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Treo, Combination Cellphone and PDA
-homb- writes: "Finally, Handspring has done it before everyone else: The Treo, a combination cellphone, wireless POP3 email, and PalmOS PDA. Plus, the first version comes with or without a keyboard. I love my Blackberry, and it looks like the keyboard is the way to go for email. And the next version coming later on next year will have color." We mentioned these earlier.
The Treo is the innovative product the Palm community has been expecting from Handsping, and I believe it will be a huge success. Here, in no particular order, is why:
1) Size. Have there been other smartphones? Yes. Like this? No. This is neither a clunky phone-grafted-onto-an-organizer nor a strange organizer-grafted-onto-a-phone. This is a truly integrated product. It is small enough that I will finally be able to ditch my Palm/OmniSky and Nokia for one pocketable device.
2) Keyboard. Even though I've used Graffiti for several years, I have to admit that it is still a pain. Some may disagree, but the fact is that the vast majority of users will be able to enter text faster and more accurately with a QWERTY keyboard--even a thumb keyboard. If you think such keyboards are too small, just look at the success of the RIM Blackberry to see how much people love them.
3) Software. Handspring has done a great job integrating the Palm OS with the phone. They didn't just include a "Dial" app, they've included Blazer (their wonderful browser), Messaging (SMS), Phone Book (a Palm Address Book upgrade that has dialing capabilities), a POP3 client, etc. Out of the box, this will be a true Internet phone.
4) GSM. My fellow Americans may question this (since GSM has relatively limited coverage in the U.S.), but GSM was the right choice for Handspring. When GPRS rolls out (in the U.S. Voicestream has already started), you will be able to upgrade your Treo to support an "always on" wireless connection. Always on is much better than dial-up, even Sprint's "Quick Network Connect" dial-up (which basically just means that Sprint PCS is your ISP). Other, more popular U.S. mobile standards (CDMA, TDMA) are not moving to always on as quickly as GSM (although I've heard reports AT&T is upgrading to GPRS), and a true smart phone needs an always on connection. The other (obvious) advantage of GSM is that Handspring can sell the Treo in Europe and Asia.
Anyway, I will certainly buy a Treo when it comes out, and I think many others will too. The real question is how the Treo will stack up to competitors like the Danger Hiptop.
The R380 is btw released as 380e, an updated (much faster) version with USB as well now.
(and of these, the 9210 will appear in the us as 9290)
Links:
Symbian
Ericsson
Nokia
it's in my head
The one thing I really want from a phone/PDA combo is to have checkboxes for appointments to turn the ringer off, and back on when the event is over. I usually forget and leave my ringer on untill someone else's phone rings during class, and then turn the ringer off, forget, and leave it in vibrate until I miss a call. It's not _that_ big a deal because nobody ever calls me, but it would be a nice feature anyways ;-)
What's the alternative? Microsoft's handheld platforms are nowhere near as usable, mature, or efficient as PalmOS. But unlike Palm, the Microsoft handheld platforms also really don't want to talk to anything other than Windows, and you can't develop for them on anything other than Windows.
As far as I'm concerned, PalmOS is still the best game in town for handhelds and phones. Maybe some of the Linux-based devices will make it out the door at some point. Maybe Palm will come out with a decent, modern 32bit OS soon. But I doubt Microsoft ever gets a clue and starts untying their different systems from one another or starts using open, well-documented ways of storing data; and until they do, I think it's foolish to put your data on their devices.