, the specification of their Centro mobile are in German! LOL

[http://eurostore.palm.com/epages/Store.sf?ObjectPath=/Shops/PalmStore/Products/1057FR-Z22&ChangeAction=ChangeCurrencyByCountry&CurrencyCountry=FR]

But I'm a nice chap, and attempt to let them know ... how? I am not gonna call the premium tel number and their link to the "contact us" form is dead - great job!

[http://eurostore.palm.com/epages/Store.sf/fr_FR/?ObjectPath=/Shops/PalmStore/Categories/telesales#q1]

They are trying hard, really hard! Chapter 11 by the end of the decade, as I already said on another comment about Palm!

Sad, I really like Palm OS!

[Hans]

@el Reg: Auto-refresh

We want auto-refresh on comment pages on el reg ... I don't wanna have to come back every now and then to check for replies ... or even beter ... rss!