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Handspring Shows Treo 600 Smartphone at CeBIT
securitas writes "Handspring unveiled its final product before being acquired by Palm: the Treo 600. It runs Palm OS 5.2 on a Texas Instruments ARM processor with 32MB of RAM, has a 160 x 160 color display, comes in GSM and CDMA versions, includes a digital camera plus various camera applications and supports Good Technology's Goodlink e-mail software, competition to RIM's BlackBerry. Of course it also comes with a keyboard, SMS capability, MP3 player, Web browser and Secure Digital/MMC memory-card expansion slot. Measuring 4.41 inches x 2.26 inches x 0.87 (LxWxD) and weighing about 6 ounces, analysts say that the Treo 600 is what clinched Palm's takeover of Handspring. The only problem that they forsee is a seriously crowded market for PDA/mobile phone combinations. Availability for the Treo 600 is this fall. Images at eWeek, SFGate or Reuters. Streaming movies from Handspring (QuickTime dial-up 56k| QuickTime dsl/cable 300k)." Reader Michael Ducker points out this longer article at TreoCentral as well.
End of story.
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
I really think that graffiti/jot is the elegant solution. Palm seems to disagree, and Xerox's patent on Unistroke isn't helping the situation.
I want a device that has all these features, except it does graffiti instead of the stupid keyboard.
Just my opinion though.
You should use AdiumX on your Mac.
This device has a physical keyboard as well as the 160 by 160 display in a friendly form-factor. A 320 by 320 display would have upped the cost and completely changed the form-factor from a phone-like one to a traditional PDA-like one.
Clearly, this Treo 600 has been designed to woe consumers looking for a phone/PDA/MP3 convergence device that isn't any bigger than a traditional mobile phone.
Close but no cigar? Hardly - you might not like it, but I'm willing to bet that the market will.
This is the shape of the future. Watch everyone else jump on the bandwagon and watch these babies fly off the shelves as soon as they ship.
"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
The phone/PDA combos are bad compromises: too big to carry everywhere, too small a screen to be useful for much of anything.
If you get a phone and PDA separately, you get more functionality and more flexibility. You can choose a tiny phone and change carriers without changing PDAs. Leave the PDA at home if you want something small. Leave the phone at home when you travel to Siberia. You still get wireless Internet access from your PDA through Bluetooth.
That is the single reason I prefer a flip phone to all of the others. For some reason, they key locks never work. One time I placed a 5 minute call to myself and the cingular voice mail system made me listen to the entire message before I could delete it.
I found that the cover on the Treo 90 is nice, but I still hit the application buttons while I'm moving around work. You would think that Handspring and Palm would have heard the complaints. Why is it so hard to build in a cover?
...do like me and get both a SonyEricsson P800 and a SE T39m. Then, when you want a PDA/phone, keep your SIM card in the P800 and get a killer Symbian-based PDA (way better than PalmOS, IMO). And if you need to go stealth, drop the SIM card into your tiny, pocket-friendly T39. All your contacts can be synchronized between the two phones via Bluetooth (esp. easy on a Mac).